ACA happily announces the addition of two new members as of December 2011. Both the Fundacja Rozwoju Systemu Edujacji/Foundation for the Development of the Education (FRSE) in Poland, and Switzerland’s CH Foundation are active in international cooperation in (higher) education and training in manifold ways.

Headquartered in Solothurn, the CH Foundation is an inter-cantonal organisation with members from all 26 Swiss cantons. It was created in 1967 and has for many years been engaged in efforts to support national and international educational, cultural and linguistic exchange and mobility activities. This work has evolved significantly over time, and become even more central in the last year, in the context of Switzerland’s entry (in early 2011) into full participation in the EU’s Lifelong Learning and Youth in Action programmes.

For its part, FRSE serves as Poland’s National Agency for the Lifelong Learning Programme, the National Structure of the Erasmus Mundus Programme, and the National Contact Point for the Tempus Programme. Since its foundation in 1993, FRSE has been responsible for administering the main European education programmes, including those in the higher education sector, and has been deeply involved in national activities related to the modernisation of the education system, particularly in terms of the enhancement of its quality and competitiveness. It has also been involved in promoting the Polish higher education system and its institutions abroad.

FRSE and the CH Foundation represent outstanding additions to the ACA family and complement very nicely the activities and profiles represented by the ACA members already from their respective countries – Perspektywy Education Foundation (Poland) and the Rectors' Conference of the Swiss Universities (CRUS). ACA’s full membership count now stands at 21, with an additional three associate members hailing from Australia, Mexico and the United States.