It’s not us, it’s EU

The European Commission set out an ambitious plan in the last quarter of 2017, when it announced its desire to create a European Education Area by 2025.

In the interest of its member states and to embrace the diversity of European identity, the Commission wants to use education and culture to create more jobs, grow the economy and establish social fairness.

Following a meeting in March last year, European leaders committed themselves to create a 'Union where young people receive the best education and training and can study and find jobs across the continent'.

Europe’s education mission

In order to establish a European Area of Education the following areas and outcomes have been outlined:

• create a network of European universities and an EU Student Card, a user-friendly way to store information on a person’s academic record, which promotes mobility and seamless work across the EU
• member states must establish a dynamic working relationship to acknowledge and create a platform for recognising higher education and school leaving diplomas between themselves
• curricula development to impart skills that a person needs in a society that is mobile, multicultural and increasingly digital
• a new language benchmark for all young Europeans finishing secondary school to have a good knowledge of two other languages in addition to their mother tongue
• promoting a culture of lifelong learning while preserving and fostering a sense of a European identity and culture
• prepare a new digital education action plan which would promote innovation in digital training bring them to the mainstream of learning
• invest in education and support teachers, especially in enhanced training and informing policy on professional development and setting a benchmark for member states to invest 5% of GDP in education
• strengthening the European dimension of Euronews with the ambition of having a European channel offering access to independent, high quality information with a pan-European perspective

While this is an initiative of the European Commission, its member states have the ultimate responsibility for education and cultural policy. The EU has no important role to play overall especially when it comes to cross-border activities.

For more information on how we can help your organisation, please call Tony McPhillips on 0191 211 7908 or email [email protected].