The Commission on Education was established at the UBC-board meeting in Klaipėda on the 26th of June 1998. Responsible for the Commission are the cities of Norrtälje in Sweden and Kärdla in Estonia

The aims for this commission are:

• to offer the member cities good possibilities for exchange of experiences,

• to bring up new initiatives for joint EU-projects on competence improvement.

Commission on Education is dealing with the following main fields of concrete activities:

1. Exchange of pupils and students

There are a lot of initiatives and exchange activities that UBC members are experienced with. The Commission will support and take initiative to organise exchange between pupils and students among UBC members.

The two running activities of the Commission on Education have been:

The projects "The Meeting Point of Different Cultures" and "The Summer School for potential researchers in the field of aquatic ecology".

The project "The Meeting Point of Different Cultures" was an exchange program for students in age 15-18 years. It was a possibility for communication, the development of English speaking skills and motivation for learning foreign languages, culture and history around the Baltic. Students participated in the project become aware of their own roots and understand the differences between different cultures. The project was organised in two steps: first the students groups called UBC class has to work with aims of the project at home and prepare a culture presentation program. Second step was a Summer School together in a camp where the presentations were made, the workshops in the topics of the project and other interesting activities.

The project "The Summer School for potential researchers in the field of aquatic ecology" is a scientific research Summer School project. The primary objective of the research school is to let the students work with scientific research. The students age 18-20 years meet in Erken Laboratory near to City of Norrtälje/ Sweden. In the leading of international supervisors the students have a Summer School together. During 4 weeks they have lectures in general limnology and a concluding week they have to summarise the work they have done. The organisers hope that scientific discussions will become a part of life for students participated in the project.

2. Distance education projects

We are already experienced with distance education projects between cities and regions around the Baltic. Our experience is that this is a very efficient mean in regional development, interregional cooperation and networking. The commission is open to concrete ideas in the field of distance education.

3. Other adult education projects

Many of the Baltic Sea Regions give priority to adult educational national and EU-program. The Commission on Education will support joint program for adult education and cooperation between UBC-member organisations. The commission is open to concrete ideas in the field of adult education.