Brussels, 08/07/2005 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission has selected 108 university co-operation projects under the Tempus Programme to start on 1 September 2005. Each project lasts for a period of two or three years and involves a minimum of three universities in the European Union and its neighbouring countries. The projects were selected following a rigorous academic and technical assessment carried out by university experts. The selection procedure also included a consultation of national authorities in the partner countries so as to ensure that the projects are fully line with national educational priorities. Tempus is the European Union's programme for supporting the modernisation of higher education in 27 countries in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, the Western Balkans and the Mediterranean region, mainly through university cooperation projects. The Tempus programme has been operating successfully since 1990 in the Central and Eastern Europe countries; it was subsequently extended to cover the Western Balkans, TACIS countries and the countries in the MEDA region. Tempus projects fall into three categories, the most important of which is that of the Joint European Projects. These are innovative multilateral initiatives involving at least one university from a partner country, one university in an EU Member State, and one academic or non-academic consortium member in a different EU Member State. Joint European Projects aim at transferring knowledge from EU universities to institutions in the partner countries in the areas of curriculum development, university management and institution building. They have a strong mobility component, with exchanges of faculty, administrators and university students taking place from the partner countries to the EU and vice versa. The other two project categories are Structural and Complementary Projects and Individual Mobility Grants. (Info: http: //http://www.etf.eu.int/tempus.nsf )