EUROPE: Special visas for foreign students

A committee of the European Parliament is seeking improvements in the EU's Erasmus Mundus university cooperation and student mobility programme, including a specific visa for students. The committee says that if tuition fees are claimed by universities taking part, these should always comply with national legislation - making it possible to include countries such as Denmark where the fees are not allowed.

The report from the parliament's education and culture committee says European higher education must be competitive to attract foreign university students and teachers who previously went to study in the US.

"The aim is not to organise the brain drain but, on the contrary, to train the future generations of emerging countries", said the committee's rapporteur, French MEP Marielle De Sarnez.

Her report says the EUR950 million (US$1,500 million) Erasmus Mundus II programme should aim to promote the EU as a centre of academic excellence, seeking to attract "the best-qualified students and academics from third countries by offering high-quality master's or doctoral programmes created by consortia of universities from at least three different countries".

As linguistic diversity is a high priority for the EU in higher education, programmes should provide for the use of at least two EU languages and the students should be offered language preparation, the report says. The programme also seeks to create partnerships between universities within and beyond Europe, as well as promoting European higher education internationally.

The second phase of Erasmus Mundus in 2009-13 will include joint doctoral programmes, more scholarships for European students and an increase in structural co-operation with third-country higher education institutions. Phase two also includes a mobility programme for all levels of higher education.

About half the budget will be spent creating joint master's degrees and doctorates and about half on establishing partnerships between European and third country universities as a basis for structural co-operation exchange and mobility, including a scholarship scheme.

Parliament is expected to vote on the report in September or October this year.

alan.osborn@uw-news.com