The European Community regards training as a priority area and has
therefore developed a series of programmes in the field of vocational
training. This book is the result of a pilot project selected under two
of these Community Action Programmes. It was initially selected under
the COMETT programme, concerned with the development of continuing
vocational training in the European Community. Moreover, it was one of
the few selected projects to receive further funding under a second
selection in the context of the LEONARDO DA VINCI Action Programme for
the implementation of a European Community Vocational Training policy.
It is with great pleasure that I present the outcome of this project
which embodies one of the fundamental objectives of the LEONARDO DA
VINCI Programme - training for new technologies in SMEs, which make a
significant contribution to economic development in Europe. K DRAXLER
Director Directorate General XXII European Commission x Acknowledgements
The Volume Editor gratefully acknowledges funding by the LEONARDO DA
VINCI Programme of the Commission of the European Community and by the
Austrian Federal Ministry of Science and Transport whose financial
support has made the EuroLaser Academy a reality and has led directly to
the generation of this handbook. He is also indebted to Director Dr.
Klaus Draxler, Head of the LEONARDO DA VINCI Programme, DG XXII of the
Commission of the European Community, moreover to Director General Raul
Kneucker, Minister's Advisor Helmut Schacher and Mrs. Friederike
Pranckl-Kloepfer from the Austrian Federal Ministry of Science and
Transport.
