Brussels, 16/07/2002 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday the European Commission will adopt a proposal to create the Erasmus World university exchange programme between the EU and the rest of the world. With a budget of EUR 200 million for 2004-2008, Erasmus World will answer several large-scale challenges - tightening links between European universities to achieve higher quality and competitiveness in higher education; making higher education in the EU more attractive to students and lecturers from the rest of the world. Erasmus World will support 250 students studying for masters degrees and thousands of student and lecturer grants for EU and non-EU citizens. Europe will return to this.