PURPOSE : to establish the second phase of the Community action programme in the field of education, Socrates for the period 2000-2006.
COMMUNITY MEASURE: Decision 253/2000/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing the second phase of the Community action programme in the field of education, Socrates.
CONTENT : this Decision establishes the second phase of the Community action programme in the field of education, Socrates. This programme shall be implemented over the period starting 01/01/2000 and ending on 31/12/2006.
The financial framework for the implementation of this programme for the period 2000-2006 is set at EUR 1 850 million.
By supporting and supplementing the work of the Member States in this field, Socrates will aim to promote the quality of education by promoting cooperation, increasing mobility and developing the European dimension in all sectors of education. The aim is to help create a "European education area" where lifelong learning will be promoted and citizenship can be fully exercised.
The main innovations of this programme include the attention devoted to lifelong learning by bolstering "adult education" and establishing "european knowledge centres" to bring together implementers and beneficiaries of other Community education , training and youth programmes. The Decision also seeks to define more clearly the players and beneficiaries of this programme.
Internally, the programme has been rationalised, limiting the number of actions and decentralising to the maximum the management of the actions undertaken at national level.
In order to contribute to the developemnt of quality education and encourage lifelong learning, while fully respecting the responsibility of the Member Staes, the objectives of this programme shall be:
- to strengthen the European dimension in education;
- to promote cooperation in the field of education;
- to help remove the obstacles to cooperation;
- to encourage innovation.
The objectives are to be pursued by means of 8 actions, the first 3 of which concern the three basic stages of education (school, university and other educational pathways), while the remaining 5 concern horizontal education policies (languages, multimedia, exchanges of information and other horizontal aspects, such as innovation, dissemination of results and joint actions).
Proposed actions:
1) Comenius (school education), comprising school partnerships, or encouragement for the establishemnt of partnerships between schools in the Member States and professional development projects for schools' teaching staff;
2) Erasmus (higher education), comprising traditional university cooperation and mobility projects;
3) Grundtvig (other educational pathways), to promote education of the young after they have left the school system and of adults who wish to resume their studies after a break from the education system;
4) Lingua: teaching and learning of languages, using innovative methods;
5) Atlas: projects to promote distance education and multimedia communication for educational purposes;
6) Observation and innovation: exchanges of information and experience concerning European education systems, and innovation in these sectors;
7) Joint actions: generation of synergy with other Community programmes, in connection with policy on "European knowledge centres";
8) Accompanying measures (miscellaneous initiatives to raise awareness of education, such as the "Europe in the School" competition and dissemination of the results of projects carried out).
This programme is to be implemented consistently with other Community initiatives or programmes (Leonardo II, Youth, programmes concerned with research, culture, employment, SMEs, etc.) and devote special attention to equality of opportunity for women and men.
The Commission is to manage the programme in close cooperation with Member States.
As regards evaluation and montoring of this programme, the Commission shall submit to the European Parliament and the Council, the Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions:
- on the accession of new Member States, a report on, the financial consequences of these accessions on the programme;
- an interim evaluation report on the results achieved and on the qualitative aspects of the implementation of this programme by 31.12.2004;
- a communication on the continuation of this programme by 31.12.2006 and;
- and an ex post evaluation report by 31.12.2007.
ENTRY INTO FORCE : 03.02.2000.�