Educational policies and initiatives of the European Union Lifelong Learning programme comprises separate sub-programmes for schools; universities and higher education; vocational education and training; adult education; teaching about the EU in universities; and a 'horizontal' programme for policy development. The schools exchange programme, named after the 15th century Czech teacher, scientist and educator John Amos Comenius, has helped over 2.5 million school students take part in joint projects across boundaries. The Erasmus programme (named after Desiderius Erasmus, the 16th century Dutch humanist and theologian), has been the icon of university exchange programmes since its launch in 1987. Some two million students have so far spent a fully accredited
Special Accession Programme for Agriculture and Rural Development their preparations for joining the European Union. The programme which comes under the remit of the EU Commission's Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development is part of the Agenda 2000 programme for increased pre-accession assistance in the period 2000 - 2006. Until the fifth enlargement of the EU in 2004 its overall budget was 560 million euros (2003). Currently SAPARD funding is available only to Bulgaria, Romania, and Croatia. After Bulgaria and Romania's entry into the EU, Croatia will benefit from a specially designed Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA) which will build on the programme support from Phare, ISPA and