• ES - español
  • EN - English
Parliamentary question - E-004435/2015Parliamentary question
E-004435/2015

Iacobus exchange programme between Galicia and northern Portugal

Question for written answer E-004435-15
to the Commission
Rule 130
José Blanco López (S&D)

The Iacobus programme, which is funded by the EU in the amount of EUR 300 000, integrates the Galician universities of Vigo, Santiago and Corunna with the Portuguese Catholic university of Oporto and those of Minho and Tras Os Montes and Alto Douro, as well as with the polytechnic institutes of Oporto, Viana do Castelo, Bragança, Cávado and Ave.

It was inspired by Erasmus, and according to data from the Xunta de Galicia [Galician regional government] in its initial phase 191 candidates were inscribed from Galicia and Portugal, of whom 62% — 73 teachers, 30 researchers and 15 service workers, according to the data — would receive funding. There would be 223 candidates — 119 with grants — for the second phase.

However, the programme excludes students from Galicia and northern Portugal, thus losing the factor of exchange between universities announced by the President of the regional government, which the programme was initially designed to provide. Doubts have also arisen as to the suitability of the requirements for access to grants.

What cross-border academic exchange programmes are there at present? What measurable requirements for access to grants do they lay down? Which of them envisage first‐ and second-cycle students taking part? How much funding do these programmes receive and how are the funds distributed?