Brussels, 26/06/2008 (Agence Europe) - The Erasmus Mundus II (2009-2013) was adopted on Tuesday 24 June at the European Parliament's committee on education and culture. The new programme, which aims to ensure continuity of the current Erasmus Mundus (2004-2008) programme, has a budget of €936.5 million. It aims to meet the growing demand for mobility and to make the EU a centre of academic excellence. “Higher education in Europe must be competitive to attract the many foreign students and academics who used to leave for the United States”, recalled Marielle de Sarnez (ALDE, France), who is EP rapporteur on the subject. The new programme will be based on three kinds of action: - the creation of joint masters and doctorate programmes (€450 million); - the setting in place of partnerships between European universities and third countries (€460 million); - and the promotion of higher education in Europe (€16.5 million). Linguistic diversity in higher education is one of the priorities of the programme, but there are still many challenges to be raised, such as the difficulty of obtaining visas for students interested. MEPs suggest, for example, that a specific “Erasmus Mundus” visa should be created by the member states. “Visa facilitation for students must be a constant concern and my report even raises the question of specific visas, adapted to the complex nature of certain university courses that call for greater mobility”, Marielle de Sarnez stressed. Under the previous programme, 323 universities, of which 265 were European, had taken part and over 4,400 students had obtained a grant for their studies. (A.D./transl.jl)