What is EURECA?

EURECA stands for EURopean Education CAmpaign.

Aims/Objectives of the Project
The project is born from a reflection of needs (AEGEE Planning Meeting Spring 2001, Katowice; AEGEE General Assembly Spring 2001, Constanta) that have been identified as the following:

• Today's Education does not sufficiently reflect a European dimension.
• At the moment a feeling of "European Citizenship" is not perceptible among the broad population
• Current Education Programmes reach only a very limited target group.
• Current Education Systems do not integrate sufficiently formal, informal and non-formal techniques.

Arising from this reflection of needs, based in figures and facts about the present situation, EURECA was conceived as a Campaign for European Education focusing on five main aims:
• Raising awareness for the importance of Education for the future integration of Europe and its citizens.
• Establishing a dialogue and an open exchange of ideas (horizontal- among students of all disciplines- and vertical- between students and decision-makers).
• Underlining the role that the European Union is playing in influencing European Education.
• Paying special attention to the role that Media can play in this issue.
• Elaborating a Proposal for a New Education Programme.

These five objectives of the project do not only touch theoretically the fact that current Education systems in Europe could be improved in order to provide a European dimension not as limited as in the current times. The project tries to cover four different stages, a first one of awareness raising, a second of review and study of the present, a focus towards a possible future and a final proposal.

Raising Awareness - the Education Action Week (February 2002)
The Action Week is conceived as a Pan-European opinion poll where AEGEE-Members have the chance to enter in a dialogue with decision-makers. It would be a reflection about current Education systems where a large number of local AEGEE groups would have the chance to organize parallel activities, such as discussion rounds and debates, information campaigns and workshops. It would serve as a first step to attract the attention of the public, especially in the media and to conduct a survey about the expectations of young people.

A description of the present - 7 Conferences (April- July 2002)
The official launch of the project will be the Opening Conference, taking place in April 2002, intended to give a short analysis of the history of education policy, to gather the results of the Education Action Week and to enter in a first study of the different pillars of the project, bringing together the different actors (250 participants).

A series of Six Pillar Conferences, taking place in six different cities in EU members states as well as pre-accession countries from April to July 2002 with 100 participants each, will provide coverage to the role of the six actors that have been identified as the main ones influencing Education. Each one of these actors have what we can name "responsibilities" in the field of Education, which are the following ones:
•The Academic World: Universities and other institutions of Higher Education are a central part of education systems.
•Institutions: The actors on different levels that have a main influence on the structure of education systems and educational programmes.
•NGOs: Non-governmental organisations are on one hand active in forming public opinion concerning education, one the other hand, especially in the youth field, an actor covering non-formal Education and the recognition of this by other actors should be studied.
•The Media: is the actor which is playing a fundamental role in influencing the society, and as well Education can be influenced from this side.
•The Private Sector: private companies influence Education being the ones who will recruit the students afterwards.
•The Enlargement Process: a process which will definitely modify the education systems in the European continent.

Interim Evaluation - Education Study Meeting (August 2002)
The Study Meeting will gather 30 participants reflecting about the ideas concluded in the first phase. This meeting involves AEGEE, its Education Working Group and its Alumni Organisation, who will discuss together diving into an in-depth analysis of current EU Education Programmes. It will also start the discussion about a possible set-up of a new Education Programme.

A practical view into Future - Seminars (September/October 2002)
In short words, four seminars intend to focus on the creation of a new proposal and different practical matters of establishing a new Education Programme. These seminars (30 participants each) would try to involve different research institutes as partners.The division would be:
•Legal Aspects of EU Programmes
•Budget Mechanism of the EU
•Human Resources in EU Programmes
•Information Campaign for EU Programmes

Impact of the Project- the Final Proposal (December 2002)
A final proposal voted by the AGORA, the General Assembly of AEGEE, would be the final step to have an impact on the different bodies involved in Education. It would be presented to the external world in a Final Conference in the European Parliament in Brussels in December, a round-up of the whole project.