“Europeans evaluate this programme as the third most positive result of the European Union, right after the freedom of movement and peace. Over 10 million people have participated in this programme over the past three decades, through as many as 165 thousand projects,” said Ms Mateja Norčič Štamcar, Chargé d’Affaires and Deputy Head of the EU Delegation to Serbia, on the occasion of the celebration of 35 years of the Erasmus+ Programme and 20 years of the Tempus Foundation.
She emphasised that the Erasmus+ Programme has contributed to a better quality of education throughout Europe, through strengthening openness, innovation, cooperation, exchange of experiences and examples of good practice. “The internationalisation of education in Europe is part of our reality – more and more young people are enrolling or spending part of their studies abroad, so international mobility is becoming more and more interesting for students,” said Norčič Štamcar.
Erasmus+ is the largest programme of the European Union that finances projects in the field of education, training, youth and sports. The Tempus Foundation, the organisation responsible for implementing the Programme, has been supporting international cooperation in the field of education for 20 years and contributing to the personal professional development of citizens and institutions.
Branko Ružić, First Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Serbia and Minister of Education, Science and Technological Development, emphasised the importance of the Erasmus+ Programme, which is most evident in the success of institutions from Serbia: “Since the beginning of participation in the Programme in 2014, over 850 institutions and organisations from the Republic of Serbia have improved their work, and all those who have been involved in the Programme have had the opportunity to improve their competences through the exchange of experiences with the colleagues from abroad through 4300 projects.”
Minister Ružić also emphasized that, in addition to these significant results, the achievements of the Erasmus+ Programme are not measured only by the number of institutions whose projects have been approved and on which the participation in the Programme have had a positive effect, but also by the participation of as many as 16,600 citizens – teachers, students and young people.
In the upcoming period, the Programme strives to enable the participation of a higher number of participants and a wider spectrum of organisations, which is why the Tempus Foundation took this opportunity to mark the achievements of the Programme in Serbia so far, and present its possibilities for successful implementation in the future.
The European Union, as the largest donor in Serbia, supports the modernisation of the education system and the alignment with the standards and practices of the EU countries. Since 2003, the EU has donated more than 100 million euros for the reform of the education sector – for the improvement of preschool education, the reform of secondary vocational education and adult education, the renovation and equipping of schools and faculties, the support for inclusive education, etc. The support of the European Union is implemented in cooperation with the Government of Serbia.
