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Socrates : the European educational program

Socrates is the European programme for education. Its main objective is precisely to build up a Europe of knowledge by encouraging cooperation between the participating countries and thus provide a better response to the major challenges of this new century: to promote lifelong learning, encourage access to education for everybody, and help people acquire recognized qualifications and skills. In more specific terms, Socrates seeks to promote language learning, and to encourage mobility and innovation. The actions taken under Socrates project are funded by European Comission and the Natioan agencies when developed satisfying certain rules and supported by the appropriate documents. The budget for Socrates project is EUR 1.850 million over seven years.

The actions of Socrates

1. Comenius - School education
2. Erasmus - Higher education
3. Grundtvig - Adult education and other educational pathways
4. Lingua - Language teaching and learning
5. Minerva - Information and communication technologies in education
6. Observation & Innovation - Educational systems and policies
7. Joint actions with other Community programmes
8. Accompanying Measures

Participating countries in Socrates

There are a total of 31 countries taking part :

• 15 European Union Member States: Belgium, Germany, Denmark, Greece, Spain, France, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Austria, Portugal, Finland, Sweden, United Kingdom;
• Three EFTA countries: Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway;
• 10 associated countries: Bulgaria, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, the Czech Republic, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia;
• Cyprus, Malta, and Turkey.

Further information on Socrates is obtainable from:
http://europa.eu.int/comm/education/socrates.html