Dear users, in this section we present a wide range of the actual news about actvities of Belarusian National, International and Regional NGOs.
Basic papers to be found here: http://www.acc.eu.org/SEEEMS/2702.asp
The ambition has come up time and time again since the ACC was founded in 1999 that it should aim at creating a model-example on how schools for Europe could be realized. A real European Community College!
The ACC General Assembly 2002 encouraged the board to give it a try and to work for establishing the First European Community College. Since it was most likely realizable in Denmark, where the tradition of Folk High Schools is well established, we were considering Denmark as the place for the establishment of the First European Community College.
The project Youth2002 together with the Community College events (http://www.acc.eu.org/SEEEMS/128.asp) we have carried out from 1999 up until now has created a large group of enthusiasts, a huge number of people all over Europe supporting the idea. We believe they are the best ambassadors for our project to found a First European Community College.
Following up Youth2002 the ACC International Programme Office consulted many of the 1000 Youth2002 participants in particular. They were asked if they could imagine themselves in the role of facilitators or teachers in such a school. They were then asked to give ideas and proposals on topics that could be included in a future school-plan or syllabus. The many replies, ideas and support made it possible to construct a description and a model of how the First European Community College could function, with the help of our many ambassadors, members and well-tested projects and programmes (description at http://www.acc.eu.org/SEEEMS/2702.asp).
In December 2002 the ACC board together with an enlarged working group had a very fruitful seminar in which the aim of founding a First European Community College was included in the working plan for the years 2003-2005.
In February 2003 a group of 30 young Europeans met at the "Schools for Europe Community College II" in order to edit the spring issue 2003 of the Journal of World Education (downloadable at http://www.acc.eu.org/SEEEMS/1044.asp). The “Journal” can be seen as a compilation of preparatory and PR-material in order to set the stage for the founding of the First European Community College. This step in the process was especially important since a group within the group of 30 were working on a proposal for a set of bylaws (available at http://www.acc.eu.org/SEEEMS/2702.asp) for the First European Community College. The “Journal” including the first proposal for bylaws was released in April 2003.
The FECC as an idea, a school-plan, ideology, statutes, personnel, timetable, courses, and so on, would be more than ready, were it not for lack of financial support. Even our position concerning validating FECC-learning courses (and on the background of educational policy of the EU) has been debated, and a summary is available on the ftp-server at http://www.acc.eu.org/SEEEMS/2702.asp
To gain financial support, you need moral support. That is why we are working on creating a network of organisations and individuals to support the FECC. We have got many positive replies from all parts of Danish society business life, arts, educational sector, politics and many more.
A recent letter from the Minister of Integration, Mr Bertel Haarder, proves that we have support even within the current Danish government. Mr Haarder expressed his warm support for the project. Mr Niels Helveg Petersen (foreign affairs) and Mrs Margrethe Vestager (education) are among former ministers supporting the project, as are several Danish MEP's.
The next step in the development of the FECC is to make public the work that has been done so far. Everything is now available to the public on an ftp-server. Find it at http://www.acc.eu.org/SEEEMS/2702.asp