ESC opinion on the proposed extension of the TEMPUS II programme The Economic and Social Committee (ESC) of the European Communities has published the text of its opinion on the proposal for a Council Decision amending and extending the trans-European cooperation scheme for higher education (TEMPUS II) for a further two years. The TEMPUS p... The Economic and Social Committee (ESC) of the European Communities has published the text of its opinion on the proposal for a Council Decision amending and extending the trans-European cooperation scheme for higher education (TEMPUS II) for a further two years. The TEMPUS programme was first established in 1990 for an initial pilot phase of three years. It was then extended for a period of five years (1994-1998) - TEMPUS II. This most recent proposal from the Commission concerns the further extension of the programme to 30 June 2000, and is accompanied by an interim report and evaluation of the programme's activities to date. The programme's main aims are: - To promote student and staff mobility and exchanges between the Community and Central and Eastern Europe; - To promote language teaching. The ESC welcomes the results achieved by TEMPUS and supports its extension. In particular, it recognizes that the beneficiary countries have made positive strides since the first TEMPUS programme was approved and is pleased that proposals have led to activities that have played a decisive role in stepping up the pace of social and economic reform. The Committee, however, calls for a greater involvement of industry and the social partners in Joint European Projects (JEPs) approved under the programme. It stresses that without more active involvement of these sectors, it will not be possible to combine the needs, in terms of restructuring, of the universities, industry and the professions into a single reform process. In this context, the Committee attaches top priority to education reforms designed to meet the industry's training needs. Countries Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Belarus, Czechia, Estonia, Georgia, Hungary, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Lithuania, Latvia, Moldova, Mongolia, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovenia, Slovakia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan
