2011-07-25

A conference on the Eastern dimension of mobility in education, youth, research, culture and sport was held in Warsaw on 6-7 July 2011. Commissioner Androulla Vassiliou addressed the conference and highlighted the need to support not only more student exchanges but also to strive to increase the mobility of teachers, young people, researchers and professionals in the cultural sector. The Commission has therefore proposed a substantial financial increase for the participation of Neighbouring countries in all education, youth and culture programmes during the next two years to 2013.

Participants discussed the serious obstacles to mobility which continue to exist between the two regions, in particular related to visa delivery, recognition issues or insufficient information on funding opportunities. The uneven mobility flows are also seen as problematic: in the future generation of programmes, the Commission will need to identify ways to incite EU students, teachers, researchers, young people and cultural actors to spend more learning, teaching or research mobility in Eastern Partnership countries.

Source: European Commission