The EACEA ( Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency) of the European Commission is currently implementing a call for proposals for an intra-Africa, Caribbean, Pacific academic mobility scheme:

http://eacea.ec.europa.eu/intra_acp_mobility/funding/higher_education_institution_en.php

The intra-ACP academic mobility scheme provides support to:

• higher education institutions to set up inter-institutional cooperation partnerships between universities from different countries within the ACP regions;
• individual students, researchers and university staff to spend a study / research / teaching period in the context of one of the above mentioned cooperation partnerships;

This programme builds on the African Union’s Mwalimu Nyerere programme for Africa, granting additional funding, and setting up a similar scheme for the Caribbean and Pacific regions. It is funded through the European Development Fund (EDF).

1. Objectives and description
The objective of the programme is to promote sustainable development and poverty alleviation by increasing the availability of trained and qualified high-level professional manpower in African, Caribbean and Pacific countries.
The programme aims to strengthen cooperation between Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific in view of increasing access to quality education that will encourage and enable students to undertake postgraduate studies, and to promote student retention in the region along with mobility of staff (academic and administrative) while increasing competitiveness and attractiveness of the institutions themselves.
More specifically the programme aims to:
— provide access to higher education for students including those from disadvantaged groups,
— facilitate cooperation on recognition of studies and qualifications,
— contribute to the improvement of the quality of higher education through the promotion of internationalisation, and harmonisation of programmes and curricula within participating institutions,
— enhance the international cooperation capacity of HEIs in African, Caribbean and Pacific countries,
— promote cooperation between sending and hosting institutions,
— enable students, academics and staff to benefit linguistically, culturally and professionally from the experience gained in the context of mobility to another country,
— enhance, in the medium-term, the political, cultural, educational and economical links between the participating countries.

2. Eligible applicants and partnership composition
Eligible applicants are Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific that provide courses at the graduate and/or doctoral level of higher education, recognised by the competent authorities in their own country. Only African, Caribbean and Pacific national HEIs accredited by relevant national authorities in Africa, in the Caribbean and in the Pacific are eligible. Branches of HEIs from outside Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific are not eligible.

http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:C:2010:358:0027:0029:en:PDF

http://www.welcomeurope.com/fundings-2010-12-31-4215.html