Cooperation EU-USA

The Cooperation Programme in Higher Education and Vocational Education and Training between the European Union and The United States of America aims to promote mutual understanding and improve the quality of human resource development. It supports the following actions:

• Transatlantic Degree action

It stimulates the creation of truly joint or double degrees by providing support to multilateral consortia with a minimum configuration of two EU higher education institutions located in different Member States and one US institution. The partner institutions will have to create an integrated joint study programme, with students from the two sides spending a period of study both in the EU and in the US institutions and getting either a joint degree (issued jointly by two institutions) or a double degree (two degrees, one from an EU institution, the other from the US institution) encompassing the whole period of study. At the core of the programme is the enhancement of student mobility, innovation and joint curriculum development and academic recognition between the EU and the US.
Students that participate in this programme find that with a double/joint degree, they are able to attain an undergraduate/bachelors degree in considerably less time and at a lower cost than would be required to obtain two separate degrees. They will considerably improve their knowledge and international skills and will be much better prepared for the global market place.
The majority of projects conducted so far have proved to successfully establish transatlantic partnerships, create motivated students who produce high-quality projects.

• Excellence Mobility Projects

Provides follow-up financial support for student mobility to joint consortia that have a proven track record of excellence in transatlantic cooperation;

• Policy-oriented measures

Policy oriented measures may include studies, seminars, working groups, benchmarking exercises that address comparative higher education and vocational training issues, including recognition of qualifications and issues of accreditation. Policy study grants do not include student mobility but may include faculty and staff exchanges.

• Schuman-Fulbright action

Provides scholarships to highly qualified professionals for undertaking studies or training on the opposite side of the Atlantic, in areas of specific relevance to the EU/US relations.

The experience gained through these programs is quite invaluable and no doubt beneficial in the long term for EU-US relations.

For more information on the programs developed until now, please visit: