Brussels, 22/09/2004 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday the European Commission selected the first 19 Erasmus Mundus masters courses (2004-2005). This selection is valid for a period of five years and involves 82 European universities from 17 countries including sixteen Member States from the EU: Germany, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Spain, Finland, France, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakia, Sweden, the United Kingdom. 14 of these Masters will begin in 2004/05 while 5 will have the status of a preparatory year. From this autumn, these universities will welcome the first recipients of Erasmus Mundus scholarships: 140 students and 42 academics, all with excellent academic records and chosen by their universities, from about 80 countries all over the world, will come to study in Europe for up to two years. The masters courses cover a very wide variety of disciplines: law, economics, social sciences, politics, environmental sciences, management, sociology, education, industrial relations, mathematics, health, new technologies, etc. Having finally been adopted at the beginning of 2004, the Erasmus Mundus programme issued a call for proposals, which prompted 128 applications for masters courses involving hundreds of European universities. The applications were assessed by independent experts, and a list of the 19 best courses was produced by a Selection Board consisting of 12 leading figures from European academia.
The Erasmus Mundus programme was definitively adopted at the beginning of 2004. A total of 230 million euro will be spent on the programme between now and 2008. "Erasmus Mundus aims to restore Europe to a leading position on the international university scene”, said Viviane Reding, European Commissioner for education and culture, who pointed out the three objectives of the programme: 1) strengthen European cooperation and international ties in higher education by supporting high-quality masters courses; 2) opening up European universities to the outside world; 3) getting Europe on to centre stage of the world university system. Ms Reding indicated that 2004 was a starting point and that the objective by 2008 was to create a network of 250 Masters courses. The next stage should include 150 more universities for the 2005-06 academic year. In the coming years universities from third countries will take part in the network to create a geographical and cultural balance, added Ms Reding.