JoinEUsee > PENTA

JoinEUsee > PENTA – EU & South Eastern Europe: Participating, Exchanging and Networking in a Transnational Alliance for Internationalization in Higher Education

JoinEUsee > PENTA is a scholarship scheme for mobility between the EU and the Western Balkans. It is co-financed by the Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency of the European Commission (EACEA) in the framework of the Erasmus Mundus 2009-2013 initiative, which is a worldwide cooperation and mobility programme in the field of higher education. JoinEUsee > PENTA scholarships support mobility at all levels of higher education, including both mobility for students (undergraduate, master, doctoral and post-doctoral) and staff (academic and administrative). The Erasmus Mundus JoinEUsee > PENTA scholarships include a monthly subsistence allowance, travel expenses, insurance costs and tuition fees if applicable. Only mobility flows between the EU on the one side and the Western Balkan partner countries on the other side are eligible for funding.

Aims of JoinEUsee > PENTA

The Erasmus Mundus JoinEUsee > PENTA project operates in accordance with the objectives of the Erasmus Mundus Action 2 programme. It strives to contribute to the achievement of better understanding and mutual enrichment between the European Union and third countries in the field of higher education and society at large.

The Project does not only offer scholarship holders the opportunity to expand their academic competences, language skills as well as social and intercultural competences, thus improving their employability in an ever faster changing society. The work done in the context of the project aims to consolidate the academic as well as the political, cultural and economic cooperation between the EU and Western Balkan countries and within the targeted region.

Through the mobility and the resulting transfer of knowledge, qualifications and skills, the advancement of the Bologna Process reforms will be facilitated and grantees as well as their institutions will benefit from the mutual experience in academic, cultural and economic terms. This will contribute to the development of highly-qualified human capital, capacity building in the higher education institutions (through the fostering of the management capacities of the universities involved) and the real participation of society at large (guaranteeing the participation of students in a vulnerable situation).

AIMS at a glance:

• Facilitating the mutual enrichment of societies by supporting the development of individuals’ qualifications in order to improve their employability on the labour market and help them develop open-mindedness and international experience.

• Promoting the academic mobility of excellent third country students, academics and researchers, in particular from vulnerable groups, in order to maximine the impact of the project.

• Enhancing the international co-operation capacity of the partner institutions by sharing good practice and knowledge in the organization of mobility programmes for the purpose of studying, joint teaching, training and research on the basis of the principles of non-discrimination and equal opportunities.