Socrates

Description: Europe’s education programme involves about 30 countries. It aims to build up a Europe of knowledge and thus provide a better response to the major challenges of this new century. Socrates also seeks to promote language learning, and to encourage mobility and innovation. The main Socrates actions (each of which is covered in this database) are:

• Comenius1: School partnerships
• Comenius 2: Training of School Education Staff
• Comenius 3 : Comenius Networks
• Erasmus : Higher Education
• Grundtvig: Lifelong Learning
• Lingua 1: Learning European Languages
• Lingua 2: Learning European Languages
• Minerva: Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in Education

Socrates advocates European cooperation in all areas of education: mobility (within Europe), organising joint projects, setting up European networks (to disseminate ideas and good practice), and conducting comparative analyses. It offers people grants to study, teach, undertake a placement or follow a training course abroad. It helps educational establishments to organise teaching projects and to exchange experiences. It helps associations to organise activities on educational topics, etc. All activities must have a European dimension based on transnational cooperation.

Socrates targets forums of learning of all age-groups and levels. Educational establishments are encouraged to open up to new ideas and practices, e.g. by building up partnerships with establishments in other countries or working with the various players of civil society.

Socrates stresses the multicultural character of Europe as a cornerstone of active citizenship. It targets disadvantaged groups, to counter social exclusion and underachievement at school. It promotes equal opportunities for women and men. It covers information and communication technologies (ICT). It encourages the learning of many European languages, and innovation in education.

Relevance for Lesser-Used Language communities:
Projects for language learning (Lingua) cannot specifically target the regional or minority languages unless they are official EU languages; but the language groups themselves can receive support in order to learn other languages. In most actions the language of instruction or of materials does not affect eligibility.

"In the context of activities involving the mobility of persons, adequate linguistic preparation should be provided in order to ensure that the beneficiaries possess the necessary competence in the language(s) of instruction in the host establishment. Appropriate organisational arrangements should be made at the home and host establishments in order to ensure that maximum benefit is derived from the mobility activity in question." Annex to Socrates programme Decision (2000): see URL below.

Contact:
List of SOCRATES National Agencies

URL:
http://europa.eu.int

More information:
In short (pdf format)
General description (pdf format)
Decision No 253/2000/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 January 2000 establishing the second phase of the Community action programme