Education & Training in the European Union

Latest news on the European Union's education and training policies.

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International Symposium on Science Education (Helsinki, Finland, from 10 June 2013, 00:00 CET to 12 June 2013, 00:00 CET) —

The 'International Symposium on Science Education' (ISSE 2013) will be held from 10 to 12 June 2013 in Helsinki, Finland. It will be focusing on 'Environment Global Challenges in Science Education'.

Unicef, EU call for further progress on Roma inclusion in Romania — 22 April 2013, 22:23 CET

Romania has made progress towards bringing its Roma citizens into mainstream society but more efforts are needed to improve their access to education and jobs, Unicef and EU representatives said Monday in Bucharest.

Study on educational support for newly arrived migrant children — 12 April 2013, 13:29 CET

Newly arrived migrant children are more likely to face segregation and end up in schools with fewer resources, according to a new study conducted for the European Commission. This leads to under-performance and a high probability that the children will drop out of school early. The study suggests that Member States should provide targeted educational support for migrant children such as specialist teachers and systematic involvement of parents and communities to improve their integration. The study examines national policies in support of newly arrived migrant children in 15 countries which have seen significant recent immigration flows: Austria, Belgium (Dutch-speaking community), the Czech Republic, Cyprus, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and the UK. It finds that Denmark and Sweden have the best model, based on offering targeted support and a reasonable level of autonomy for schools. The other countries tend to focus on only one of these aspects, which means they do not achieve better results in the inclusion of migrant children.

Russian organization investigates new ways to invest in human capital by supporting children's rights — 04 April 2013, 18:27 CET

Russia is recovering from the exhaustion suffered after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. The country wants to play an important role at the regional and global level. This time, leaving aside natural resources and military forces, and focussing on the human factor to improve the lives of children and invest in their future. Generation 2030 is an organization dedicated to making recommendations for the development of public policies, laws, regulations, business activities and/or general public values to ensure that the interests of children are taken into account.

New rules for non-EU nationals coming to the EU for studies — 25 March 2013, 17:56 CET

The European Commission is proposing to make it easier and more attractive for non-EU national students, researchers and other groups to enter and stay in the EU for periods exceeding three months. New legislation will set clearer time limits for national authorities to decide on applications, provide for more opportunities to access the labour market during their stays and facilitate intra-EU movement.

eTwinning: best cross-border school projects of the year — 14 March 2013, 22:45 CET

The best school twinning projects of the year were honoured at the 2013 eTwinning Awards in Lisbon today. This year's top prize is awarded to the 'Rainbow Village' project which brought together 12-15-year-olds in France, Greece, Romania, the UK, Turkey, Italy, Slovakia and Poland. The pupils created a virtual post-Armageddon world and explored themes such as survival, conservation and citizenship. The eTwinning network is a virtual classroom in which pupils and teachers from 100 000 schools in 33 European countries take part in interactive projects via the internet. Nine awards in total were announced at the ceremony.

Child sex abuse victim says Ireland did not protect her — 06 March 2013, 19:09 CET

Children who suffered sexual abuse in Ireland's Catholic schools during the 1970s failed to receive sufficient protection from the state, one of the victims told the European Court of Human Rights on Wednesday.

German school pays EUR 500 bonus for new pupils: report — 25 February 2013, 15:11 CET

A struggling western German secondary school is paying 500 euros to parents to enrol their children, according to a newspaper, as Germany struggles with one of Europe's lowest birthrates.

Le Pen slams 'Soviet European Union' in UK speech — 19 February 2013, 22:44 CET

French right-wing leader Marine Le Pen called for a "New Deal" on immigration and slammed the emergence of a "Soviet European Union" during a fiery speech at Britain's Cambridge University on Tuesday.

Germany relatively closed to non-graduate workers: OECD — 04 February 2013, 15:34 CET

Workers from outside the European Union with low or medium skill levels have much more difficulty than foreign university graduates in obtaining work in Germany, a study found on Monday.

Developing Key Competences at School in Europe — 19 November 2012, 17:51 CET

The teaching of IT, entrepreneurial and citizenship skills is fundamental for preparing young people for today's job market, but, in general, schools are still paying insufficient attention to these transversal skills compared with basic skills in literacy, mathematics and science, according to a new European Commission report. Part of the problem is rooted in difficulties with assessment. For example, only 11 European countries (Belgium Flemish community, Bulgaria, Estonia, Ireland, France, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovenia and Finland) have standardised procedures to assess citizenship skills, which aim to develop critical thinking and active participation in school and society. Such testing does not exist at all for entrepreneurship and IT skills in any of the 31 countries which took part in the survey (27 EU Member States, Croatia, Iceland, Norway and Turkey). The report also outlines progress in teaching six of the eight key competences defined at EU level for lifelong learning in knowledge, skills and attitudes.

Developing Key Competences at School in Europe: Challenges and Opportunities for Policy — 19 November 2012, 17:05 CET

This report reviews national policies for the development of key competences at school in Europe. It acknowledges the progress made so far in implementing the key competences approach and discusses several policy challenges that are directly linked to the contribution of education and training to meeting changing skills demands: tackling low achievement in reading, mathematics and science; increasing the number of mathematics science and technology graduates, and further support for the acquisition of transversal competences such as IT skills, entrepreneurship and civics. The report covers 31 European countries (EU Member States, Croatia, Iceland, Norway, and Turkey) and takes the reference year 2011/12. Information covers compulsory and secondary general education.

The ERASMUS Programme - studying in Europe and more — 02 October 2012, 21:15 CET

Celebrating its 25th anniversary in 2012, ERASMUS is the most successful student exchange programme in the world. Each year, more than 230 000 students study abroad thanks to the Erasmus programme. It also offers the opportunity for student placements in enterprises, university staff teaching and training, and it funds co-operation projects between higher education institutions across Europe.

Final report of the EU High Level Group of experts on Literacy — 06 September 2012, 17:34 CET

The European Union needs to overhaul its approach to improving literacy standards, according to a high-level group of experts set up by EU Commissioner Androulla Vassiliou to address the issue. One in five 15 year-olds, as well as nearly 75 million adults, lack basic reading and writing skills, which makes it hard for them to get a job and increases their risk of poverty and social exclusion. The expert group's chair, HRH Princess Laurentien of the Netherlands, a long-time campaigner in the field, describes the report as a "wake-up call about the crisis that affects every country in Europe". The 80-page report includes a raft of recommendations, ranging from advice for parents on creating a culture of reading for pleasure with their children, to siting libraries in unconventional settings like shopping centres and the need to attract more male teachers to act as role models for boys, who read much less than girls. It also makes age-specific recommendations, calling for free, high-quality early childhood education and care for all, more specialist reading teachers in primary schools, a change of mind-set on dyslexia, arguing that almost every child can learn to read with the right support, and for more varied learning opportunities for adults, especially in the workplace.

European Commission literacy policy and report by the High-Level Group of Experts on Literacy — 06 September 2012, 17:35 CET

The European Union needs to overhaul its approach to improving literacy standards, according to a high-level group of experts set up by European Commissioner Androulla Vassiliou to address the issue. One in five 15 year-olds, as well as nearly 75 million adults, lack basic reading and writing skills, which makes it hard for them to get a job and increases their risk of poverty and social exclusion. The expert group's chair, HRH Princess Laurentien of the Netherlands, a long-time campaigner in the field, describes the report as a "wake-up call about the crisis that affects every country in Europe". The 80-page report includes a raft of recommendations, ranging from advice for parents on creating a culture of reading for pleasure with their children, to siting libraries in unconventional settings like shopping centres and the need to attract more male teachers to act as role models for boys, who read much less than girls. It also makes age-specific recommendations, calling for free, high-quality early childhood education and care for all, more specialist reading teachers in primary schools, a change of mind-set on dyslexia, arguing that almost every child can learn to read with the right support, and for more varied learning opportunities for adults, especially in the workplace.

European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs — 11 July 2012, 11:11 CET

The home page of ESPAD – the European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs. ESPAD is a collaborative effort of independent research teams in more than forty European countries and the largest cross-national research project on adolescent substance use in the world. The overall aim with the project is to repeatedly collect comparable data on substance use among 15–16 year old students in as many European countries as possible.

Science is 'girl thing', says Europe campaign — 21 June 2012, 17:58 CET

With few women in Europe taking up research jobs, a campaign launched Thursday by the European Commission seeks to convince teenagers that science is a "girl thing."

Europeans and their languages - Special Eurobarometer 386 — 21 June 2012, 16:01 CET

The survey provides information about the citizens' attitudes towards foreign languages and multilingualism within the European Union.It looks at the ways in which Europeans learn and use foreign languages, exploring their motivations and potential barriers to learning.It also gauges their opinion on the role of interpretation and translation in relation to European institutions and various areas across society.

EU's teenagers poor in language skills — 21 June 2012, 16:05 CET

Despite decades of European integration, less than one in two teenagers in the bloc speaks a foreign language well enough to hold a conversation, the European Commission said on Thursday.

Erasmus Programme - guide — 30 January 2012, 16:03 CET

Erasmus, the world's most successful student exchange programme, celebrates its 25th anniversary this year. Nearly three million students have benefited from a study period or work placement abroad since the creation of the Erasmus programme in 1987. Under the slogan, 'Erasmus: changing lives, opening minds for 25 years', the silver anniversary celebrations will be launched today by Androulla Vassiliou, the European Commissioner for Education, Culture, Multilingualism and Youth. Erasmus mobility is at the heart of the Commission's strategy to combat youth unemployment by focusing more on skills development – an issue which will be discussed by heads of state and government at today's Informal European Council.

Professional qualifications: EC proposal is going too far on many aspects — 21 December 2011, 23:20 CET

Today’s proposals by the European Commission to modernise the EU system for the recognition of professional qualifications is going too far on many important aspects, according to UEAPME, the European craft and SME employers’ organisation. On the positive side, the organisation welcomed the creation of a European professional card and the increased compulsory use of online means to provide information to professionals and to citizens.

Modernisation of the Professional Qualifications Directive - guide — 19 December 2011, 20:00 CET

As the working age population in many Member States shrinks, demand for highly skilled people between now and 2020 is projected to rise by over 16 million jobs. If Europe is to meet this demand, gaps in labour shortages need to be filled – for example through mobile and well qualified professionals from other EU Member States. They can be a key source of growth, but only if they can easily go to where jobs are and this requires their qualifications in the EU to be recognised in a fast, simple and reliable way. That is why the European Commission has adopted a proposal for modernising the Professional Qualifications Directive (Directive 2005/36/EC). The proposal aims at simplifying rules for the mobility of professionals within the EU by offering a European Professional Card to all interested professions which would allow easier and faster recognition of qualifications. It also clarifies the framework for consumers, by inviting Member States to review the scope of their regulated professions and by addressing public concerns about language skills and the lack of effective alerts about professional malpractice, notably in the health sector.

SMEs broadly welcome new "Erasmus for all" programme — 24 November 2011, 13:14 CET

UEAPME, the European craft and SME employers' organisation, welcomed the "Erasmus for all" proposal by the European Commission, which suggests allocating EUR 19 billion towards promoting skills and learning mobility of young people in what will become the successor of the current Lifelong Learning Programme.

'Erasmus for All' or for some? — 24 November 2011, 00:03 CET

"Erasmus will remain for some and not for all", said Arnaldo Abruzzini, Secretary General of EUROCHAMBRES, commenting on today's proposals by the European Commission for the 2014-2020 education programme 'Erasmus for All'.

Erasmus for All - guide — 23 November 2011, 23:05 CET

Up to 5 million people, almost twice as many as now, could get the chance to study or train abroad with a grant from Erasmus for All, the new EU programme for education, training, youth and sport proposed by the European Commission today. Among them would be nearly 3 million higher education and vocational students. Master's degree students would also benefit from a new loan guarantee scheme set up with the European Investment Bank Group. The seven-year Erasmus for All programme, which would have a total budget of €19 billion, is due to start in 2014.