Marie Curie Actions success rewarded
The European Commission has said the Marie Curie Actions will receive extra funding under Horizon 2020, citing the programme’s international achievements under the Seventh Framework Programme.
The Marie Curie Actions are split into several different fellowships and assist upcoming researchers from Europe and across the world. The Actions will be funded under the Excellent Science pillar of Horizon 2020.
Speaking at the annual conference of the European University Association in Ghent, Belgium, Androulla Vassiliou, European Commissioner for Education, Culture, Multilingualism and Youth, said: “To date, more than one fifth of the researchers recruited under Marie Curie have been non-Europeans. They bring much needed skills and talent to European universities and enterprises. We want to maintain this strong international dimension.
“All in all, these new programmes will help to attract talents to Europe and strengthen Europe’s reputation as a provider of high quality, socially responsible higher education and research,” the Commissioner said.
She added that the Actions will complemented by the new ‘Erasmus for All’ programme which aims to reduce the fragmentation of European higher education whilst increasing their foreign dimensions. The Actions are expected to receive an estimated €6bn under Horizon 2020, with Vassiliou adding that the Commission has proposed a 21% budget increase compared to FP7 although was now worried whether this will finally materialise.
“Despite the agreement at the European Council,” Vassiliou commented, “the investment for research and education will globally increase however to a lesser extent that expected. In particular, the money coming from the external dimension instruments for ‘Erasmus for All’ might be seriously decreased and the Marie Curie programme might face serious budgetary adjustments. All this will surely undermine the impact of our actions. I therefore call on the European Parliament to support the internationalisation of higher education by allocating sufficient means.”
Budget negotiations for Horizon 2020 are expected to be concluded later this year.
