The Socrates programme is an educational initiative of the European Commission; 31 countries currently take part. The initial Socrates programme ran from 1994 until 31 December 1999 when it was replaced with the Socrates II programme on 24 January 2000, scheduled to run until 2006.

The countries participating in the programme are the 25 European Union countries, Bulgaria, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Romania and Turkey.

The programme is named after the Greek philosopher Socrates.

Its declared aims are:

• "To strengthen the European dimension of education at all levels"
• "To improve knowledge of European languages"
• "To promote co-operation and mobility throughout education"
• "To encourage innovation in education"
• "To promote equal opportunities in all sectors of education"

Some of its building blocks are:

• The Comenius programme - relating to primary and secondary education.
• The Erasmus programme - relating to higher education.
• The Grundtvig programme - relating to adult education.
• The Lingua programme - relating to education in European languages.
• The Minerva programme - relating to information and communication technology in education.

The Commission has proposed that these programmes will be replaced by an Integrated programme by 2006.

External links

• Main page at europa.eu
• FAQ

Education in the European Union

Szókratész-program