EP wants double scholarships for students in the Erasmus program

STRASBOURG - The European Parliament today approved a request to increase scholarships for students taking advantage of the European Erasmus program from the current 150 euros per month (4500 CZK) to 210 euros (6300 CZK) in 2007. Scholarships are also set to increase later, reaching up to 300 euros (9000 CZK) by 2013. The European Commission also proposed an increase, but at a slower pace - from 200 euros in 2007 to 250 euros seven years later.
The Parliament has proposed to significantly raise funding for additional educational, cultural, and media programs of the EU. Its demands are only theoretical, as the EU currently lacks a framework budget for 2007-13. However, they can be seen as an additional form of pressure to ensure that member states approve sufficient EU funding.
Rapporteur Doris Pack (German CDU) pointed out that 150 euros per month no longer reflects the rising cost of living and that for poorer students, studying at foreign universities under Erasmus is becoming inaccessible. She highlighted the immense success of this program, which has already been used by one million students. The report calls for the number of participants to continually increase - by 2013, at least every fifteenth university student should study abroad for at least one semester with EU funding.
Thanks to the Erasmus program, around 4000 Czechs and thousands of Slovaks studied abroad in the past academic year. Czech students most frequently travel to neighboring Germany under the program; in the previous academic year, over 900 studied there through Erasmus. France is their second most popular destination, with over 500 heading there. 200 fewer students went to Britain. Similarly, students from these countries also most often travel to Czech schools under the program.
Overall, the Parliament requests that the EU spend 14.377 billion euros on educational programs (Erasmus, Leonardo da Vinci, Comenius, Grundtvig, and Jean Monnet) for the years 2007-13, which is 757 million more than the European Commission proposes.
Members of Parliament also voted for a substantial increase in funds for cultural exchange programs and for the support of cultural heritage preservation - they are requesting a total of 600 million euros over seven years, a significant jump compared to the 236.5 million for the current period of 1999-2006. The Commission proposed 408 million.