On 5-6 March, 53 Delegates from the EU and partner countries attended a European Commission hosted conference on the future design of the Tempus Programme. The flagship programme for European higher education cooperation with Europe’s neighbors, Tempus is entering a new phase from 2007-13.
In the past 17 years, Tempus has funded over 6500 projects across 2000 universities. Projects deal with all aspects of higher education, including reform in partner countries. The  innovative elements of Tempus' upcoming structure will include:

• geographical coverage: 26 partner countries in the Western Balkans, Eastern Europe, the Mediterranean and Central Asia;
• bottom-up programme mainly implemented through calls for proposals;
• strong involvement of national authorities in the definition of priorities and in the selection of projects;
• network of National Contact Points in EU Member States and National Tempus Offices in partner countries.

In an effort to optimize the consultation process for the upcoming programme design, the Commission will also solicit the opinion of students about Tempus. On 19-21 April, the first ever Tempus student conference will be held here in Brussels, drawing approximately 150 students from outside the EU. Press release
Tempus