1. TEMPUS

2. GENERAL OBJECTIVES Contribute to socio-economic reform and development Reinforce civil society Promote intercultural understanding

3. SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES Reform and upgrade higher education Develop human resources to better suit labour market needs TEMPUS

4. PARTNER COUNTRIES Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, FYROM, Serbia and Montenegro, Kosovo Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Mongolia, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestinian Authority, Syria, Tunisia TEMPUS

5. MEANS Cooperation between higher education institutions in the EU and in Partner countries TEMPUS

6. APPROACH Combination of bottom-up and top-down approach TEMPUS

7. NATIONAL PRIORITIES – COMMON FEATURES MEDA Setting up strong quality assurance mechanisms Bologna, a reference for reform Modernising infrastructure Distance education (Age pyramid) Adapt to labour market needs (too many HE graduates) Greater synergies with vocational training Improving teacher training Upgrading university management (admission procedures) TEMPUS

8. TYPE OF PROJECTS STRUCTURAL AND COMPLEMENTARY MEASURES JOINT EUROPEAN PROJECTS INDIVIDUAL MOBILITY GRANTS TEMPUS

9. IMPLEMENTATION DEVELOPMENTS Greater weight of national priorities Revision of certain criteria Joint calls with Socrates TEMPUS

10. UP COMING EVENTS Regional conference in Central Asia – Tashkent 22-23 November 2004 Conference on cooperation university-enterprise (Jordan, 2005) Conference on quality assurance in transition countries (2005) TEMPUS