Have you heard of the EU Blue Card?

EU Blue Card- residence conditions for high-skilled foreign workers
The directive establishes more attractive conditions for third-country workers to take up highly qualified employment in the member states of the Union, by creating a fast-track procedure for issuing a special residence and work permit called the “EU Blue Card”.
The Blue Card will facilitate holder’s access to the labour market and entitle them to a series of socio-economic rights and favourable conditions for family reunification and movement across the EU.
The directive determines the common criteria to be set by the EU member states for applicants for the Blue Card without prejudice to more advantageous conditions provided for by national laws.
The period of validity of the EU Blue Card will be between one and four years, with the possibility of renewal. A Blue Card may also be issued or renewed for smaller periods in order to cover the work contract plus three months.
Under the rules set by the directive, EU Blue Card holders will enjoy equal treatment with nationals of the member state issuing the Blue Card, as regards:
– working conditions, including pay and dismissal;
– freedom of association;
– education, training and recognition of qualifications;
– a number of provisions of national law regarding social security and pensions;
– access to goods and services, including procedures for obtaining housing, information and counselling services; and
– free access to the entire territory of the member state concerned within the limits provided for by national law.
After eighteen months of legal residence in the first member state as an EU Blue Card holder, the person concerned and his family members may move, under certain conditions, to a member state other than the first member state for the purpose of highly qualified employment.
Following its publication in the Official Journal of the EU, the member states will have two years to incorporate the new provisions into their domestic legislation.

The directive will be effective in all of EU member-states except the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Denmark.

Full details here.

CC-licensed image by Valéry-Xavier Lentz

E-mail from Erasmus Mundus Students and Alumni Association (EMA):

Dear current EMA General Assembly delegates,

The Erasmus Mundus Selection Board will be meeting on 19 June 2009 and the EMA will have a representative at the meeting. The meeting is designed to provide support to the Executive Agency of the European Commission in their selection of Erasmus Mundus Masters Courses (EMMCs) under Action 1 of the Erasmus Mundus 2009-2013 programme. The EMA would like to know what EMA members see as important in the selection of future programmes and would like to provide recommendations to the Erasmus Mundus Selection Board based on the past experiences of EMA members.

The EMA would greatly appreciate it if you could take the time to fill in the survey on the link below. The survey must be completed by Wednesday 17 June (at the latest) for your recommendations to be included in the Board discussions. Please feel free to forward this email or the link to the survey to your fellow EMMC students or alumni. We apologise for the late notice of this request and thank you for your time.

http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?formkey=ckFKalVPSUZ5alYwYm84QlhlZmg5dUE6MA..

Kind regards

Peter Bentley
EMA Policy

The British Council recently uploaded videos of Filipino students talking about aspects of their lives in the UK. View them here.

If you’re studying in the UK soon, catch the Pre-Departure Briefing on July 24, 5pm at the British Council Office. Details and registration instructions here.

[CC-licensed photo by musanggala]

New EM student Marcial shared this link with the Pinoy Erasmus Mundus Yahoo group. The PDF contains essays of Erasmus Mundus students about their EM journey.

Personally, I find it quite a chore going through all of them, but that’s understandable–a year or two of one’s life could take up the space of a book. I’m guessing I’m not as interested in their stories because I have lots of my own. But as someone whose dissertation was qualitative, I acknowledge the value of the narrative in research. Studying this is important and constructive for the EM community.

Part one, which tries to present the findings, could use some editing, but the conclusion does what it should. Prospective applicants, do take a look. At the very least, the photos paint a thousand words in one go.

ema-sea_invitation

ema-sea_dataxls

[note: remove the .doc extension of the second file and rename to ema-sea_data.xls]

Dear EMA members in Southeast Asia,

Greetings from Bangkok and Jakarta!

We are writing to you on behalf of the Erasmus Mundus Students and Alumni Association (EMA). The EMA has recently initiated a new channel called the EMA Southeast Asia Chapter for members in 11 countries in the Southeast Asian region; namely, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, East Timor, Indonedia, Laos PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Thailand, Singapore, and Vietnam. The EMA Southeast Asia Chapter aims to create more effective ways to communicate as well as maintain friendships and networking among the EMA members, not only at regional lever but also worldwide.

In order to make the EMA Southeast Asia Chapter works, we need your agreement and willingness to participate in our upcoming activities and events. Please read the invitation letter as attached, then fill in the data sheet file and send back to us no later than 15 April 2009.

Should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.

We look forward to having your active response as well as welcoming you to the EMA Southeast Asia Chapter.

Best regards,

EMA-SEA Pro-Team Chapter
Chaidarun Iamphak, Thailand
Iqbal Akbar, Indonesia

Erasmus Mundus alumnae with Thelma Gecolea and prospective students

At the office of the delegation, Erasmus Mundus alumna Vera Horigue presented an overview of on coastal resource management in the Philippines and in the EU. This was followed by a discussion on possible EM promotional efforts chaired by country representative Jill Lopez. The March 26 meeting is the first in a series of quarterly sessions with presentations of EM alumni. Keep posted for schedules.

Jill introduces the presenter

Vera talks about coastal resources management issues

Ambassador Alistair MacDonald makes a suggestion

The second issue of the Erasmus Mundus Students and Alumni Association magazine is out. If you haven’t received your copy by post, register or update your account in the EMA website.

Check out the reportage on the Jakarta networking event by Pinoy EM alumna Abby,  Indonesian EM alumnus Iqbal and our guest blogger Yansen on page 8.

[Update] PDF version of Emanate #2 is here.

I’m sharing this for the benefit of international students in the United Kingdom, EM or not. Do take advantage of HOST UK and and be open to an experience will give you a new perspective on life in Britain.

The blog’s been quiet for several weeks, but we’re still here…

Sharing something from a trip I took two years ago. Happy day of hearts, everyone!

I remember, it was Valentine’s Day when I got the first notification from the HEEM Programme.

I remember receiving the final notification from the University of Oslo two days before my last day at work and flying to Norway two weeks after getting married.

I remember buying grocery items good for one week upon arrival in Oslo and converted the total amount in Philippine Peso. Surprisingly, it was equivalent to my whole month grocery in Manila!

I remember the difficulty of explaining to my friends and relatives about my course and why I’ll be studying in three different universities.

I remember the initial reactions of people about European Master in Higher Education. Most of them thought that I’m intending to become a professor.

I remember the need to go home immediately after class because I have a “Skype date” with my family or husband.

HEEM study trip to Brussels

I remember how my batch was able to organize a trip to Brussels and visit the European Commission and agencies such as EUA, ESMU and EMA. We appreciated that the University of Oslo shouldered our travel expenses

I remember reading more than 100 articles about higher education in just one semester. After discussing too much about Humboldt, I remember not wanting to deal with history anymore.

1st International Student Party at Saha in Tampere, Finland

I remember playing UNO, having house parties and going to SAHA (a popular club in Tampere) until 4am.

I remember when my husband forgot his wedding ring at a wash area in Tampere. Two hours later, the ring was still there as if nobody had made an attempt to steal it.

I remember attending the auction at Tampere Police Station where I got a nice bike for 20 euros. My husband and I shouted our bid in Finnish.

I remember the sauna party that we had during spring. Recently, my classmates had started making plans of flying to Finland in May 2009 to attend this party and meet the new batch of HEEM students.

I remember how the Erasmus buddies in Aveiro failed to help us. Luckily, my two Portuguese classmates assisted the group in finding apartments.

I remember living without internet in Portugal and staying until midnight at the computer lab to download movies and search articles for my assignments.

I remember complaining about the University of Aveiro library, telling my friends that it’s the noisiest library on this planet! The situation made me feel that I want to go back to Finland for my last semester.

I remember when somebody told me that our HEEM coordinator was shocked to find out that I’m living with five other colleagues in a notorious neighborhood called Rua de Espinho. I’m happy to say that we survived Aveiro for 2 months and nothing happened!

I remember the excitement of catching Ryanair flights, backpacking and sending postcards. I remember travelling for 23 days last September before coming to Portugal.

At the Arc de Triomphe in Paris

I remember getting worried about writing my thesis starting January.

I remember contemplating the other day that I’ll be back to Nordic life soon and fulfill the last installment of this programme.

Charisse N. Reyes
HEEM-European Master in Higher Education ‘09
University of Oslo, Norway
University of Tampere, Finland
University of Aveiro, Portugal