Comenius Individual Pupil Mobility projectBackground
The Comenius Individual Pupil Mobility (IPM) project is one of the sub-programmes of the EU's Comenius programme. In Comenius IPM, secondary school students are sent from one European country to another for a (in most cases) one-year exchange. As is the case with YFU programmes, the pupils stay in host families and study at a local school. The Comenius IPM Project was launched in 2010, when Sweden, Finland, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, France, Austria, Czech Republic, Spain, Italy and Luxembourg took part. In total, almost 700 exchange students participated in the programme and France, Spain and Italy were by far the biggest countries in terms of both outbound and inbound students. The project will continue in 2011, this time also including Belgium (Flanders), Belgium (Wallonia), Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia and Lichtenstein. A preparation for 2012, including all the Lifelong Learning programme countries, has been drafted by the Commission. Pilot projectPrior to the start of the Comenius IPM programme, a pilot project was carried out by EEE-YFU together with European Federation for Intercultural Learning (EFIL), the European Umbrella organisation for AFS organisations. The final report of the Individual Mobility Project was handed in to the European Commission in 2008. The tender was divided into three parts: study phase, pilot phase and recommendation phase Study phase
In 2006 10 YFU organisations started collecting information on pupil mobility schemes and laws pertaining to mobility in their countries. The results of these studies were compiled in the first Interim report to the European Commission submitted in February 2007. Pilot Phase
In August and September 2007 a total of 294 students travelled to their host countries, where they stayed for three or six months, thus returning in November 2007 or February 2008. The two YFU organisations involved in the Pilot phase of the programme, namely YFU Estonia and YFU Germany, ensured that a total of 71 students experienced their exchange through YFU. During the stay in their host countries, the pilot students went to orientation meetings carried out by national YFU and AFS organisations and received counselling and support from regional volunteers of the organisations – just like any other student in their regular exchange programmes. The representatives from the European Commission that were attending some of the arrival trainings, held by AFS and YFU respectively, were reportedly quite impressed by the level of quality of the trainings. The Recommendation Phase
After several reports being submitted regularly in the earlier phases of the project, it culminated with the submission of a final report in June 2008. The European Commission has, based on the submission of on-going reports from the tender, begun to develop the structure of the upcoming action which started in 2010.
As well as the official stages of the project, meetings of the steering committee, management team and pilot co-ordinators took place throughout 2007. Joke Zwart, YFU Netherlands and former EEE-YFU Chairperson, was a member of the steering committee, while former EEE-YFU Director Elizabeth Niland was working with EFIL as part of the management team. EEE-YFU's work with Comenius IPM Given the similarities in the Comenius IPM exchanges and the exchanges
provided by EEE-YFU member organisations, EEE-YFU is very interested in
the developments. Developing the Comenius IPM programme is one of the
strategic objectives in EEE-YFU's External Communication Strategy. If you want to know more about the implementation of the programme in your country, please contact your National Agency .
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