Konference EU ke stipendiím pro západní Balkán
Text je k dispozici pouze v angličtině.
Under the chairmanship of the Czech EU presidency, representatives of the EU Member States, EFTA/EEA and Western Balkan1 countries gathered at a conference in Brussels today to discuss ways to enhance scholarships offered to the students from the Western Balkans. The participating countries, which grant some 1,350 scholarships for the academic year 2008/2009, pledged to further increase this number in the coming years. The meeting was held as part of the Czech presidency effort to foster EU – Western Balkans relations at people-to-people level, in view of the integration of the whole region to the EU.
“We have committed ourselves to enhanncing the quality and reinforcing the European dimension of higher education, encouraging transnational cooperation by means of scholarships offered to the Western Balkan countries. Scholarship opportunities will not only increase student mobility, they are also expected to have a positive impact on the student´s life and career after graduation and on his or her professional integration. Last, but not least, in the long run scholarships may certainly have an impact by creating an atmosphere of understanding, mutual trust and cooperation among the countries in Europe,” said Mrs. Miroslava Kopicová, Minister of Education of the Czech Republic.
The conference, organized in cooperation with the European Commission, King Baudouin Foundation and the Committee of the Regions, focused on raising awareness of the existing and forthcoming scholarship opportunities, and on discussing difficulties in making full use of them. It also aimed at increasing the number of scholarships provided by individual European countries, following the increased Community support from the Erasmus Mundus programme. The EC has so far provided approximately 600 scholarships under its Erasmus Mundus programme.
The King Baudouin Foundation presented a new handbook containing an overview of scholarship opportunities which exist in EU Member States and EFTA countries for Western Balkan students. The handbook is the first phase of a project to create an online tool, which will allow students from South East Europe to browse scholarship opportunities in European countries by degree level, subject and/or country, to be ready by the end of 2009.
1 Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo under UNSCR 1244/1999, Montenegro, Serbia).
Kontakt:
Jan Slíva, Mluvčí pro Coreper II a COPS
Tel.: +32 2 2139 332, GSM: +32 475 734 263, E-mail: jan_sliva@mzv.cz
Datum aktualizace: 16.8.2011 15:22
