A successful year for DG EAC

Source: Directorate-General for Education and Culture (EAC) i, published on Wednesday, April 4 2012.

2011 has been a notable year for DG EAC as the development of its programmes has proven extremely successful. Below are a few highlights of 2011.

In terms of finances, DG EAC has spent 100% of its allocated budget in the past year and, by using additional money allocated by the EP and Council above the Commission's initial proposal for 2011, it was able to create even more opportunities for people participating in the Lifelong Learning Programme (LLP), Erasmus Mundus i and Youth in Action programme.

During the academic year 2009/2010, the Erasmus i sub programme supported for the first time over 200.000 students (+7.4%). Staff mobility also continued to increase (+ 3.8%). The number of participants taking part in vocational education and training has increased by 12% as more than 75,000 individuals and 1,000 partners received a grant. Regarding Comenius i, the sub-programme for schools, over 11,000 individuals (constant in comparison to 2010) and 5,000 partners were funded. In 2011, Youth in Action supported an even greater number of young people and youth workers, with the number of participants rising by 160,000 to more than 680,000 since 2007. Lastly, almost 3,000 adults (an increase of 13%) and 2,000 partners benefited from Grundtvig i funding - an LLP sub-programme which focuses on improving the adult education sector.

The programmes have not only expanded in terms of number of participants but also of countries taking part. Preparatory measures for LLP were initiated in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia where they had been suspended in 2010. For the first time, Croatia and Switzerland participated fully in Youth in Action and Lifelong Learning, and Bosnia and Herzegovina in the Culture programme.