The Committee recommends that the Commission's new monitoring procedures should cover access issues. We agree with the Minister that such monitoring should provide information on gender, socio-economic background, race, and ethnic group. Access for people with disabilities should also be monitored. The Committee notes the agreement that the principle of mobility is crucial to the success of new programmes. But we also consider that however welcome the principle, the practicalities need to be addressed.
Successful outcomes depend on adequate funding and on more flexible structures.
The Committee recommends that the physical mobility of students and academic staff be a priority in the new programme. The Committee recommends that the Commission maintain its existing programmes, but that the flexible approach recommended above in relation to short courses and summer schools be extended to meet the needs of teachers as well as other mobile groups, such as mature students and postgraduates. The Committee notes the pressures for the programme to diversify. The result of diversification would be that the period spent abroad would not necessarily be integrated with the course at the student's home university. We feel that this would be weakening one of the best aspects of the programme and we reassert the importance of co-operation between universities to give recognition the period of study abroad, whether or not such recognition takes place within the framework of the European Credit Transfer system.