On 19-21 March, a delegation of Belarusian experts in higher education visited Brussels. A group of specialists representing different higher education institutions of the country had a series of meeting at the European Commission, the European Parliament, Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency, as well as the European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education. The Belarusian delegates also paid a visit to the Maastricht University in the Netherlands.
In the frames of the visit the Belarusian experts had a chance to learn more about the EU programmes such as Tempus, Erasmus Mundus and Jean Monnet, to discuss the possibilities for Belarus’ participation in them as well as the difficulties and obstacles the Belarusian universities face while implementing the EU-supported projects.
One of the programme’s point was a trip to the Maastricht University during which the Belarusian experts got acquainted with the university management system, as well as with the possibilities for funding available for higher education institutions in the Netherlands. A particular emphasis was paid to implementation of Bologna principles in Dutch universities as well as in Moldova that became possible thanks to the presence of a Moldovan researcher at the meeting.
At the meeting at the European Association for Quality Assurance the Belarusian delegates were informed about the principles on which the Association’s activities are based, the membership criteria, and the organisation’s main projects and initiatives. The possibilities of cooperation and joining the Association were also discussed during the visit.
A study-trip of Belarusian experts to Brussels is part of the project EU and Belarus: Sharing Knowledge which is being implemented by the Office for a Democratic Belarus (Brussels) in cooperation with the Belarusian Institute for Strategic Studies (BISS, Vilnius, Lithuania) provided a technical support by the Office for European Expertise and Communication (Minsk, Belarus). The Project aims at improving communication channels and possibilities for exchange of expertise between Belarusian and EU experts. This Initiative is supported by the European Commission.