YOUTH, TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT

TEMPUS

Tempus (the Trans European cooperation scheme for higher education) is a European Union programme. It was adopted by the Council of Ministers of the European Union on 7 May 1990 and was extended for the third time on 29 April 1999, until the year 2006 (Tempus III).

Tempus is the European Union's major instrument for the development and restructuring of higher education in Central and Eastern Europe and the New Independent States and Mongolia.

Tempus forms part of the overall EU initiatives to support economic and social restructuring of central and Eastern Europe (Phare programme) and to foster the development of harmonious and prosperous economic and political links between the European Union and the New Independent States and Mongolia.

In 1999 a total of 53 countries were eligible for cooperation in Tempus projects, out of which 26 partner countries in the above mentioned regions. Funding is provided through Phare and Tacis Action Programmes, the individual amounts per country being the result of negotiations between the European Commission and the partner countries.

The two main objectives of Tempus are:

* To promote the quality and support the development and renewal of higher education in the Phare and Tacis partner countries.

* To encourage their growing interaction and as balanced a cooperation as possible with partners in the European Union, through joint activities and relevant mobility.

Tempus is a programme responsive to the specific needs of individual institutions and partner countries. Projects are formulated by universities in the partner countries in cooperation with their partners from the European Union, where the EU universities supply their know-how and experience.

Tempus has given support to high quality projects aiming to restructure and develop curricula and teaching materials, upgrade teaching facilities, and/or improve university administration in higher education institutions in the partner countries.
Since 1998, Tempus also supports projects in the field of Institution Building, focusing on the development of administrative and institutional structures of partner countries, in particular with a view to promoting democracy and the rule of law. Tempus does this by providing financial grants for cooperation projects between higher education establishments in the EU and the partner countries in priority areas which are defined by the respective Partner States and the European Commission and which are in line with the overall socio-economic reform process of these countries.

Between 1990 and 1998 the EU has invested nearly 800 million Euro in restructuring higher education in the Phare and Tacis partner countries by supporting more than 14,950 projects through Tempus.

Tempus is administered by the European Commission, DG Education and Culture. Since January 1995, technical assistance for the Programme has been provided by the European Training Foundation in Turin. This structure is complemented by Tempus National Contact Points (NCPs) in the EU Member States, National Tempus Offices (NTOs) in the CARDS Partner Countries and Tempus Information Points (TIPs) in the TACIS Partner Countries.

More information: http://www.etf.it/etfweb.nsf/pages/tempus

 

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