Marie-Anne Fivez, University of Antwerp International Relations Office, Belgium
Han Aarts, Maastricht University MUNDO, The Netherlands
Marit Egner, University of Oslo Department of Research Administration, Norway
Laura Howard, University of Cadiz, Spain

Membership in the EDC Section is open to all EAIE members who are interested in any form of collaboration with institutions or governments in developing countries in the field of higher education.

EDC is a one of EAIE's Professional Sections. Its members are involved in all aspects of educational cooperation with developing countries, ranging from policy development and information dissemination to liaison work, project development, implementation and management, and student advising. EDC's activities essentially depend upon member participation.

The idea to set up EDC within the EAIE was inspired by Allan Boesak's closing speech to the Fourth Annual EAIE Conference in Berlin in 1992, in which he pleaded with the EAIE not to confine itself to international educational cooperation within Europe, but also to keep looking beyond Europe, and especially to the developing world.

This speech inspired some EAIE members to form a special interest group to address the issue of educational cooperation with developing countries. In 1995, at the Seventh Annual EAIE Conference in Milano, this EDC group was recognised as the eighth Professional Section of the EAIE.

During the 8th Annual EAIE Conference, held in Budapest in December 1996, and EDC Editorial Task Force was established with the task of providing EAIE Forum with EDC-related articles on a regular base.

EDC aims to serve the interests of its members, and of EAIE members generally, who are involved in educational cooperation with developing countries. Its main objective is:

To bring together professionals in educational cooperation with professionals in low- and middleincome countries in order to promote a dialogue on a European scale concerning all aspects of such cooperation.

EDC seeks to enhance the professional competence and expertise of its members by:

• sustaining and improving communication among its members, thus making available to them the resources of information that already exist throughout the group;
• serving as a forum for discussion and networking in which practitioners in EDC can compare and share their experiences of educational cooperation with developing countries;
• facilitating the involvement of `representatives' from developing countries in the activities of the Professional Section, since this is perceived to be crucial for any in-depth discussions on educational cooperation with the developing world;
• continuously improving the quality of EDC sessions at the Annual EAIE Conference;
• establishing working relations with colleagues in other international organisations.