Fifteen projects involving Maltese coordinators have been submitted to the European Commission for inclusion in the EU`s Socrates Grundtvig programme of adult education through cooperation between countries.
A further six projects with Maltese partners have also been submitted, and all the projects are now undergoing the selection process.
Among the projects coordinated by Maltese are those relating to social inclusion, employability, adult training and learning methods, and racism and xenophobia.
Grundtvig seeks to enhance the quality, availability and European dimension of lifelong learning, promote educational opportunities for those who leave school without basic qualifications, and encourage learning that takes place outside formal education systems.
Malta`s participation in the programme has been successful from the first year of participation, last year. A project to empower parents to support the teaching and learning of their children in school, coordinated by the Foundation for Educational Services, was awarded LM70,000.
Last month Malta hosted a meeting for Grundtvig national agencies, which was touted as an example of Malta`s active role in EU educational programmes.
The meeting, organised by the Socrates Coordinating Committee through the university`s Socrates Office, brought together the Grundtvig national coordinators of member states and pre-accession countries with the Grundtvig coordinating team from the European Commission.
The 40 participants discussed the policies and technicalities of implementing the programme throughout Europe.
The European Commission has also selected the local Socrates agency to organise a Grundtvig contact seminar later this year, focusing on xenophobia, active citizenship and adult learning - three themes very relevant to an enlarged Europe.
Speaking at last month`s meeting, Dr Joseph Mifsud, chairman of the local Socrates Programme, said that in Malta there was a strong belief in the cooperation programme, aimed at quality citizenship and solidarity.
"We are a committed Socrates agency, which in these last two years has endeavored to set up a structure which is open to assist all those who have lifelong learning and European cooperation at heart locally and open to partnership with all the other countries."