Press Release: Commission proposes renewal of the cooperation programmes with the United States and Canada in higher education and vocational training

The Commission has adopted the Council's proposed decisions concerning the agreements between the Community, the United States and Canada for the period 2001-2005. These new agreements are due to be signed at the summits between the EU and the United States on 18 December 2000 in Washington and between the EU and Canada on 19 December 2000 in Ottawa. They are due to be concluded definitively in February 2001, after the European Parliament has given its opinion.

In the spirit of the New Transatlantic Agenda adopted in 1995 by the EU and the United States and the Transatlantic Declaration adopted in 1996 by the EU and Canada, these programmes encourage the creation of 'joint consortia' between higher education and vocational training establishments on both sides of the Atlantic. Each consortium must include at least three partners on each side. Consortia develop and implement projects in the following fields: student mobility preparation (language courses, etc.), student and teacher exchanges, joint teaching modules, use of new technologies in education and training, and distance learning.

http://ec.europa.eu/comm/education/ec-usa/usa.html http://ec.europa.eu/comm/education/ec-usa/usa.html

http://ec.europa.eu/comm/education/canada/canada.html http://ec.europa.eu/comm/education/canada/canada.html

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