The EAC Erasmus Team informs about 2 consultations launched by the European Commission, which are relevant for higher education institutions and their students mobile abroad.

• 1 - Consultation on Access to a bank account by Erasmus and exchange students.

DG Internal Market and Services is currently assessing the difficulties European citizens may face when they try to open a bank account, both in their country of residence and abroad. In order to gather data, in particular regarding cross-border experiences, they have designed a short questionnaire targeted to students who move to study in another EU country and try to open a bank account.

Target group: Students mobile abroad

We would greatly appreciate if the higher education institutions of your country could forward to their Erasmus students (or any other student mobile abroad) the link to this questionnaire:

• http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/consultations/2012/exchange_student_bank_account_en.htm.

Deadline for responses: 19 June 2012.

Please note that it has also been sent to the European Student Network.

• 2 - Consultation on the Quality Framework for Traineeships

On the 18th April 2012, the European Commission adopted the Communication “Towards a job-rich recovery” which presents new measures and identifies key opportunities for the revival of the labour market. In this context, DG Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion submits for consultation to all stakeholders a position paper on the “Quality Framework for Traineeships”.

Target group: young people, trainees, social partners, enterprises, and education institutions

We invite the higher education institutions of your country and their students to participate to this consultation available on the following website:

• http://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=333&langId=en&consultId=10&visib=0&furtherConsult=yes

Deadline for responses: 11 July 2012.

Background:

The objective of the consultation is to gather views about how the quality of traineeships can be enhanced in order to help young career starters make a smooth transition from education to work. The consultation aims to build the necessary consensus for a common recognition of a quality framework on traineeships to be adopted before the end of 2012.