Analysing the Socrates programme
The European Commission has announced a call for proposals on general activities of observation and analysis for the Socrates programme. The call relates to the action 'observation of education systems, policies and innovation' and provides for a series of steps to improve and facilitate exchange of information and experience in education across the countries participating in the Socrates programme. Participation in the Socrates programme is open to the EU Member States, the EFTA/EEA countries and the applicant countries. Applications for support may include, or be made by, establishments in any of these countries. In the case of countries outside the EU, financial support for the participation of these establishments will be granted providing that a relevant legal agreement between the European Community and the country concerned has been concluded sufficiently early as part of the procedure for the selection of applications for financial support. Under this call for proposals, the Commission intends to award financial aid to: - the networking of establishments and other bodies suitably qualified to analyse education systems and policies, and organisations participating in the evaluation of the quality of teaching, - to studies, analyses, pilot projects, seminars and exchanges of experts and other appropriate actions relating to matters of common education policy interest around priority themes decided by the Council. During the selection process, preference will go to proposals which: - relate to the priority themes below' - actively involve establishments from at least five countries taking part in Socrates, - clearly show their added value at European level and their potential multiplier effect, particularly with regard to potential impact in terms of pooling experience among several participating countries which have differently structured education systems, - set out explicitly their added value in relation to activities already completed. In particular, it is recommended that due account be taken of results available from projects funded under Action III.3.1 during the first phase of the Socrates programme. Applicants are also advised to take account of projects which were funded under the first call for proposals for Action 6, - set out, if they are based on studies and data already available in this area, to carry out a comparative summary and describe in detail how they envisage the subsequent stages of the work, - clearly describe, if they involve a corpus of fresh data, the methods and systems to be used to evaluate the reliability of the data collected, - contain, where appropriate, prospective aspects, i.e. projects which seek to identify and anticipate trends, potential innovations in the area and their future development, - include measures to monitor and evaluate the anticipated results of the project. Three priority themes are proposed: A- the role of education in employment policies B- the quality of education C- the promotion of mobility. A - objectives and priority themes - adapting the content of education to labour market requirements - support for young people in difficulty - lifelong learning B - Benchmarking The overall aim is to promote at European level discussion on the quality of education based on benchmarking. The activities to be funded should take due account of work already carried out in this area by other bodies, but also focus on indicators and benchmarking methods specific to the EU. They should encourage exchange of information, experience and best practice on the use of indicators and benchmarks in the area of quality in teaching. The proposals submitted should analyse indicators and benchmarks already developed nationally and internationally, along with their impact at policy and practical levels. C - priority activities - reviews of the situation with regard to mobility - definition of methodology and statistical data to be developed for the purposes of the review - feasibility checks for the exercise - collecting specific and operational data on mobility - analysis of existing incentives and obstacles to mobility - analysis of mobility as part of bilateral actions - analysis of the impact and merits of mobility in personal and professional terms. The Commission's financial support may be up to 300,000 euro annually, however this ceiling will only be reached in exceptional circumstances. The amounts paid will be calculated so that they cover a maximum of 50 per cent of eligible expenditure. Conferences and seminars will be subsidised up to a maximum of 40,000 euro. The total available budget for activities covered by this call for proposals is approximately 1,500,000 euro. For further information, please consult the following web address: URL: http://europa.eu.int/comm/education/socrates/observation/call.html(odnośnik otworzy się w nowym oknie) Or alternatively contact: Mr Anders Hingel European Commission Directorate-General Education and Culture 'Development of education policies' Unit B-7 rue de la Loi/Wetstraat 200 B-1049 Brussels Fax +32-2-299 22 31 E-mail: UNITE-A1@ec.europa.eu