OVER 300 UNIVERSITY STUDENTS TO PARTICIPATE IN THIS YEAR'S ERASMUS PROGRAMME

The Socrates programme is the European Union programme which focuses on Education, the Erasmus programme, falls under the Socrates programme and is aimed at offering opportunities to University and tertiary education students.

The 5^th of February was earmarked as Erasmus Day and the launching of this year's application phase by the Minister for Education Louis Galea. In his speech the Minister said that he was satisfied to see so many opportunities being offered to Maltese students at all levels of our education system as well as other opportunities available for trainers, young workers and the industry. The minister said that the European Programmes have proven to be very popular with the Maltese population and this was a sign that the Maltese are eager to use all educational opportunities that are presented to them.

The Minister mentioned the importance of Socrates-Erasmus in the internationalisation of the University of Malta and the internationalisation of the whole education system locally. Within this context, it is important that Maltese Nationals have the possibility of proceeding abroad to sample academic life in a European institution.

The European Union and Malta recognise that Erasmus is a very positive step towards a recognised employability of new graduates. Erasmus students would be in a better position to provide working skills to Maltese companies after their placements in European learning environments.

Minister Louis Galea emphasised that the Erasmus experience is not just about taking credits in a foreign environment but rather the whole cultural and human development experience which occurs both locally and abroad. The minister said he was very pleased that local institutions were receiving hundreds of Erasmus students from all over Europe. Student feedback is positive and a number of monitoring and evaluation studies are being carried out to assess the current programmes and improve their effectiveness.

The number of placements this year has increased to 314 from last year's 275 which means more opportunities for local students. The Minister said that these figures are already very positive, however when one couples these with the hundreds of students at different levels ranging from primary and secondary levels to post-secondary and vocational courses as well as the opportunities for young workers, trainers, SME's and Industry in general, one starts to understand the magnitude of the opportunities created through Malta's participation in the European Programmes for the Maltese Population.

Minister Louis Galea mentioned that Malta has managed to recoup all the money it has invested in its Socrates participation and has actually managed to double the funding that it had provided for local participation.

The Minister said that he was pleased to note that most Faculties were involved. A considerable amount of lecturers and members of staff have been abroad on Erasmus placements teaching in foreign countries. Next year it is expected that more than 80 members of staff would be involved. The minister urged all faculties to ensure that there were no artificial barriers to Mobility as insularity in all sections of education does not promote innovation and much needed reform.

Concluding, the Minister said that following last week's unanimous parliamentary agreement that the debate on the future of Europe was of National importance, a similar interest should arise in the Maltese student bodies to discuss this matter of National and Regional importance.