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1. New Year News from Europe .

"European Year of Intercultural Dialogue " :

Intercultural dialogue connects and builds up bridges between communities and people from different countries with diverse intellectual backgrounds and mentalities.

The European Commission presented a Decision of the European Parliament and of the Council of Europe to declare 2008 the

"European Year of Intercultural Dialogue".

For more information about activieties and press releases please visit:

2. ESNLive: ESN Anthem

During the past few weeks we have been collecting 6 candidates for the next ESN anthem: but of course it's you who can decide about which one is worthy to be our song!!

Here you find the first four candidates with their titles, their lyrics and and their links:

• Pallomeri song (by Men in Route - website)
  
• ESN (by Inside Story - website )
  
• Abroad my baby (by Moniek Jansink)
• On our way (by Bob De Wilde)

Listen now to the songs, and post your comments!

Don't forget: to post your comments you should be subscribed to Identity

3. Topic of the month:

New EAIE Professional Development Programme 2008

The European Association for International Education (EAIE) is pleased to announce its new professional development programme. The 2008 programme offers 18 training courses as well as two Executive Forums that will challenge, inspire, and provide you with the latest information to help you to put internationalisation into action!

Training course subjects vary from learning how to create sustainable business relations for internship placements to developing intercultural communication skills, and marketing an institution. All training courses last between two and four days and take place in a variety of cities throughout Europe. The Executive Forums are one-day intensive seminars aimed at professionals at management and strategic levels of internationalisation. The deadline for the Executive Forum 'Innovation in higher education – what research agenda is needed?' is coming up quickly. In order to participate in this Forum, please register by 18 January 2008. 

For full details on the professional development programme and registration, please go to

>>EAIE Professional Development Programme 2008<<

4. What is going on in Europe besides ESN:

Youth Mobility in the Schengen Area

On 4-5 December I had the chance to represent ESN on a meeting of the European Youth Forum. The topic of the meeting was: "Youth Mobility in the Schengen Area" and discussions concerned mostly the new code on visa on which the EU is working now.

This Committee (led by rapporteur Henrik Lax) has added some good points to the Commission's proposal which would mean much easier procedures for non-EU citizens. These procedures will also help our ESN members.

Examples:

5. Get Involved:

Dear Erasmus Student!

My name is Monika Biłas-Henne and I am doctoral students at Warsaw School of Social Psychology and Institute of Psychology, Polish Academy of Sciences.

I am working on my doctoral thesis on the quality of life people studying abroad.

With a great support of ESN (In the collaboration with ESN) I am conducting an on-line survey concerning your experiences of leaving abroad. I would like you to participate in my research on www.qlabo.eu.

The research is available in different language versions: English, Spanish, French, German, Italian and Polish. You just have to register and fill in the questionnaire.

Everybody who fills in all questionnaires will have a possibility to win a prize. The prize is return plane tickets from any European capital to Warsaw.

Your input will help to better organize Erasmus exchange and to better prepare people for studying abroad. I hope filling in our questionnaire will be also a nice experience for you.

If you have any questions or need more information please don't hesitate to contact me.

Thank you in advance,

Monika Biłas-Henne

>> monika.henne@swps.edu.pl <<,>> monbi@poczta.wp.pl, <<

tel. 00 48 502 299 388

6. Best wishes from our Sponsor:

As this year draws to an end, remember that TRADICONSULT and its team are available to You, ready to cover all your health and accident insurance, no matter where you are, where you go and what you do.

We invite you, once again, to consult our website

www.tradiconsult.com

Where you will find the coverage that fits your needs at a cost truly unmatched anywhere.

Again, best wishes to all peace on Earth

TRADICONSULT