Dr. Paul Lefrere <p.lefrere@open.ac.uk>

P. Tapio Varis, Ph.D, Professor <tapio.varis@uta.fi>

Kimberly K. Obbink <kobbink@montana.edu>

Ben I. Haraguchi <haralaw@cs.com>

Franck BIANCHERI <fbianch@club-internet.fr>
 
 

Dear Paul:
==========

(1)  Many thanks for your very valuable info (ATTACHMENT I).

     This give us a practical direction for our Global University System project.

          BTW, when you meet Tapio on 5/24th in Helsinki, pls try together
          to raise funds from European Commission for the mini-workshop of
          the GUS/European operation, which workshop is to be held at your
          Open University in the U.K.

          Dear Kim:
          =========

          They are now working to hold the mini-workshop.  I will inform you
          as soon as they set its date.  You previously indicated me of your
          desire to attend it.

Dear Ben:
=========

(2)  This is the material I mentioned to you over the phone a few hours ago.
     Pls read it carefully, and may include its spirit in your write-up of
     our GUS project.

     Our GUS project includes telemedicine which is not mentioned in this agreement.

     Our project also has specific tasks of establishing a global broadband
     Internet among participating educational, health and non-profit
     institutions with Global Service Trust Fund (GSTF) to support distance
     learning and telemedicine activities.

Dear Franck:
============

(3)  This may be of your interest, too.

Dear Electronic Colleagues:
===========================

(4)  The spirit and scheme of this cooperative agreement may well be
     applicable to your regional activities, say, in Asia-Pacific, Central
     and South America, Africa, Pakistan, Egypt, etc., hopefully with the
     European Community and/or the United States of America.

Best, Tak
            ****************************************
                          ATTACHMENT I

Date: Wed, 10 May 2000 21:16:53 +0100
Subject: cooperation between Europe and US
To: utsumi@columbia.edu
From: P.Lefrere@open.ac.uk (Paul Lefrere)

utsumi@columbia.edu writes:
>(a) Pls email me the name and address of the organization for the
>cooperation between the European Commission and the US.

Dear Tak

I have (somewhere) got a document with the address you ask for.
Unfortunately I have no time now to look for it (it is late evening here
and I must pack a suitcase for my trip to Bath, early tomorrow morning),
but I will look for the document when I return at the weekend.

For now, all I can offer you is a document with some background. The text
of the document is below. The agreement refers to the first phase of the
cooperation programme, which is now complete, having lasted for 5 years
until 1999. The programme was evaluated. The result was as follows: "It is
the major recommendation of this evaluation that the US Programme should
be expanded to 50 million EUROS and the Canada Programme to 10 million
EUROS over the forthcoming five-year period and its profile heightened."
So that is why we now have a second phase, also of 5 years. This will
commence later this year.

Paul

-----

Agreement between the European Community and the United States of America
establishing a cooperation programme in higher education and vocational
education and training, 1995-1999
 

Objectives: To establish a cooperation programme to promote innovative
actions in the area of education and training which promote qualitative
improvements by building on the different relative strengths of all
participants to their mutual benefit.

Subdivisions of Programme: Two actions:

- Joint EC/US Consortia projects:
Activities eligible for support may include:
. Development of organizational frameworks for student mobility, including
work placements, which provide adequate language preparation and full
academic recognition;
. Structured exchanges of students, teachers, trainers and administrators
in higher education institutions and vocational education and training
establishments;
. Joint development of innovative curricula, including the development of
teaching materials, methods and modules;
. Short intensive programmes of at least three weeks duration;
. Teaching assignments forming an integral part of the curriculum in a
partner institution;
. Other innovative projects, including the use of new technologies and
distance learning, which aim to improve the quality of transatlantic
cooperation in higher education and vocational education and training;

- Complementary activities:
The following activities may be undertaken by the Parties:
. Exchanges of information about vocational education and training and
higher education including, where appropriate, conferences on issues of
common interest;
. Provision of Fulbright scholarships for the study of, and research and
lecturing on, European Community affairs and EC/US relations;
. Measures to facilitate the dissemination of information on the
programme, including making the results and achievements of joint
consortia projects available for the use of a wider audience;
. Provision of technical assistance to support the programme.

Implementation: The programme is primarily implemented through joint
higher education and vocational training projects conducted within joint
EC/US consortia. The eligible subject areas for joint EC/US consortia are
to be mutually agreed by the appropriate authorities on each side.

Each joint consortium must contain a minimum of three active partners on
each side, including at least two partner higher education or training
institutions on each side located in different Member States of the
European Community and different states of the USA. (For the USA, the two
institutional partners may come from autonomous campuses in the same state
in exceptional circumstances). The third and subsequent partners may be
other education and training institutions or other relevant organizations
(e.g. businesses, NGOs, chambers of commerce, research institutions). All
joint consortia must involve, with only rare exceptions, transatlantic
student mobility, with a goal of parity in the flows in each direction.
Support towards the costs of such study abroad will be provided by each of
the parties.

The administration of the joint projects is to be implemented by the
competent officials of each Party. These tasks comprise:

- Deciding the rules and procedures for the presentation of proposals,
including the preparation of a common set of guidelines for applicants;
- Establishing the timetable for publication of calls for proposals,
submission and the eventual selection of proposals;
- Providing information on the programme and its implementation;
- Appointing academic advisors and experts;
- Recommending to the appropriate authorities of each Party which projects
to finance;
- Financial management;
- Programme monitoring.

The programme also provides for a number of complementary measures,
notably, exchanges of experience in the area of higher education and
training to enhance the dialogue between the European Community and the
United States of America. A full list of the complementary activities
which the Parties may undertake is contained in the "Subdivisions" section
of the summary.

A Joint Committee, comprising of an equal number of representatives from
each Party, is to be established to assist in the implementation of the
programme. More specifically, the Joint Committee is charged with
reviewing the cooperative activities envisaged under the programme and
with drafting a report to the Parties on the level, status and
effectiveness of cooperative activities pursued under the programme. It is
expected that the Joint Committee will meet at least once a year, with the
possibility of holding supplementary meetings if mutually agreed. The
location of these meetings is to alternate between the territories of both
Parties.

Cooperation activities are subject to the availability of funds and to the
applicable laws and regulations, policies and programmes of the European
Community and the United States of America. Financing of activities under
the programme is made from the available budget, based on an overall
matching of funds between the Parties. For Joint EC/US Consortia projects,
financial support is provided by the European Commission for the European
Community consortia partners, and by the USA for its consortia partners.
The structural cooperative activities of a consortium are supported by
seed funding for a period not normally exceeding three years.

Costs incurred by, or on behalf of, the Joint Committee are met by the
party to whom the Members are responsible.

The Agreement establishing the programme will enter into force on the
first day of the month following the date on which the Parties have
notified each other in writing that their respective legal requirements
concerning the entry into force of the Agreement have been fulfilled. The
Agreement may be extended by mutual accord of the parties upon completion
of the initial five years in 1999.

URL: http://europa.eu.int/en/comm/dg22/frontus.html

General Information: The present Agreement establishes a programme
designed to strengthen cooperative activities in higher education and
vocational education and training with the United States of America,
thereby providing a formal basis for conducting cooperative activities in
these domains. The programme gives practical expression to the 1990
Transatlantic Agreement (the section devoted to education, scientific and
cultural cooperation) and to the wish expressed by the European Parliament
that the Community should actively develop educational cooperation with
third countries.

Proposed for a period of five years (1995-1999), the programme is
specifically designed to encompass both higher education and vocational
training and to encourage, where appropriate, interaction between the two.
Interactions are also encouraged between higher education institutions,
training organizations and the workplace. With this in mind, the various
cooperative activities covered by the programme are focused on:

- Promoting mutual understanding between the peoples of the European
Community and the United States of America, including broader knowledge of
their languages, cultures and institutions;
- Improving the quality of human resource development in both the European
Community and the United States of America;
- Stimulating student-centred cooperation in higher and vocational
training between the different regions in the European Community and in
the United States of America;
- Improving the quality of transatlantic student mobility including the
promotion of mutual understanding, recognition and thus portability of
academic credits;
- Encouraging the exchange of expertise in new developments in higher
education and vocational education and training;
- Promoting partnerships among higher education and vocational training
and training institutions, professional associations, public authorities,
business and other associations as appropriate in both the European
Community and in the United States of America;
- Introducing a European Community and a United States dimension to
transatlantic cooperation in higher education and vocational education and
training;
- Complementing bilateral programmes between the Member States of the
European Community and the United States of America, as well as other
European Community and United States programmes and initiatives in higher
education and vocational education and training (for example the
Community's LEONARDO DA VINCI and SOCRATES programme).

The activities covered by the programme are targeted at the following
groups:

- Policy-makers in the area of education and training, including public
officials and representatives of the social partners;
- Higher education institutions including staff and, within the framework
of projects, students;
- Training establishments, including ongoing lifelong learning
establishments, staff and indirectly through projects, students;
- Industry and R&D establishments where these are linked to projects led
by an education or training partner.

>From the European Community perspective, the Joint Consortia projects will
build on and enhance relevant intra-Community policies and programmes,
with the expectation that in many subject areas the activities of existing
Community networks will be improved by the input of US experience. In
addition, the structuring of actions on a consortium basis will facilitate
the participation of education and training institutions in the regions
which have, in the past, found such transatlantic cooperation too costly.

Given the different relative strengths in the various stages of
successfully transferring scientific advances from laboratory to the
market place, it is also anticipated that activities under the programme
will provide an opportunity for European participants to regain some of
their lost international competitiveness in the area of world trade in
high technology.
            ****************************************
                      List of Distribution

Dr. Paul Lefrere
Senior Lecturer
Institute of Educational Technology
Open University
Walton Hall
Milton Keynes MK7 6AA
UNITED KINGDOM
Tel: +44-1-908 65 33 88
Fax: +44-1-908 67 28 02
p.lefrere@open.ac.uk
http://www-iet.open.ac.uk/

P. Tapio Varis, Ph.D, Professor
Acting President, Global University System
Chairman, GLOSAS/Finland
Professor and Chair
Media Culture and Communication Education
Hypermedia laboratory
University of Tampere
P.O.Box 607
FIN-33101 Tampere
FINLAND
Tel: +358-3-215 6110
GSM: +358-50-567-9833
Fax: +358-3-215 7503
tapio.varis@uta.fi
http://www.uta.fi/~titava

Kimberly K. Obbink
Director
Burns Telecommunications Center and Extended Studies
128 EPS Building,
Montana State University
Bozeman, MT 59717-3860
USA
Tel: +1-406-994 6550
Fax: +1-406-994 7856
kobbink@montana.edu
http://btc.montana.edu

Ben I. Haraguchi
President
Foundation for the Support of the United Nations (FSUN)
809 United Nations Plaza, Suite 1200
New York, NY 10017
USA
Tel: +1-212-986 8114
Fax: +1-212-986 8131
haralaw@cs.com
http://www.fsun.org

Franck BIANCHERI
President
PROMETHEUS-EUROPE
4, rue de Berite
F-75006 PARIS
Tel: +33.1.42.22.88.61
Fax: +33.1.42.84.12.30
fbianch@club-internet.fr
president@prom.org
centre@prom.org
http://www.newropeans.org
TAKE A LOOK AT OUR WEBSITE: WWW.PROM.ORG
<ties-list> is a closed mailing list of North-American and European
partners for transatlantic information exchange.
For more information send "info ties-list" in a message body to:
Majordomo-K@dds.nl
Archive: http://www.dds.nl/hypermail/ties-list/
Contact: ties-list-owner@dds.nl
http://www.dds.nl/hypermail/ties-list/0007.html--About Tampere event.

**********************************************************************
* Takeshi Utsumi, Ph.D., P.E., Chairman, GLOSAS/USA                  *
* (GLObal Systems Analysis and Simulation Association in the U.S.A.) *
* Laureate of Lord Perry Award for Excellence in Distance Education  *
* Founder of CAADE                                                   *
* (Consortium for Affordable and Accessible Distance Education)      *
* President Emeritus and V.P. for Technology and Coordination of     *
*   Global University System (GUS)                                   *
* 43-23 Colden Street, Flushing, NY 11355-3998, U.S.A.               *
* Tel: 718-939-0928; Fax: 718-939-0656 (day time only--prefer email) *
* Email: utsumi@columbia.edu;  Tax Exempt ID: 11-2999676             *
* http://www.friends-partners.org/GLOSAS/                            *
**********************************************************************

Return to: Global University System Early 2000 Correspondence
Web page by Steve McCarty, World Association for Online Education President