This call for proposals has two parts. The main priority is to fund preparatory cooperative activities between the Nordic countries and Northwest Russia at all levels of education. The secondary part is to open possibilities for the participation of Russian institutions in cooperation funded by the Nordplus programme.

The call covers all levels of education from basic education and vocational education to higher education and adult learning.

Thematic and other priorities largely follow the call for proposals in 2008, which were based on a dialogue between the Nordic Council of Ministers and representatives of authorities and the education sector in Russia.

Opening date for call was 22 October 2009.

Applicants can apply for activities taking place between the time of approval and 31/12 2010.

The total budget for project support is approximately DKK 2 900 000

A. Applications for preparatory activities
Grants will be given to the following activities:

Network activities
Preparatory visits and partner search activities
Contact seminars
Preparatory studies / feasibility studies aiming at long-term cooperation
Maximum application amount: 22 000 Euro
In order to be eligible for funding from the Nordic Council of Ministers projects must provide own funding. For details, please see the Guidelines available at www.siu.no

In the selection of projects, cooperation in the following areas will be given priority:

Flexible learning
Introducing ICT in education
Distance learning and virtual college and university courses
Development of joint study programmes, primarily on the MA-level.
Quality assurance of education
Teacher training/retraining
Knowledge exchange university – society, e.g. commercialisation
B. Applications for connecting Russian participants to ongoing Nordplus cooperation activities
A part of the available funding will be used for including institutions in Russia in established partnerships funded through the Nordic Council of Ministers. These must be joint applications by the Nordplus project coordinator and the Russian institution.

The Nordplus partner-search database can be utilized for partner searches.

In order to be eligible for funding from the Nordic Council of Ministers projects must provide own funding. For details, please see the Guidelines.

For general information concerning Nordplus, please see: www.nordplusonline.org

Application and application deadline

The application deadline is 15 December 2009