The objective of TEMPUS IV is to establish an area of cooperation and modernisation in higher education between the European Union and partner countries in the surrounding area, including Central Asia. The programme focuses on international cooperation and not on mobility.
The geographical coverage of the so-called partner countries is:

• Western Balkans countries covered by the Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance (IPA): Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), Kosovo/UNMIK, Montenegro, and Serbia
• Countries of Eastern Europe, North Africa and the Middle East covered by the European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument (ENPI): Algeria, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Egypt, Georgia, Israel (new), Jordan, Lebanon, Moldova, Morocco, the Palestine Authority, the Russian Federation, Syria, Tunisia, and Ukraine
• Countries from the Central Asian Region covered by the Development and Cooperation Instrument (DCI): Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan

The greater involvement of national authorities in the definition of priorities and selection of projects is new. Therefore, more support by a network of National Contact Points in EU Member States and National Tempus Offices in partner countries will be required during the application phase.
Three types of projects will be financed. The first type, the Joint Projects (JP), and the second type, Structural Measures (SM) will be financed by calls for proposals (see below). The third type, the Accompanying Measures (AM), will be supported through calls for proposals, tenders and framework contracts.

The Joint Projects have to be implemented at institutional level and should be focused on one of the following activities:

• Curriculum reform
• Governance reform
• Higher education and society
• Thematic networks

The Structural Measures have to be implemented at national level for the development and reform of national higher education structures and systems in the partner countries in the field of governance reform or higher education and society.
The following activities are eligible:

• Surveys and studies
• Policy and expert advice
• Organisation of conferences, seminars, workshops, round tables
• Staff training on policy issues
• Awareness raising campaigns

The Ministry of Education must directly participate or formally endorse the projects’ objectives and activities.

A second differentiation of the projects will be made between national and multi-national projects:
In national projects only one partner country is part of the consortium. The submitted proposal has to fulfill the national priorities.
A partnership needs at least:
Two higher education institutions, each from a different EU Member State
One academic or non-academic partner from a third EU Member State
Three higher education institutions from the partner country (in the case of Montenegro, Kosovo/UNMIK and FYR of Macedonia one institution is sufficient)
Multi-national projects have at least two partner countries involved in one project and have to follow the programme-wide priorities.
A partnership needs at least:
Two higher education institutions, each from a different EU Member State
One academic or non-academic partner from a third EU Member State
One higher education institution from each partner country

For both project types, Joint Projects and Structural Measures, the project duration will be between 24 and 36 months and the contribution of the European Commission will be from EUR 500.000 to EUR 1.500.000 with at least 5% co-financing (for Albania, Montenegro and Central Asia the minimum grant amount will be EUR 300.000).

The TEMPUS IV programme and the first call should be published in January 2008. The application form will be in English, German and French. The deadline for the submission of proposals for Joint Projects and Structural Measures is expected to be April 2008. The results should be published in November 2008 and the contracting and pre-financing of the successful projects should take place in December 2008.

A summary of all the new elements in Tempus IV is provided on the next page. More information will be soon published on the website of the European Commission: http://see-science.eu/goto/999.html, where you also find a list of the TEMPUS National Contact Points (NCP) in the EU and the National TEMPUS Offices (NTO) in the partner countries.

Article published in see-science.eu eJournal fall/winter 2007.