The Programme is rooted, inter alia, in the commitments made in the UN Millennium Declaration, in particular Goal No. 2, in the outcome of the Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development as well as in the Framework for Action on Education for Sustainable Development in ACP States.
EDULINK represents a harmonised approach for the implementation of European Commission funded programmes in the ACP Group of States with a view to improving the effectiveness, management, visibility and hence the impact of ACP-EU co-operation in the field of higher education.
The overall objective of the EDULINK Programme is to foster capacity building and regional integration in the field of higher education through institutional networking, and to support a higher education system of quality, which is efficient and relevant to the needs of the labour market, and consistent with ACP socio-economic development priorities.
The programme purpose is to strengthen the capacity of ACP Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) at their three constitutive levels:
- Institutional/administrative
- Academic and
- Research and Technology
The programme aims at achieving the following results:
- Enhanced contribution to national and/or regional policies and implementation plans for regional co-operation in higher education;
- Increased inter-institutional networking between HEIs in the ACP regions and in the EU;
- Creation of better regional conditions for effective networking of higher education centres in research, and science and technology innovation;
- Enhanced management and financial administration capacity of HEIs;
- ACP HEIs become regional and/or international poles of attraction;
- Creation of a suitable institutional framework to pursue academic excellence in higher education;
- ACP countries are enabled to develop or reinforce their strategic expertise in fields linked to the socio-economic development of the country/region.
In its 1st phase 5/2006 – 12/2008, the EDULINK Programme has been financed under the 9th EDF Intra-ACP envelope. During this period, 3 Calls for Proposals have been launched: in October 2006 with a budget of €5.000.00, in June 2007 with a budget of € 9.000.000 and in April 2008 with a budget of € 16.000.000. The 3 calls have resulted in the selection of 66 projects, of which 65 are still ongoing.
Since the beginning of 2009, EDULINK has entered into its 2nd phase, which will continue through the end of 2011.
In the implementation of the Programmen, the ACP Secretariat is assisted by a Programme Management Unit (PMU), both in phase I and II.
It should be highlighted that the scope and content of the 3 mentioned Calls for Proposals has evolved overtime and, moreover, the general higher education context has changed with the introduction of new EC initiatives such as the "ACP Science and Technology Programme", "Erasmus Mundus" and the anticipated "Intra-ACP Mobility Scheme".
