Exchange programmes and Northern Ireland

When it comes to educational policy, the European Union acts a forum for the exchange of ideas and good practice between Member States as it does not have a 'common education policy'. Each Member State is responsible for the content and organisation of its education and training systems, however the EU provides funding for:

• Multinational education, training and youth partnerships;
• Exchange schemes and opportunities to learn abroad;
• Innovative teaching and learning projects, and
• Networks of academic and professional expertise.

These opportunities are open to everyone concerned with education, from individual school classes, teachers, parents and students to managers, professional organisations and education experts.

Socrates

Socrates is the European Union's programme for education-related activities and is open not only to the EU Member States but also to the candidate countries. Its main objective is to build up a Europe of knowledge and to promote lifelong learning, encourage access to education for everybody, and help people gain recognised qualifications and skills. In more specific terms, Socrates seeks to promote language learning and to encourage mobility and innovation.

Activities can take various forms and include:

• organising joint projects;
• setting up European networks to share ideas and experiences;
• conducting comparative studies.

In practice, Socrates offers people grants to study, teach, undertake a placement or follow a training course in another country. It provides support for educational establishments to organise teaching projects and to exchange experiences.

Socrates is administered through a number of stands, covering school to higher education, new technologies to adult learners. The most popular strands are Erasmus and Comenius.

Erasmus

"Bringing students to Europe, bringing Europe to all students" is the new spirit of Erasmus. This strand of Socrates contains a wide range of measures designed to support the European activities of universities and to promote the mobility and exchange of their teaching staff and students. Erasmus is open to all types of higher education institutions, all academic disciplines and all levels of higher education study up to and including doctorate.

More than 2,000 higher education institutions in 31 countries participate in Erasmus, with some 1.2 million students having benefited from the scheme since it was introduced in 1987.

Erasmus Case Study

At the beginning of her second year at Queen's University Belfast, Nicola Starrs applied to the Erasmus programme to enable her to spend time studying in Spain. Nicola, who was studying Single Honours Spanish, was chosen for the programme and spent a semester studying in Las Palmas.

She studied at the Faculty of Translation and Interpretation at the University of Las Palmas from February to July 2001. During her time there she attended classes in translation and interpreting alongside local Spanish students. She was also given the opportunity to attend a Spanish class with other visiting students from around the world.

Nicola found her experience of Erasmus extremely rewarding as it helped her:

• improve her level of fluency in the Spanish language and gain an insight into everyday life in Spain;
  
• meet students from other countries, many of whom she remained in touch with, and gain an understanding of their culture and way of life;
• spend a full year studying and working in Spain, immediately following her Erasmus experience;
• develop her own self confidence and personal skills, including communication skills.

Rhonda Mulholland of Stranmillis University College, Belfast, spent three months at the Vordingborg Statsseminarium, Denmark, studying Geography (BEd).

"Erasmus is one of the most rewarding and enjoyable experiences that I have had since starting university" said Rhonda. "Three months living in a different country really opens your mind and broadens your horizons. I learnt so much at a personal, academic and professional level - things that no text book or "self-fulfilment" book could ever teach you. We were treated really well by the college and the students in Vordingborg - Danish people in general are just fantastic - and they all speak really good English."

Comenius

Comenius is the strand of Socrates which targets school education - from nursery schools through to sixth form or further education colleges. It comprises three broad types of activity, all of which provide opportunities for schools and colleges looking to introduce or strengthen the European dimension in their curriculum. Comenius supports such things as school partnerships, in-service training for staff and network building.

Comenius Case Studies

Millington Primary School, along with its partner schools in the Czech Republic, The Netherlands and Spain, received funding for the creation of an international magazine called 'Comenius Times'. The project aimed to increase pupils' awareness of the languages and cultures of their partner countries and to develop their ICT skills by producing three magazines per year. The pupils shared information with their partners and contributed puzzles, quizzes, recipes, drawings, poetry etc. Other project activities included:

• a designated European Week;
• language learning and the production of a multilingual dictionary;
  a computer club;
• collaborative story writing.

The schools also planned to set up a joint website and to introduce the children to video-conferencing. Although the initial three-year project has ended, Millington has maintained contact with the schools from the Czech Republic and The Netherlands. During the past three years, Millington has hosted Czech and Dutch teachers and officials on fact-finding tours and study visits, while teachers from Millington have attended a conference in the Czech Republic.

In March 2005, 10 Beauty Therapy students from Omagh College visited El Batan college in Oviedo, Spain, as part of the Comenius Language Exchange scheme. Students compared beauty therapy equipment and materials in both Spanish and English. Prior to the visit, the Omagh students started learning Spanish, and whilst in Oviedo they joined in language classes every day.

The visit was filmed by a Spanish television company making a documentary. In April, the Spanish students spent two weeks at Omagh College.

Euroscola

Several times a year, the European Parliament's Euroscola programme brings together a group of about five hundred 16-18 year old secondary level students from the 25 European Union countries for a day of meetings to learn about the European Parliament and discuss topical European issues.

Coming from different cultures and countries, and speaking a variety of languages, the students divide into multilingual working parties of about 100 members to discuss EU policies and programmes and students are also give the opportunity to ask questions to Parliament representatives.

Euroscola Case Studies

Alana Fearon, a first year student at Queen's University Belfast, studying French and Law, was one of eight students from Northern Ireland to participate in the Euroscola programme.

Following an induction weekend in Paris, the group made their way to Strasbourg for a day's activities in the European Parliament. Having been allocated a particular policy area, the students joined groups from other EU Member States and these multi-lingual groups then discussed the policy area in question - in Alana's case EU Environmental Policy. Alana was appointed rapporteur for her group and had to report her group's findings, in French, to a top level Committee chaired by the then President of the European Parliament, Nicole Fontaine.

Alana derived tremendous benefit from her participation in Euroscola and it helped her to:

• gain an insight into the workings of the European Parliament and a better understanding of some of the EU's policies and programmes;
• meet students of the same age from other EU Member States and to interact with some of them through a second language;
• further her knowledge of the French language, both through informal conversation with fellow students and through more formal discussion in the Parliament;
• broaden her career choices and open up future career possibilities

Following her Euroscola experience, Alana decided to combine Law with French as she would like to pursue a career within the European Institutions.

Eddie Fogarty and Joanne Gallagher were prizewinners in the November 2005 Euroscola event. Part of a group of 26 young people drawn from communities and schools in the Lisburn area (including Old Warren, Glenavy, Colin, Ballinderry, Dunmurry and Seymour Hill), the two won their prizes in 'Eurogame' - a quiz about Europe.

The 26 youngsters were also involved in debates on a range of issues, including the environment, the European Union's role in the world, EU foreign policy, human rights, education, sport, culture and how to bring the Union closer to its citizens.

For further information on SOCRATES in the UK go to www.britishcouncil.org/socrates
For further information on the European Parliament go to www.europarl.europa.eu