The fol­lo­wing in­for­ma­ti­on from The Eu­rope­an Com­mis­si­on web­site gives a short in­tro­duc­tion to the In­ten­si­ve Pro­gram (IP) in­itia­ti­ve of the Eu­rope­an Union.

Source:
http://​ec.​europa.​eu/​education/​programmes/​llp/​guide/​fiches/​erasmus6_​en.​html

An In­ten­si­ve Pro­gram­me (IP) is a short pro­gram­me of study (2- 6 weeks of sub­ject re­la­ted work) which brings to­ge­ther stu­dents and staff from hig­her edu­ca­ti­on in­sti­tu­ti­ons in at least three par­tici­pa­ting coun­tries in order to:

• En­cou­ra­ge ef­fici­ent and mul­ti­na­tio­nal tea­ching of spe­cia­list to­pics which might other­wi­se not be taught at all, or only in a very restric­ted num­ber of uni­ver­si­ties;
• En­able stu­dents and tea­chers to work to­ge­ther in mul­ti­na­tio­nal groups and so be­ne­fit from spe­cial lear­ning and tea­ching con­di­ti­ons not availa­ble in a sin­gle in­sti­tu­ti­on, and to gain new per­spec­ti­ves on the topic being stu­di­ed;
• Allow mem­bers of the tea­ching staff to ex­chan­ge views on tea­ching con­tent and new cur­ri­cu­la ap­proa­ches and to test tea­ching me­thods in an in­ter­na­tio­nal class­room en­vi­ron­ment.

An IP can be a one-off ac­ti­vi­ty or re­pea­ted over a li­mi­ted num­ber of years (ma­xi­mum du­ra­ti­on of fun­ding three con­se­cu­ti­ve years, an­nu­al ap­pli­ca­ti­on).

It may not con­sist of re­se­arch ac­ti­vi­ties or con­fe­ren­ces, but should pro­vi­de so­me­thing new in terms of lear­ning op­por­tu­nities, skills de­ve­lop­ment, ac­cess to in­for­ma­ti­on, etc. for the par­tici­pa­ting tea­chers and stu­dents.

The fol­lo­wing de­si­ra­ble fea­tures should be noted:

• The ratio of staff to stu­dents should gua­ran­tee ac­ti­ve class­room par­tici­pa­ti­on and pro­mo­te an ele­ment of cur­ri­cu­lar de­ve­lop­ment in the im­ple­men­ta­ti­on of the IP;
• The IP should be in­te­gra­ted in the study pro­gram­me of the par­tici­pa­ting stu­dents and IP for which the stu­dents re­cei­ve full re­co­gni­ti­on are par­ti­cu­lar­ly en­cou­ra­ged;
• In order to en­han­ce the Eu­rope­an im­pact of IP, those in­vol­ving uni­ver­si­ties from more than three coun­tries may be given prio­ri­ty;
• Par­ti­cu­lar con­side­ra­ti­on will be given to IP in sub­ject areas which do not re­adi­ly lend them­sel­ves to ex­ten­ded pe­ri­ods of study ab­road for their stu­dents;
• IP which con­tri­bu­te to the dis­se­mi­na­ti­on of know­ledge in ra­pid­ly evol­ving and new areas will re­cei­ve spe­cial con­side­ra­ti­on.

Selec­tion of IP par­tici­pants (stu­dents and tea­chers) is car­ri­ed out by the IP con­sor­ti­um.