 In July 2001 the European Parliament and Council received a Communication by the Commission on strengthening EU-third country co-operation in higher education. Ministers welcomed the communication and further emphasised the need to promote European higher education and to encourage international collaboration, of which co-operation with third-countries outside the European Union is an important element. Since the first Communication, proposals and resolutions have been dealt with in different European institutions. Some things have been changed (e.g. the name, the budget) but most of the contents have stayed more or less the same through the process. In December 2003 the legislative process ended and the programme decision was adopted. The decision came into force in January 2004, and it covers a time period till 2008. The programme is called Erasmus Mundus and it has a 230M Eur budget. As a comparison – the second phase of the Socrates programme has been given a financial framework of 1850M Eur for the time period of 2000-2006, covering eight different actions from school/adult/higher education to teaching and learning of languages.
ESU's opinions on the matter
ESU warmly supports the idea of educational co-operation with third countries. The aims to improve the quality and attractiveness of European higher education and to add international aspects to education are excellent, but the Erasmus Mundus programme in its current form does not in the best possible way answer to the needs of European higher education.
As EU is competing for economic and political power in the world, it can be said that Erasmus Mundus also handles education as a factor of competitiveness. Actions of the programme are very close to the Fulbright programme of the United States, the original aim of which was to strengthen the political position of the United States in post-war Europe.
The EU’s role concerning educational policy is another thing that needs to be considered. Erasmus Mundus cannot be dealt with as one European programme, but rather as a step towards a common European educational policy that does not occur as governmental co-operation, like the Bologna process, but as part of EU policy. The main principles for any kind of educational co-operation with third countries should be solidarity and reciprocity, but the Erasmus Mundus is very much one-way oriented and is not based on mutual benefit and partnership like for example the Socrates/Erasmus programme. Related Documents Statement on Erasmus Mundus (2004)
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