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Education - the foundation for future success
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© European Communities
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Education and training are vital to build a knowledge society and economy. With this in mind, EU education ministers adopted on 12 May a new strategic framework for European cooperation in this field.
While the responsibility for education lies with the member states, many challenges are common to all EU countries. Working together, they can also learn from one another. Reforms are necessary to cope with foreign competition, evolving technologies and the ageing of the population. They are also needed to better prepare people to find jobs and help businesses find the qualified staff they require to succeed in a global market.
The updated framework, which builds on a prior "Education and Training 2010" work programme, covers the period up to 2020. It sets four strategic objectives:
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Making lifelong learning and mobility a reality
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Improving the quality and efficiency of education and training
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Promoting equity, social cohesion and active citizenship
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Enhancing creativity and innovation at all levels of education and training.
Progress made towards these goals will be monitored with the help of benchmarks. These are targets the EU aims to meet by 2020. For example, at least 15% of adults should participate in lifelong learning, the proportion of early leavers from education should be less than 10% and the proportion of low-achieving 15-year-olds in reading, maths and science should be less than 15%.
More information:
Council Conclusions (pdf)
Council webcast of press conference
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