Europe Is Here 2.0: EU Delegation launches new campaign on its financial support to Albania

The Delegation of the European Union to Albania launched today a new communication campaign on how the European Union is supporting Albania becoming a Member State and Albanians becoming future EU citizens.

Building on last year's Europe Is Here campaign, this new wave will inform citizens about EU's financial assistance to Albania, especially in key sectors such as education, health, innovation, agriculture and culture.

Dedicated to the EU's contribution to the education sector in Albania and in the presence of the EU Ambassador Luigi Soreca, Minister of Education and Sports Evis Kushi, EU Member States, university professors and students, the launching event of Europe Is Here 2.0 campaign took place at the Polytechnics University of Tirana.

In his remarks, Ambassador Soreca said: "Investing in young people is key in taking Albania forward on its EU path. This year we chose to start our Europe Is Here awareness raising campaign with education because of the importance the EU attaches to this key sector and the substantial funding it provides to Albania through programmes for education and youth. Europe Is Here because we want to continue our conversations with you on how the EU is helping Albania to get closer to the European Union, improving the life of Albanians every day while providing wide opportunities to the Albanian youth: to be engaged, to be connected, to be empowered."

Minister Kushi said: In her speech, Minister Kushi pointed: "Our current objective, in which all universities have joined us, is our close cooperation with the most prestigious European and world universities. I am pleased to say that in a very short time, universities have managed to conclude cooperation agreements and initiate joint study programs, in order to guarantee quality in higher education and for our students' diplomas to have the same value as those of their peers in other EU countries. I must emphasise that the European Union is our most important partner in the field of higher education, but also in our entire education system."

Apart from Erasmus+, the European Union has invested EUR 100 million in education in Albania over the last 10 years, mostly on vocational education and training, inclusive education as well as rehabilitation and reconstruction of educational facilities.

For detailed information about the EU support to the Education sector visit www.euprojects.al. The platform gathers information on past and ongoing projects funded by the EU. For each project, website provides information about the implementing partners, beneficiaries, objectives, actions and expected results, in a fully transparent manner. The database has a user friendly interface and the search function allows the search of projects by sector or any keyword.

Facts and figures on EU support to education in Albania:

• More than €100 million of contributions from the EU to the education sector in the last 10 years.

• 8,000 Albanians are among the beneficiaries of the Erasmus+programme through the individual mobility scheme, which consists of scholarships and exchanges with partner universities in the EU Members States, enhancing the capacities of Albanian students, professors and university employees.

• The EU supports Albania to develop its Vocational Education and Training (VET) system with over €30 million for rehabilitating VET centres and improving the competences of VET teachers, extending VET to the rural areas and marginalised groups as well as matching the VET offer to the employment opportunities.

• The EU4Schools programme, with an EU grant of €75 million is reconstructing or repairing 63 educational institutions benefiting 40,000 pupils, children and teachers. The EU4Schools programme is the EU's biggest investment in childhood education in Albania laying the foundation for further learning to the benefit of the country's young generations.

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