Education, Training and Youth Programmes of the European Union

SOCRATES
LEONARDO DA VINCI
YOUTH

An important goal of the EU is the establishment of an open and dynamic "European Education Area" resting on three complementary pillars, namely that all citizens should have the the necessary means and possibilities to keep their knowledge constantly up to date; they should improve their occupational abilities by acquiring skills enabling them to keep up to changes in the labor market and their place of employment. With an open education area and the associated mobility and cross-border cooperation, the EU should take on new dimensions.

Three major programs aim to achieve these goals: SOCRATES (general education), LEONARDO DA VINCI (professional training), YOUTH (extracurricular activities).

From the beginning to the middle of the 1990s, bilateral agreements enabled Switzerland to take part officially in the EU education programs COMETT (cooperation between universities and firms in matters of advanced training) and ERASMUS (promotion of student mobility).

But for the new SOCRATES, LEONARDO DA VINCI and YOUTH programs in 1995 no further agreements could be negotiated.

As a result the Swiss Parliament approved transitional measures (transition to full participation) to have Swiss activities included in the network of contacts of the European educational, professional training and youth programs. In 2003 SFr. 57.9 million was promised for 2004-2007. This money enables an indirect Swiss participation in multilateral and bilateral programs. Should the European project coordinator accept the Swiss collaboration, this can be financed by the Federal Office for Education and Science.

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