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Management of COMENIUS

Overall responsibility for the implementation of COMENIUS lies with the European Commission. It is assisted in this task by the SOCRATES Committee and the SOCRATES School Education Sub-Committee, consisting of  representatives of the Member States.

The operational management of the programme is carried out by the Commission in close co-operation with national authorities, with the assistance of National Agencies, designated by the national authorities in the participating countries in order to facilitate the coordinated management of the programme, and a Technical Assistance Office at Community level.

The National Agencies have specific responsibilities relating to the selection of projects and the distribution of grants under parts of COMENIUS, as well as the related monitoring and financial management duties. In addition, the Agencies perform a number of important functions: disseminating   information; providing assistance in finding suitable project partners; giving guidance and advice on the submission of applications and other matters; and providing feedback on the way COMENIUS functions.

In COMENIUS, as in the SOCRATES programme in general, there are two basic types of management - centralised and decentralised:

• Centralised: the application, selection and contractual procedures are run by the Commission. As a general rule, one of the partner institutions within the project acts as co-ordinator and is responsible for the project towards the Commission.

• Decentralised: the application, selection and contractual procedures are run by the national authorities of the participating countries assisted by National Agencies. As a general rule, each institution involved has a direct relationship with the National Agency of the country where it is located. Activities involving individual mobility (for teachers, pupils, students etc.) are handled by the National Agency either by direct contact with the persons concerned or indirectly via the educational institution at which these persons are working / studying.

Centralised procedures apply under  Comenius 2 (European cooperation projects for the training of school education staff) and Comenius 3 (Comenius Networks).

Decentralised procedures apply under Comenius 1 (School partnerships) and Comenius 2 (Individual training grants).

The political and legal basis for COMENIUS

The following texts form the legal basis for the COMENIUS part of the SOCRATES Community action programme in the field of education.

• Treaty establishing the European Community para. 149:
• Decision n° 253/2000/EC of the European Parliament and the Council of 24 January 2000 establishing the second phase of the Community programme in the field of education "SOCRATES".

The following documents give details on aims and strategies of the European Community's policy in the field of education and learning.

• Cooperation with the Member States an report on "The concrete future objectives of education and training systems in Europe"
• Communication COM(2000) 318 from the Commission: "e-Learning: Designing Tomorrow's Education", 2000
• Communication COM(97)563 from the Commission "Towards a Europe of knowledge", 1997
• White paper on education and training: "Teaching and Learning; Towards the Learning Society" presented by the European Commission, 1995.

Source : http://europa.eu.int/comm/education/programmes/programmes_en.html