The topic EU Politics and Initiatives aims to present an overview of most relevant recent information and news about politics and initiatives for supporting e-learning in Europe, as well as in project participating countries, selected and recommended by the project partners.

Links about Politics and Initiatives at EU and national level:

EU    Bulgaria    Czech Republic    Spain    Romania    Finland

• the Mobility Action Plan, supported by EU government leaders in December 2000;

• the eLearning Action Plan, adopted by the Commission in March 2001;

• the work programme to implement a report on the concrete future objectives of education and training systems, adopted in February 2002;

• the Action Plan on Skills and Mobility, presented by the Commission to the EU summit (European Council) in March 2002.

Education Ministers of 31 European countries (Member States, candidate countries and EEA countries) have adopted the Copenhagen Declaration on enhanced European cooperation in vocational education and training (30 November 2002). The declaration gives a mandate to develop concrete actions in the fields of transparency, recognition and quality in VET.

In February 2003, the Commission presented a set of proposed benchmarks in education and training to the Council of Ministers.  Five benchmarks were adopted by the Council on 5 May.

• Official Documents at:
  http://www.elearningeuropa.info/index.php?page=offdocs&menuzone=1

• European Comission Education and Training – eLearning:
  http://europa.eu.int/comm/education/programmes/elearning/index_en.html

• European Distance and e-learning network: http://www.eden.bme.hu/

EU

The eLearning initiative of the European Commission

The eLearning initiative of the European Commission seeks to mobilise the educational and cultural communities, as well as the economic and social players in Europe, in order to speed up changes in the education and training systems for Europe's move to a knowledge-based society. De En Es Fr It

Important news all around European Union

Provide the latest and most important news all around European Union. It contains links from Politics, Finance, Education etc. En

EU policies and directions

The official link of the European Union which covers all its policies and directions. The site is translated into all official languages of the EU. Da De Gr En Es Fr It Nl Pt Fi Sv

Distance Learning and eLearning in European Policy and Practice

The Vision and the Reality. eLearning in 2000 and 2004: Two different pictures and review of the impact of EU eLearning policies. En

e-Learning - the integration of advanced ICT into the education system

e-Learning: In a world increasingly based on knowledge and information, education and training are put at the core of the European agenda. Europe's future economy and society are being formed in the classrooms of today. Students need to be both well educated in their chosen field and digitally literate if they are to to take part effectively in tomorrow's knowledge society. e-Learning - the integration of advanced information and communication technologies (ICT) into the education system - achieves both aims. En

Information and communication in e-learning

A portal about the use of information and communication technologies to improve learning. An initiative of the European Commission. En

Political news from all EU countries

It is a non-Partisan News Service for Political Professionals. It provides political news from all EU (and candidate) countries. En

Bulgaria

Communication Strategy for the Preparation of Bulgaria for Membership in the European Union

With the advancing and acceleration of the course of Bulgaria's negotiations for EU membership, this topic is becoming the focus of public interest. This Strategy should mobilise and coordinate the existing institutions and resources for conducting a public dialogue for European integration, so as to meet the need of information, to prevent the disappointment after excessive and unrealistic expectations, to prepare society in advance for the need of applying concrete unpopular measures by linking them with the long-term goals of the country. All this would solicit real support for the governmental policy aimed at membership of the country in EU. Bg En

Czech Republic

National Educational Plan in Czech Republic

White Book: Ministry of education and youth, Published in 2001, For disabled people section II. Specific problems in education, chapter 10. Education of health and social disabled people. Cz

Spain

ICT in Education: Spanish initiative

The Spanish Ministry of Education and Science has implemented a web page concerning to the use of new technologies at educational purpose. Es

Status Report on Information Technology in Spain in 2004

Monthly report elaborated by the Undersecretary's office of Industry, Tourism and Commerce, with the main indicators on Industry, Labor Market, Commerce, Energy, Tourism and Telecommunications Es

Romania

Romanian e-Content Prize

The Romanian e-Content Prize is the national phase of the World Summit Award and aims at encouraging creativity and developing the local production of digital content. The World Summit Award is an international project of WSIS (World Summit on Information Society) that intends to show the benefits of the Information Society by selecting, presenting and promoting the best products all over the world. Ro

Romanian Standard on Distance Learning

The standard includes the chapter "Standards regarding the using of e-learning platform in distance learning" Ro

Finland

Higher Education Policy in Finland

The website offers the same data as the annual paper publication by Finland's Ministry of Education En Fi

Priorities in Finland's Education

Information Strategy for Education and Research 2000-2004 Implementation Plan, Development plan for education and university research for the period 2003-2008 etc. En

The Finnish strategy for education, training and research in the formation society

The national strategy opens with a description of its vision, followed by the objectives for 2004, an analysis of the present situation, and the necessary actions presented in each Chapter. En

Finnish Ministry of Education: Development plan for education and university research for the period 1999-2004

The fundamental policy line in the government programme highlights know-how and knowledge which equitably benefit the regions of the country. Finland's future depends on know-how and a capacity for utilising the know-how and creating new innovations. En

Report of the EU strategy committee

E-learning in Finland's and EU strategy of education. Fi