3.12.2009

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 294/18

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Call for proposals — EACEA/29/09 for the implementation of Erasmus Mundus II

2009/C 294/08

—	Action 1 — JOINT PROGRAMMES

—	Action 2 — PARTNERSHIPS

—	Action 3 — PROMOTION OF EUROPEAN HIGHER EDUCATION

Programme objectives

The Erasmus Mundus programme's overall aim is to promote European higher education, to help improve and enhance the career prospects of students and to promote intercultural understanding through cooperation with third countries, in accordance with EU external policy objectives in order to contribute to the sustainable development of third countries in the field of higher education.

The programme's specific objectives are:

—	to promote structured cooperation between higher education institutions and an offer of enhanced quality in higher education with a distinct European added value, attractive both within the European Union and beyond its borders, with a view to creating centres of excellence,

—

to contribute to the mutual enrichment of societies by developing the qualifications of women/men so that they possess appropriate skills, particularly as regards the labour market, and are open-minded and internationally experienced through promoting mobility for the most talented students and academics from third countries to obtain qualifications and/or experience in the European Union and for the most talented European students and academics towards third countries,

—	to contribute towards the development of human resources and the international cooperation capacity of higher education institutions in third countries through increased mobility streams between the European Union and third countries,

—	to improve accessibility and enhance the profile and visibility of European higher education in the world as well as its attractiveness for third country nationals and citizens of the Union.

The Erasmus Mundus Programme Guide and the relevant application forms for the three actions are available at the following address:

http://eacea.ec.europa.eu/erasmus_mundus/funding/higher_education_institutions_en.php

A.   Action 1 — ERASMUS MUNDUS JOINT PROGRAMMES

This action that aims at fostering cooperation between higher education institutions and academic staff in Europe and third countries with a view to creating poles of excellence and providing highly trained human resources is composed of two sub-actions:

—	Action 1A — Erasmus Mundus Master Courses (EMMCs) and

—	Action 1B — Erasmus Mundus Joint Doctorates (EMJDs)

whose aim is to support postgraduate programmes of outstanding academic quality, jointly developed by consortia of European and, where relevant, third-country universities and that could contribute to the increased visibility and attractiveness of the European higher education sector. Such joint programmes must involve mobility between the consortia universities and lead to the award of recognised joint, double or multiple degrees.

A.1.   Eligible participants and Consortium composition

The conditions applicable to eligible participants and to the composition of the consortium are specified in the Programme Guide under sections 4.2.1 for Action 1A and 5.2.1 for Action 1B.

A.2.   Eligible Activities

Eligible activities are specified in the Programme Guide under sections 4.2.2 for Action 1A and 5.2.2 for Action 1B. No thematic priorities have been identified for this call.

A.3.   Award Criteria

Action 1A and 1B applications will be assessed against the following award criteria:

—	for Action 1A — Erasmus Mundus Master Courses (EMMCs): Criteria Weight 1. Academic quality 30 % 2. Course integration 25 % 3. Course management, visibility and sustainability measures 20 % 4. Students’ facilities and follow-up 15 % 5. Quality assurance and evaluation 10 % Total 100 %

—

Action 1B — Erasmus Mundus Joint Doctorates (EMJDs): Criteria Weight 1. Academic and research quality 25 % 2. Partnership experience and composition 25 % 3. European integration and functioning of the programme 20 % 4. Provisions for candidates granted an EMJD fellowship 15 % 5. Management, sustainability and quality assurance of the programme 15 % Total 100 %

A.4.   Budget

This call for proposals has no direct budgetary impact in 2010. It aims at selecting:

—	for Action 1A (EMMCs): 15 new applications and up to 21 renewal applications,

—	for Action 1B (EMJDs): 12 new applications.

For each of the selected applications, a five-year Framework Partnership Agreement (FPA) will be issued in the summer of 2010. These FPAs will give rise to the award of annual Specific Grant Agreements starting from the academic year 2011/2012 which will include on the one hand a financial support to the consortia implementing the joint programmes and on the other a yearly defined number of individual scholarships for European and third-country students, doctoral candidates and scholars.

A.5.   Submission Deadline

The submission deadline for Action 1A Erasmus Mundus Master Courses (EMMCs) and Action 1B Erasmus Mundus Joint Doctorates (EMJDs) is 30 April 2010.

The Agency is currently establishing a system for the electronic submission of all applications. For this call for proposals, applicants must send their application using an electronic form available as of February 2010 (a model of the electronic form will be published on the Agency's website as from December 2009).

This form (including annexes) is considered as the definitive application.

Additionally a paper copy of the complete application must be sent by post to the following address by the submission deadline:

Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency

Call for proposals EACEA/29/09 — Action 1

Att. Mr Joachim Fronia

BOUR 02/29

Avenue du Bourget 1

1040 Bruxelles/Brussel

BELGIQUE/BELGIË

Only applications submitted by the deadline and in accordance with the requirements specified on the relevant application forms will be accepted. Applications submitted by fax or directly by email only will not be examined.

In order to facilitate the identification of experts with the relevant academic and research expertise, applicants for Action 1A (Erasmus Mundus Master Courses — EMMCs) and 1B (Erasmus Mundus Joint Doctorates — EMJDs) are invited to submit a short description of their joint programme (one page maximum including the title, field/area(s) covered, core partners and short summary of the programme structure and key features) preferably one month in advance of the above-mentioned deadline (i.e. by 31 March 2010). A template of this summary sheet with the corresponding submission procedure can be downloaded from the following address: http://eacea.ec.europa.eu/erasmus_mundus/funding/higher_education_institutions_en.php

B.   Action 2 — ERASMUS MUNDUS PARTNERSHIPS

NOTICE

The Call for proposals is launched with a suspensive clause concerning the ACP lot. The EDF funding (and consequently the award of the resulting grant for the ACP lot) is subject to the pending signature of a Financing Agreement between the European Commission and the ACP Group of States.

This action aims at fostering structured cooperation between European and third-country higher education institutions through the promotion of mobility at all level of studies for students (undergraduate and masters), doctoral candidates, researchers, academic and administrative staff (not all regions and lots may include all mobility flows).

Action 2 — Erasmus Mundus Partnerships (EMA2) is divided into two strands:

—	Erasmus Mundus Action 2 — STRAND 1 — Partnerships with countries covered by the ENPI, DCI, EDF and IPA instruments (1) (former External Cooperation Window),

—	Erasmus Mundus Action 2 — STRAND 2 — Partnerships with countries and territories covered by the Industrialized Country Instrument (ICI).

B.1.   Eligible participants, Countries and Partnership composition

The conditions applicable to the eligible participants and to the composition of the partnerships are specified in the Programme Guide under section 6.1.2.a for EMA2 — STRAND 1 and under section 6.2.2.a for EMA2 — STRAND 2 and in the Guidelines to the Call for proposals EACEA/29/09 under section 5.3.1 for EMA2 — STRAND 1 and under section 5.3.2 for EMA2 — STRAND 2.

B.2.   Eligible activities

Eligible activities are specified in the ‘Erasmus Mundus 2009-2013 Programme Guide’ under section 6.1.2.b for EMA2 — STRAND 1 and under section 6.2.2.b for EMA2 — STRAND 2 and in the ‘Guidelines to the Call for proposals EACEA/29/09’ under section 5.3.1 for EMA2 — STRAND 1 and under section 5.3.2 for EMA2 — STRAND 2.

B.3.   Award criteria

Applications under EMA2 — STRAND 1 will be assessed against the following award criteria:

Criteria	Weight
1. Relevance	25 %
2. Quality	65 %
2.1. Partnership composition and cooperation mechanisms	20 %
2.2. Organisation and implementation of the mobility	25 %
2.3. Students’/staff facilities and follow-up	20 %
3. Sustainability	10 %
Total	100 %

Applications under EMA2 — STRAND 2 will be assessed against the following award criteria:

Criteria	Weight
1. Relevance	25 %
2. Contribution to excellence	25 %
3. Quality	50 %
3.1. Partnership composition and cooperation mechanisms	15 %
3.2. Organisation and implementation of the mobility	20 %
3.3. Students’/staff facilities and follow-up	15 %
Total	100 %

B.4.   Budget

The overall available amount under this call for proposals is approximately EUR 105,2 million, aiming at a minimum mobility flow of 3 881 individuals.

The available budget for EMA2 — STRAND 1 is EUR 97,7 million aiming at a minimum mobility of 3 716 individuals.

The available budget for EMA2 — STRAND 2 is EUR 7,5 million aiming at a minimum mobility of 165 individuals.

B.5.   Submission deadline

The submission deadline for the Erasmus Mundus Action 2 — Partnerships is 30 April 2010.

The grant application shall be sent by registered mail to the following address:

Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency

Call for proposals EACEA/29/09 — Action 2

Att. Mr Joachim Fronia

BOUR 02/29

Avenue du Bourget 1

1040 Bruxelles/Brussel

BELGIQUE/BELGIË

Only applications submitted by the deadline and in accordance with the requirements specified on the application form will be accepted. Applications submitted by fax or email only will not be accepted.

Where an applicant sends several different applications, each one must be sent in a separate envelope.

C.   Action 3 — PROMOTION OF EUROPEAN HIGHER EDUCATION

This Action aims at promoting European higher education through measures enhancing the attractiveness, profile, image and visibility of, and accessibility to, European higher education in the world and provides support to transnational initiatives, studies, projects, events and other activities related to the international dimension of all aspects of higher education, such as promotion, accessibility, quality assurance, credit recognition, recognition of European qualifications abroad and mutual recognition of qualifications with third countries, curriculum development, mobility, quality of services, etc.

Action 3 activities may take various forms (conferences, seminars, workshops, studies, analyses, pilot projects, prizes, international networks, production of material for publication, development of information, communication and technology tools) and may take place anywhere in the world.

C.1.   Eligible participants and Consortium composition

The conditions applicable to eligible participants and to the composition of the consortium are specified in the Programme Guide under section 7.2.1.

C.2.   Eligible Activities

Eligible activities are specified in the Programme Guide under section 7.2.2.

For the purposes of this call for proposals, projects must address one of the following priorities:

—	projects dealing with promotion of European higher education in certain geographical areas (priority will be given to areas which so far have been less represented in Erasmus Mundus projects: e.g. Africa and industrialised countries),

—	projects that aim to improve services for international students and doctoral candidates,

—	projects addressing the international dimension of Quality Assurance,

—	projects that aim to strengthen relations between European higher education and research,

—	projects promoting European study opportunities for doctoral candidates.

Projects which foresee the following activities will not be financed:

Activities implemented in the context of the internationalisation of ERASMUS Thematic Networks.

C.3.   Award Criteria

Action 3 applications will be assessed against the following award criteria:

Criteria	Weight
1. Relevance of the project to the Erasmus Mundus programme	20 %
2. The potential and expected impact of the project to help enhancing the attractiveness of European higher education worldwide	20 %
3. Arrangements for dissemination of project results and experiences as well as plans for sustainability and the long term exploitation of results	20 %
4. Partnership composition and cooperation mechanisms	20 %
5. Work plan and budget	20 %
Total	100 %

C.4.   Budget

This call for proposals aims at selecting around five projects. The total budget earmarked for the co-financing of projects under the present call for proposals is EUR 1 million. Grant amounts will vary considerably according to the size of the projects selected (usually between EUR 100 000 and EUR 350 000). The financial contribution from the Agency cannot exceed 75 % of the total eligible costs.

C.5.   Submission deadline

The submission deadline for the Erasmus Mundus Action 3 projects to enhance the attractiveness of European higher education is 30 April 2010.

The grant application shall be sent by registered mail to the following address:

Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency

Call for proposals EACEA/29/09 — Action 3

Att. Mr Joachim Fronia

BOUR 02/29

Avenue du Bourget 1

1040 Bruxelles/Brussel

BELGIQUE/BELGIË

Only applications submitted by the deadline and in accordance with the requirements specified on the application form will be accepted. Applications submitted by fax or email only will not be accepted.

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(1)  ENPI — European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument

DCI — Development Cooperation Instrument

IPA — Instrument of Pre-accession Assistance

EDF — The European Development Fund (EDF) is the main instrument for providing Community assistance for development cooperation under the Cotonou Agreement: ‘the Partnership Agreement between the members of the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States of the one part and the European Community and its Member States of the other part’.

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