Riyadh – Asdaf News:
The first Erasmus+ Information Day was arranged by the Ministry of Education and the European Union Delegation to Saudi Arabia to showcase potential areas of collaboration in research and higher education. The event, which took place on October 30 at the Ministry of Education’s facilities in Riyadh, brought together representatives from all of Saudi Arabia’s major universities along with experts from Europe.
The European Union finances the Erasmus project, which is the first extensive worldwide initiative to support student mobility in higher education. Over 13 million pupils have benefited from it since its inception 35 years ago. With a focus on lifelong learning, this plan promotes youth, sports, education, and training both domestically in Europe and abroad, particularly in the Gulf region and has a budget of €26.2 billion for 2021-2027.
The Gulf area now has access to Erasmus+ programmes, allowing Saudi universities to collaborate with their European counterparts on staff and student exchanges. Information about these opportunities was disseminated to Saudi colleges and institutions through the Erasmus+ Information Day in Saudi Arabia.
Speaking at the event, the EU Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Oman and Bahrain, H.E. Christophe Farnaud said: “The European Union is accelerating international cooperation in the academic field, offering tremendous opportunities for young Saudi students to study and live in the EU. Erasmus+ is designed to enhance two-way exchanges and also enable more Europeans to come to study in the Gulf, further bolstering our people-to-people contacts and our bilateral relations.”
Several expert speakers attended the event including Erasmus+ National Agency of Ireland as well as representatives of some leading European universities from Germany and Italy, among others.
The event was organised with the support of the European Commission’s Technical Assistance and Information Exchange Instrument (TAIEX).
In May 2022, the European Union introduced its Joint Communication on a Strategic Partnership with the Gulf, aiming to broaden and deepen the EU’s cooperation with the Gulf Cooperation Council and its Member States. The Communication presents concrete proposals to strengthen cooperation on energy, green transition and climate change, trade and economic diversification, regional stability and global security, humanitarian and development challenges, and closer people-to-people contacts. It also puts an emphasis on the importance of encouraging mobility opportunities for the region’s young people in the fields of higher education and research, including through the Erasmus+ programme.
