Kathleen Van Heule, University College Ghent International Affairs European Programmes, Belgium
Stian Hofslett Thowsen, Norwegian Centre for International Cooperation in Higher Education SIU, Norway
Dora Longoni, Politecnico di Milano International Projects Service, Italy
Jytte Mansfeld, Niels Brock Copenhagen Business College International Office Higher Education, Denmark
Albertine Zanting, Maastricht University Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences, The Netherlands

MOPILE helpers*

Dora Longoni Politecnico di Milano, Italy
Ted Versteegh Universiteit Maastricht, The Netherlands
Alberts Prikulis Academic Programme Agency, Latvia
Kathleen Van Heule Hogeschool Gent, Belgium

EEPC and LILO become MOPILE

In the autumn of 2005 it became clear that the new lifelong learning programme from the European Commission was going to include some significant changes in comparison to the existing programmes. The EAIE’s Special Interest Group LILO, which covered lifelong learning, approached the Professional Section EEPC, which covered coordination of educational programmes, to see if closer cooperation could be developed. Discussions led to a suggestion of ‘merger’ and in June 2006 LILO was dissolved and its members affiliated to EEPC. In January 2007 the EAIE Executive Board agreed the new name of EEPC, which is now called MOPILE: Management of Programmes in Lifelong Education. The MOPILE Board includes members from both the old EEPC and LILO groups, and they are all looking forward to dealing with the new challenges that lie ahead.

Membership
Membership of the MOPILE Professional Section is open to all EAIE members, either administrators or academics, who are concerned with any of the European educational programmes such as LIFE LONG LEARNING PROGRAMME (including Erasmus, Leonardo and Jean Monnet),TEMPUS, ALFA, ERASMUS MUNDUS, etc. MOPILE members are involved in all aspects of European programmes from policy development and information dissemination to liaison work, European project development and management as well as student advice.

To join MOPILE as a member please use the EAIE membership application form. MOPILE members are asked to participate actively by bringing forward ideas and interesting topics for future work.

Objectives
MOPILE aims to serve the interests of its members and other EAIE members involved in all aspects of European educational programmes to enhance their professional skills and expertise by:

• facilitating communications between the members
• providing early information on new EU programmes
• serving as a forum for discussion and networking
• recommend workshops and sessions (from the pre-proposals) within the MOPILE area
• prepare workshops and sessions for the upcoming conference
• suggest and possibly develop training courses within MOPILE
• chair the Info & Update sessions during the annual EAIE conference
• secure that all MOPILE-flagged workshops and sessions during the annual EAIE Conference are attended by a MOPILE board member or a MOPILE helper*: the MOPILE-person will assist the chair and presenters in all matters related to the workshop/session as much as possible and is responsible for the evaluation forms.

*Helpers
A helper is an EAIE-member that is informally associated with one of the Professional Section boards. Helpers are not official members of the PS Board by election or co-option, but they help as ‘normal’ board members with the annual work that need to be done with the upcoming EAIE conferences and attend board meetings.

To become a helper is a good opportunity to learn to know the EAIE organisation, and to acquire some good practice and training as a potential new Board member. South Europeans and Central-and-East Europeans are particularly advised to apply as a helper. If you are interested please contact the chair of the board.