Citizens Association United Youth

WHO WE ARE!?

Citizens Association United Youth is a youth, non-governmental, non-profit organization working in the vicinity of the Municipality of Kocani, Republic of North Macedonia. The organization United Youth, has a defined program that aims to achieve international collaborations with organizations, institutions and individuals to bring them closer to European policies, cultures, traditions and trends. Through these international collaborations the traditional values of the Republic of North Macedonia, language, culture, folklore and customs will be promoted. The organization enables active collaboration with the environment, population and institutions and will promote equality for all citizens of Europe regardless of nationality, religion, level of education and age.

The Erasmus Programme (EuRopean Community Action Scheme for the Mobility of University Students) is a European Union (EU) student exchange programme established in 1987. Erasmus+, or Erasmus Plus, is the new programme combining all the EU’s current schemes for education, training, youth and sport, which was started in January 2014.

The idea of allowing the exchange between European students originated in 1969, when Italian Sofia Corradi (nicknamed “Mamma Erasmus”) educator and scientific consultant of the permanent conference of Italian University Rectors: her role allowed her to raise awareness about this idea and make it known in the academic and institutional sphere.

The project was born thanks to an initiative of the EGEE student association (now AEGEE ) founded by Franck Biancheri (who later became president of the trans-European movement Newropeans) which in 1986-1987 convinced French president François Mitterrand to support the creation of the Erasmus programmel.

This active collaboration between AEGEE and the European Commission and especially Domenico Lenarduzzi, Ministry of Public Education, allowed the approval of the Erasmus program in 1987. It became an integral part of the Socrates I (1994-1999) and Socrates programs II (2000-2006). Since 2007 it has become one of the elements of the Lifelong Learning Program (2007-2013).

As of 2014, 27 years after its creation, the program has managed to promote the mobility of more than 3.3 million students within the European community. More than 4000 university institutions from 31 countries are participating in the project.

The Erasmus Programme, together with a number of other independent programmes, was incorporated into the Socrates programme established by the European Commission in 1994. The Socrates programme ended on 31 December 1999 and was replaced with the Socrates II programme on 24 January 2000, which in turn was replaced by the Lifelong Learning Programme 2007–2013 on 1 January 2007.

Erasmus+ 2014–2020

Erasmus+ (2014-2020), also called Erasmus Plus, is the new 14.7 billion euro catch-all framework programme for education, training, youth and sport. The new Erasmus+ programme combines all the EU’s current schemes for education, training, youth and sport, including the Lifelong Learning Programme (Erasmus, Leonardo da Vinci, Comenius, Grundtvig), Youth in Action and five international co-operation programmes (Erasmus Mundus, Tempus, Alfa, Edulink and the programme for co-operation with industrialised countries). The Erasmus+ regulation was signed on 11 December 2013.

Erasmus+ […] provides grants for a wide range of actions including the opportunity for students to undertake work placements abroad and for teachers and education staff to attend training courses.

All projects are divided in two parts – formal and non-formal education – each of them has 3 key actions. Erasmus+ key action 1 provides a unique opportunity for teachers, headmasters, trainers and other staff of education institutions to participate in international training courses in different European countries.

The staff home institution shall apply to receive the grant to send its staff members abroad for training.

Erasmus+ also conducts projects in Central Asia’s Kazakhstan. The programme funded 40 projects involving 47 universities in Kazakhstan. The total sum of the grant amounted to more than 35.5 million euro.

Erasmus Programme 2021–2027

On 30 May 2018, the European Commission adopted its proposal for the next Erasmus programme, with a doubling of the budget to 30 billion euros for the period 2021-2027. Further negotiations were expected to take place during the 2019-2024 European parliamentary term with the European Parliament and the European Council before the final programme is adopted.