Educational policies and initiatives of the European Union
This article needs to be updated.(June 2017) |
In the European Union education is at the responsibility of its Member States and their Ministries of education that they have; in such, the European Union institutions play only a supporting and overseeing role. According to Art. 165 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, the Community
shall contribute to the development of quality education by encouraging cooperation between Member States, through actions such as promoting the mobility of citizens, designing joint study programmes, establishing networks, exchanging information or teaching languages of the European Union. The Treaty also contains a commitment to promote life-long learning for all citizens of the Union.
The EU also funds educational, vocational and citizenship-building programmes which encourage EU citizens to take advantage of opportunities which the EU offers its citizens to live, study and work in other countries. The best known of these is the
Building a Europe of knowledge
The European Union adopted its first education programme (the COMETT programme, designed to stimulate contacts and exchanges between universities and industry) in July 1987. This programme was rapidly followed by the
The
Education and training policy
The European Union's interest in Education policy (as opposed to Education programmes) developed after the Lisbon summit in March 2000, at which the EU's Heads of State and Government asked the Education Ministers of the EU to reflect on the "concrete objectives" of education systems with a view to improving them.[2] The European Commission and the European Union's Member States worked together on a report for the Spring 2001 European Council,[3] and in 2002 the Spring Summit approved their joint work programme[4] showing how they proposed to take the report's recommendations forward. Since then they have published a series of "Joint Reports" every other year.[5][6][7][8][9]
The Commission seeks to encourage Member States to improve the quality of their education and training systems in two main ways: through a process of setting targets and publishing the position of Member States in achieving them and by stimulating debate on subjects of common interest. This is done using the process known as the
Target setting
As regards target setting, the Member States agreed in the Council on 5 May 2003 on five benchmarks on : early school leavers; number of graduates and decrease of gender imbalance in maths, science and technology; upper secondary education completion; low achievers in reading literacy; lifelong learning.[10]
Under the current policy framework in Education and Policy (ET2020), the seven benchmarks require that by 2020:[11]
1 – Early School Leavers : less than 10% of school pupils should leave school before the end of compulsory schooling
2 – Tertiary education attainment : at least 40% of the population aged 30–34 years should have completed tertiary education
3 – Early childhood education and care : 95% of children aged 4 to the age when primary education starts should participate in early education
4 – Low achievement in Reading, Maths and Science : no more than 15% of 15-year-olds should be low-achievers in reading, maths and science as measured at level 2 in the
5 – Employment rate of recent graduates : 82% of the population aged 20–34, who are no longer in education or training and have successfully completed upper secondary or tertiary education, should be employed
6 – Adult participation in life-long learning : participation of the 25-64 age group in lifelong learning (i.e. formal or non-formal continuing education or training including in-company skills development) should be not less than 15% per annum
7 – Mobility between countries : at least 20% of higher education graduates and 6% of 18- to 34-year-olds with an initial vocational qualification should have spent some time studying or training abroad
Since 2012,
Policy discussions
In addition to the measurement of progress, the commission also publishes policy papers designed to encourage the EU's Member States to look more closely at particular areas of their education and training policy. The commission has published such papers over many years, but until the
Networking
Finally, the commission has supported a variety of networking systems between Ministers (and Ministries) in the EU's Member States, in addition to the thrice yearly meetings of the "Education Council" within the EU's own institutional system. These range from biennial meetings of Ministers responsible for Vocational Education and Training (the "Copenhagen Process"), through regular meetings of Director Generals for Higher Education or for Vocational Education and Training to more specialised networks or "clusters" within the "Education and Training 2010 programme" in areas such as key competences, foreign language learning or the recognition of informal and non-formal qualifications.[14]
Education and training programmes
Inside the EU
The first European Union exchange programmes were the COMETT Programme for Industry-University links and exchanges, launched in 1987 (and discontinued in 1995); the
The schools exchange programme, named after the 15th century Czech teacher, scientist and educator John Amos
The programme entered into force on 1 January 2007, and will continue until projects launched in its final year 2013 are closed – probably in 2016.
Outside the EU
The first EU programme to promote educational exchange and cooperation between educational institutions inside the EU and those outside it was the TEMPUS programme, adopted on 7 May 1990 by the Council as part of the assistance provided by the European Community of the day to the countries breaking free of Soviet rule.
The idea behind TEMPUS was that individual universities in the
The TEMPUS programme[18] currently supports projects run by consortia of universities in the EU and in partner countries which aim to update curricula and teaching methods; to improve academic management (e.g., strategic development plans, systems of quality assessment and assurance); and to promote the higher education priorities of its partner countries. It also provides Individual Mobility Grants to enable individuals to travel to or from Europe in connection with these themes. The TEMPUS programme is still running, but will be renewed and revised as from 2007.
TEMPUS was followed by a series of smaller programmes built more round the mobility of academics towards the EU. These included the ALFA/ALBAN programmes with Latin American universities;
Finally, in 2003 the European Union launched the Erasmus Mundus programme, a project to ensure the place of European Universities as centres of excellence across the world; to attract the best students from around the world to Europe; and to enable partnerships between European universities and those in other countries. The programme had strong support both from the Council of Ministers and from the European Parliament.[21] The first phase of Erasmus Mundus will finish in 2008. The commission has announced its intention to propose a further period. Europe Study Centre (ESC) has lately come up as a reputed and dependable company in Indian providing end to end services in the European overseas education field helping Indian students to avail the Erasmus Mundus benefits.
See also
Pepin, Luce (2006). The history of European cooperation in education and training. Luxembourg:
- Directorate-General for Education and Culture
- Bologna process
- Education and Training 2010
- Lisbon Strategy
- European credit transfer system
- European Day of Languages
- European Studies
- European School
- European higher education area
- The Eurydice Network
- Global Education Network Europe
- Lifelong Learning Programme 2007-2013
- The Comenius programme – relating to primary and secondary education.
- The Erasmus programme – relating to higher education.
- The Leonardo da Vinci programme – relating to vocational education and training.
- The Grundtvig programme – relating to adult education.
- Ploteus
- The TEMPUS programme
- Cultural policies of the European Union
- European Cross Media Academy
- Delors Report
- Franco-German University
References
- ^ "EUR-Lex – 52009XG0528(01) – EN – EUR-Lex". Retrieved 29 April 2017.
- ^ Presidency Conclusions Lisbon European Council 23 and 24 March 2000;cf paragraphs 24-27
- ^ "Stockholm European Council 23-24 March 2001. Presidency conclusions and annexes". Retrieved 29 April 2017.
- ^ "Presidency Conclusions Barcelona European Council 15 and 16 March 2002" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 23 June 2006. Retrieved 29 April 2017.
- ^ "EUR-Lex – 52004XG0430(01) – EN – EUR-Lex". Retrieved 29 April 2017.
- ^ "EUR-Lex – 52006XG0401(01) – EN – EUR-Lex". Retrieved 29 April 2017.
- ^ "EUR-Lex – 52008XG0405(01) – EN – EUR-Lex". Retrieved 29 April 2017.
- ^ "EUR-Lex – 52010XG0506(01) – EN – EUR-Lex". Retrieved 29 April 2017.
- ^ a b c "EUR-Lex – 52012XG0308(01) – EN – EUR-Lex". Retrieved 29 April 2017.
- ^ "EUR-Lex – 52003XG0607(01) – EN – EUR-Lex". Retrieved 29 April 2017.
- ^ "Education and training policies based on evidence". European Commission. Archived from the original on 23 August 2016. Retrieved 29 April 2017.
- ^ "Education and Training Monitor". European Commission. Archived from the original on 16 August 2016. Retrieved 29 April 2017.
- ^ see, for example, the article of 14 November 2006 in Der Spiegel Online at [1] or similar articles in Financial Times Deutschland and Tageszeitung on 15 November 2006.
- ^ "EUROPA – Education and Training – INNERPAGE – Education". European Commission. Retrieved 26 March 2013.
- ^ "EUROPA – Education and Training – The Lifelong learning programme". European Commission. Archived from the original on 19 March 2013. Retrieved 26 March 2013.
- ^ Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, Republic of Macedonia, Serbia.
- ^ "for a full list of current coverage, see". Retrieved 29 April 2017.
- ^ "Tempus: modernising higher education in EU neighbours". European Commission. Archived from the original on 7 November 2013. Retrieved 29 April 2017.
- ^ "see official web-site". Retrieved 29 April 2017.
- ^ "official web-site". Retrieved 29 April 2017.
- ^ see the enthusiastic report on the draft Erasmus Mundus programme by Mme Marielle de Sarnez MEP for the European Parliament: [2]
Further reading
- Patiniotis, N.; Stavroulakis, D.; Fartusnic, Ciprian; Figueira, Eduardo; Preisinger-Kleine, Randolph; Nieuwenhuis, Loek; Dillon, Brian; Lassnigg, L.; Dougan, Brett (2009). System innovation and evolution in European VET (Vocational Education and Training). Comparisons over time and state. Buzău: Alpha MDN. ISBN 978-973-139-099-4.
External links
- European Schoolnet- network of 28 Ministries of Education in Europe
- The Official European Higher Education Area website 2010-2020
- Eurydice- information on the European school system
- eTwinning- partnerships for schools in Europe
- EU education News and Policy EurActiv.com
- eLearning Europa – EU eLearning news