WRITTEN QUESTION E-1460/03

by Bárbara Dührkop Dührkop (PSE) to the Commission

(29 April 2003)

Subject: The Comenius programme and intercultural education

Will the Commission say how many projects on intercultural education and the schooling of children of migrant workers, gypsies and itinerant workers have been undertaken under the Comenius programme since 1997? Will it also provide a list of those projects and state the total amount of appropriations earmarked for projects of this kind each year?

Answer given by Mrs Reding on behalf of the Commission

(11 June 2003)

When the Socrates I Programme was established in 1995, a specific action (Comenius Action 2) was set up to promote intercultural education in schools. Annually, about EUR 5 million were provided in the framework of action 2. The table below indicates the typology of approved project applications and the grants earmarked for these projects for the years 1997-2000:

>TABLE>

Comenius Action 2 projects could have a duration of up to three years but had to apply for a grant every year. Therefore, a project could have several applications throughout the years which explains why a high number of project applications appear in the table above. The average grant per project per year was EUR 52 000.

Under the Socrates II programme, as approved by the Council and the Parliament, the old Comenius Action 2 ceased to exist as an independent action. All activities (both intercultural education and activities envisaged for the specific target groups of old action 2) were integrated into other parts of the Comenius action, namely into teacher training activities (Comenius 2.1) and thematic networks (Comenius 3). However, the main part of the old Action 2 type projects was to be funded under the teacher training oriented Comenius 2. This was to bring traditional Action 2 projects closer to the national initial and in-service teacher training systems, thus increasing the impact of these projects on the educational systems.

Moreover, intercultural education projects targeting all pupils at risk became over the years more numerous than projects focusing specifically on marginalised groups such as migrant children, gypsies and occupational travellers. Thus the table below indicates the total number of project applications and the amount of grants allocated to these mainstreamed intercultural projects per year and no longer the grants allocated per target groups.

>TABLE>

Under Socrates II Comenius projects on intercultural education may also have a project duration of maximum three years. The novelty, however, is that the project co-ordinator has to apply only once for the total project duration. Therefore, the number of approved applications appears less high but one has to note that the grant is approved for a longer period. Moreover, the grants allocated to these projects are proportionally higher than their Comenius 2 Action predecessors, the average grant per project per year being EUR 67 000.

A copy of the lists of approved project applications for the years 1997-2000 and 2001-2002 which were co-financed by the Commission is sent direct to the Honourable Member and to Parliament's Secretariat.

Further information on the content of these projects can be found on the following web site: http://europa.eu.int/comm/education/socrates/comenius/projects.htm

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