ErasmusL.L.P.Office

The Lifelong Learning Programme (LLP) is an educational European Community programme based on articles 149 and 150 of the European Union Treaty. According to article 149, the Community encourages quality in education through initiatives set up in close collaboration with member states. Erasmus is a programme for higher education within the Lifelong Learning Programme and its aim is to increase the quality and European dimension of higher education, encouraging transnational cooperation between universities.

The Academy of Fine Arts of L’Aquila has successfully participated in this international exchange programme since the academic year 2000/2001, when it was part of the Socrates-Erasmus programme. The programme, financed by the European Community, aims to encourage student and teacher mobility between similar European Institutions, thus helping to break down cultural barriers and strengthening the European dimension of education whilst also increasing the level and number of languages studied within the European Union.

The programme encourages equality between men and women, equal opportunities for disabled people and actively strives to counteract social exclusion, racism and xenophobia. The European Community’s Commission, through the Socrates National Agency (Italy), awards mobility grants to thousands of students and teachers, and helps students and teachers who are unable to participate directly in exchanges to further the European aspects of their studies. The European Commission also finances and runs additional support activities connected to this mobility. Institutes wishing to participate in this educational exchange programme must first apply and receive approval from the European Community. Agreements can be drawn up between Institutes in the 27 states of the European Union (Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxemburg, the Netherlands, Portugal, the United Kingdom, Spain, Sweden, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Cyprus, Lettonia, Lithuania, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Bulgaria and Romania, SEE countries (Iceland, Liechtestein, Norway) and candidate countries (Turkey).

The Erasmus programme therefore enables exchange of information and experience between students and teachers. However, Institutes are required to organize their teaching on the basis of the European Credit Transfer System (ECTS) which by establishing criteria for the evaluation of courses, reflects the organization and teaching of the courses on offer.

Briefly, the ECTS allows for a global evaluation of the work carried out by the student, be it in the form of lessons attended or independent study and, together with the mark achieved by the student using the traditional marking system out of thirty, it forms a basis for comparison. Hence the results a student achieves in a host institute can be recognized and evaluated on return to their own Institute. Students and teachers from the Academy of Fine Arts of L’Aquila can take part in the exchange programme with the Academy’s partner Institutes in the countries that are listed in notices posted annually on the Academy’s notice board and on its web site, in the Erasmus section.

These notices also provide information concerning grants, eligibility and how to apply . This year’s notice has already been published and can be accessed through this site