WRITTEN QUESTION E-0530/00 by Brigitte Langenhagen (PPE-DE) to the Commission. Implementation of the Socrates education programme.
C 330 E/182 Official Journal of the European Communities EN 21. 11. 2000 Answer given by Mrs Diamantopoulou on behalf of the Commission (17 April 2000) The Commission believes that developments taking place in the field of new technologies can and must be used in order to create new employment opportunities for the disabled, including blind people. In addition, the focus should no longer be on low-skilled and often repetitive jobs which do not reflect the vocational skills or motivation of the people concerned. impairment. Technology is now available to allow adaptation of telecommunication switchboards for people with visual impairment using standard flexible personal computer technology to interface with the operator. In addition, both software and hardware exists to increase the accessibility of computer technologies to those with visual It is therefore questionable to what extent it is necessary to impose additional technical specifications to ensure a higher level of adaptation for such equipment. Directive 1999/5/EC of the Parliament and the Council of 9 March 1999, relating to radio equipment and telecommunications terminal equipment (1) gives the Commission the possibility to consider whether certain classes of equipment need to be re-designed to facilitate their use by people with different forms of impairment. The Commission set up study groups (in which groups with various forms of disability were represented) to assess the requirements for applying this provision. As a result of the discussions the Commission concluded that, at present, there is no substantive justification to apply this provision, given that the barriers to access identified were not of a technical nature. Furthermore, under the Community policy on the standardisation of the Commission gave a standardisation mandate to the European standardisation bodies, namely the European Committee for Standardisation (CEN), the European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardisation (Cenelec) and the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI), with the aim of identifying specific standardisation needs in order to improve the integration of disabled people into the information society. the information society, Lastly, in November 1999, the Commission adopted a proposal for a Council Directive establishing a general framework for equal treatment in employment and occupation (2). The proposal makes provision for equal employment opportunities, in particular by requiring employers, within reasonable limits, to adapt workstations for disabled people. (1) OJ L 91, 7. 4. 1999. (2) COM(1999) 565 final. (2000/C 330 E/209) WRITTEN QUESTION E-0530/00 by Brigitte Langenhagen (PPE-DE) to the Commission (28 February 2000) Subject: Implementation of the Socrates education programme that during the implementation of My researches reveal the Socrates student exchange programme problems with the recognition of certificates at partner universities have been caused by differences in academic systems. This appears to be especially true of exchanges between German and French universities. If the certificates awarded for such post-graduate courses were recognised, it would be easier to motivate young students to take part. As it is, they have the impression that the participants in exchanges fall behind in the achievement of their academic objectives and do not develop any interest in an exchange in the future. Can the Commission answer the following: 1. To what extent were the differences between the Member Statesí academic systems taken into account when the Socrates programme was being established? 21. 11. 2000 EN Official Journal of the European Communities C 330 E/183 2. How does the Commission intend to increase the willingness of universities to recognise each otherís certificates or to change the practical aspects of recognition so that interested students may take part without losing time at their home universities? 3. What measures does the Commission intend to take to approximate university education systems throughout Europe? Answer given by Mrs Reding on behalf of the Commission (3 April 2000) The academic recognition of diplomas falls within the competence of the Member States. At present there are no Community provisions which cover this type of recognition. Under Article 149 of the EC Treaty, each Member State is solely responsible for the content of its teaching and the organisation of its own educational system and any harmonisation in this respect is excluded. The authorities are entitled to subordinate enrolment in a course of education to the requirement of previous academic recognition of qualifications acquired in another Member State. They are also free to determine the rules governing that type of procedure, since there are no Community regulations laying down that a Member State is required to recognise, for academic purposes, diplomas obtained in another Member State. The Commission encourages mutual recognition for academic purposes between the various education systems in Europe through the Socrates programme, in particular the Erasmus action. A tangible result of the effort to promote understanding of the academic recognition of qualifications is the network of national information centres for the recognition of diplomas (NARIC). These centres provide information on national academic recognition procedures. This network, created in 1984, aims to assist in promoting the mobility of students, teachers and researchers by providing authoritative advice and information concerning the academic recognition of diplomas. The main users of these services are higher education institutions, students and their advisers, parents, teachers and prospective employers. The Commission also encourages and supports ECTS (the European credit transfer system), which provides an instrument to create transparency, to build bridges between institutions and to widen the choices available to students. The system makes it easier for institutions to recognise learning achievements of students through the use of commonly understood measurements ü credits and grades ü and provides a means to interpret national systems of higher education. The ECTS system is based on three core elements: information (on study programmes and student achievement), mutual agreement (between the partner institutions and the student) and the use of ECTS credits (to indicate student workload). The ECTS system is currently used in about 1 300 institutions in the Community, the EEA-states and the associated countries. The system has gained wide acceptance by national authorities, universities and students. Following the debate on the possible synergies between academic and professional recognition, initiated in 1994, the Council invited the Commission, in conclusions of 6 May 1996, to examine the possibilities for the introduction, on a voluntary basis, of a European administrative annex to academic diplomas. The work on this ádiploma supplementí is entrusted to a working party, which was established in December 1996 as a joint initiative of the Commission, the Council of Europe and Unesco/CEPES. Since then, a model for a diploma supplement has been developed. It provides a description of the nature and the contents of academic programmes, the level of the qualification obtained and information on the higher education system in which the qualification has been obtained. (2000/C 330 E/210) WRITTEN QUESTION E-0537/00 by Raffaele Costa (PPE-DE) to the Commission (28 February 2000) Subject: European standards for emissions and residues from incinerators Could the Commission state what public health and environmental protection standards exist, European Union, in respect of emissions of waste substances or other residues from incinerators? in the