On Thursday, 16 January 2014, the new European Programme for education, training, youth and sport, ‘Erasmus+’, was launched at the Academy of Athens. The event was organized by the Ministry of Education and Religious Affairs in the context of the Hellenic Presidency of the Council of the EU during the first half of 2014.

 

The Minister of Education, Prof. Konstantinos Arvanitopoulos addressed the event. In his opening speech, he noted the following:

 

“The new Erasmus+ programme will be an important instrument for the reinforcement of education and training, intending to upgrade individual skills, to tackle high rates of youth unemployment, as well as to address skills mismatches”. The rationale of the new programme and the important increase of the relevant budget, amounting to approximately € 15 billion, offer many opportunities to students, pupils, young people, teachers and youth organizations, to improve their skills, their professional prospects as well as their personal development”, Prof. Arvanitopoulos pointed out. 

 

The minister also noted that the new programme “will provide incentives for the development of partnerships, as well as the support of knowledge alliances, in order to implement a wide range of activities which convey, exchange and impart knowledge among Higher Education Institutions and enterprises. Knowledge alliances aim at the promotion of excellence  and innovation as well as the development of new multi disciplinary curricula for the enhancement of skills, such as entrepreneurship’’. Concluding his speech, the Minister of Education and Religious Affairs made a reference to the new instrument Erasmus+ introduces, “the grant of loans for postgraduate studies. Through this innovative action, the European Commission completes the national social policies of scholarships and education loans and further contributes to social equity.”

 

The event was also addressed by European Commissioner for Education, Culture, Multilingualism and Youth, Ms Androulla Vassiliou.