The 15 experts selected by the European Commission to work on EU27 spending on education and training held their first meeting on Tuesday 4 May.
The institution gave them the responsibility of conducting an analysis of the three “areas that represent the bulk of education expenditure”, namely: teachers and trainers, management of “educational infrastructure and related physical and human resources” and digital education.
“We cannot accept that 40% of Europeans do not have basic digital skills”, insisted EU Education Commissioner Mariya Gabriel to some journalists before the meeting.
Based on the analysis of available data in these three areas, the experts will be tasked with identifying what policies could be implemented to achieve better educational outcomes and less inequality between States.
But also to “improve the efficiency of spending”, says the Commission. It expects the working group to provide Member States with the keys to better use of funds for the sector, including those available under EU programmes such asErasmus+, the Structural and Investment Funds or the Recovery and Resilience Facility.
The experts will also aim to “identify the most effective policies that can be implemented in the short term to help children who have suffered the most from the Covid-19 pandemic to fill gaps that could otherwise have long-term consequences”, Gabrielle Fack, a professor at Paris-Dauphine University, who will chair the group, told journalists.
Policy document. The Group will present an interim report at the end of 2021, followed by a final report at the end of 2022, which will take the form of a policy document “providing evidence on the impact, costs and challenges on key education and training policy measure”, the Commissioner said.
The experts, Ms Fack said, “have complementary backgrounds and experience of different education systems”.
The 15 members of the group - academics and experts from the private and public sectors - were selected by the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Education, Youth, Sport and Culture. The latter required candidates to have a relevant background in economics, social sciences, architecture or engineering, with a particular emphasis on education, and at least five years’ professional experience in academia or research centres.
The establishment of this group was announced by the Commission in its Communication for the creation of a European Education Area by 2025 (see EUROPE 12571/8). (Original version in French by Agathe Cherki)