EU stumps up £4.5m for e-learning ideas

The European Commission has called for research proposals to further e-learning, and the European Union has made €7.5 million (£4.5 million) available for them.

This relatively small amount of money is being administered by the commission's directorate general for education and culture. It will complement larger schemes such as the next research Framework programme, which could have €3.6 billion to promote information technology in 2002-06.

These latest funds are part of an e-learning initiative. The commission said: "Its intentions are to involve all those in education and training, in the private and public sectors, in the realisation of the potential of e-learning methods and resources for lifelong and life-wide learning."

The projects that win funds will run 12-18 months from the signing of the contract. The first call for proposals will involve projects with a November 1 start date. The second phase will cover projects starting on February 1 2002.

Application forms: http://europa.eu.int/comm/education/elearning/call.html
eLearning initiative: http://europa.eu.int/comm/education/elearning/index.html