Aim

The Balance Project is an ambitious pilot initiative funded by the European Commission within the framework of the Erasmus Mundus programme. The main objective is to balance academic mobility between Europe and North America by:

• Strengthening the knowledge of European higher education reforms (Bologna Process) in North America
• Forging and strengthening links between international offices in Europe and North America in order to increase mobility in both directions
• Establishing stable and sustainable information links
• Sustaining a high level of information on European higher education in North American Universities
• Promoting professional development of international office staff

These objectives will be attained through a series of activities designed to strengthen the knowledge of European higher education systems and the Bologna Process in North America, and to reinforce links between international offices in both regions.

Activities

• An Information Campaign: delivering an information package and dedicated web pages on the European education reforms to international offices at North American universities;
• Four training seminars for selected North American international office administrators at the universities of Barcelona, Cambridge, Graz and Turku, followed by site visits at individual European universities;
• Two evaluation conference-type meetings in North America to assess outcomes, agreements and plan future co-operation.

Partnership

Project Co-ordinator:
Coimbra Group www.coimbra-group.eu

Partners:
University of Barcelona (Spain) : www.ub.es
University of Cambridge (UK): www.cam.ac.uk
University of Graz (Austria): www.kfunigraz.ac.at
University of Turku (Finland): www.utu.fi