Brussels, 10/07/2008 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission wants to make youth mobility the rule and not the exception. A report carried out by a group of experts and published on Thursday 10 July formulates recommendations to expand the range of mobility opportunities, not just to higher education students, but to young people in general to continue training abroad. European Commissioner for Education, Training, Culture and Youth, Ján Figel', said, “People really benefit from the experiences they gain abroad, not only in terms of language knowledge, but also in intercultural know-how”. He also underlined the “pressing challenge” of how best to equip Europeans with the skills and competences they will need in a more competitive, globalised Europe. The High Level Expert Forum proposes concrete mid-term targets: by 2020, at least 50% of all young people aged 16-29 should be offered the opportunity to engage in some form of cross-border mobility at some point. This overall target can be realised if, by 2020, mobility reaches just over 6% of university students every year, as well as 3.5% of trainees in vocational education and training, 0.5% of secondary students and just over 1% of those young people who wish to participate in a mobility-based voluntary action. Mobility programmes are expected to involve 900,000 young people in 2012, 1,800,000 in 2015 and 2,900,000 in 2020 instead of the current 300,000. To achieve this, all corresponding Community policies will have to contribute, particularly structural funds and the Framework Research and Development Programme. The report also includes a package of suggestions with a view to strengthening the current mobility programmes. Besides Erasmus, Comenius, Leonardo da Vinci and Grundtvig, as well as the “mobility” aspects of other programmes, including the Erasmus Mundus, Youth in Action, Culture and Europe for Citizens programmes. Experts also recommend that synergies between them should be better developed. The importance of languages should also be highlighted in all education and training, to help cross-border mobility. Experts believe that increased mobility in the cultural sector constitutes another essential element for making Europe more mobile, such as removing obstacles that are presently faced by arts professionals means increasing their interaction with others, thereby boosting diversity and creativity in Europe. The report "Making Learning Mobility an Opportunity for All" is available at: http: //ec.europa.eu/education/doc/2008/mobilityreport_en.pdf
On Thursday the Commission also published its 5th annual report on education systems in the EU. Member states are steadily making progress on the five reference criteria they set themselves, except in reading which has deteriorated over recent years. The Commissioner states, however, that progress needs to be faster in almost all areas in order to reach the 2010 targets. The Commission said that only one of these criteria has so far been reached by all member states (graduates in maths, science and technology). Ján Figel', European Commissioner for Education, Training, Culture and Youth, said that almost one-third of the European workforce has the equivalent of lower secondary schooling, and around a quarter of Europe's 15-year-olds have low reading skills. He also affirmed that, “As we develop as a knowledge-based society in an intensely competitive globalising world environment, these millions of Europeans will find it increasingly hard to fully flourish, let alone find employment.” He is therefore encouraging member states to continue making an effort and particularly welcomed the fact that several new Member States were taking a lead in certain areas and that “the Commission is happy to continue facilitating cooperation and collaboration in this field."
The report is based on five reference criteria and sixteen basic indicators set by member states in 2003. The report made the following observations for 2007:
Early school leavers. By 2010 a share of early school leavers of no more than 10% should be reached. In EU 27 the share of early school leavers (population 18-24) declined from 17.6% in 2000 to 14.8% in 2007. The top performers in the EU are the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia Low performers: Malta, Portugal.
Rates of those completing secondary education: Objective from 2010: 85%.
A slight improvement since 2000 (76.6%) with 78.1% last year. The most performant are: the Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia. Malta and Portugal also rank lowest for this criterion.
Maths, science and technology graduates. The aim by 2010 is to: increase the number of students by 15% in these fields. This is the only one of the five criteria already attained by member states. MST graduates have already increased to 29% since 2000. The only hitch: the number of girls and women present in these channels remains insufficient at 31.6%.
Participation of adults in lifelong learning and educational activity. The aim by 2010 is to: reach a rate of participation of 12.5% for 25-64 year olds. This rate is currently 9.7% compared to 7.1% in 2000. The most performant in this area are Sweden, Denmark and the United Kingdom. The lowest performers are Bulgaria and Romania.
Reading. The aim by 2010 is to: - reduce the percentage of low achieving 15-year olds in reading literacy in the EU by at least 20% from 2000 levels. Not only has the EU not progressed since 2000 (21.3%) but, on the contrary, has regressed (24.1% in 2006). Finland is undeniably the champion in this category with only 4.8% of youngsters who cannot read, ahead of Ireland (12.1%) and Estonia (13.6%). Romania and Bulgaria have the worst results (53.5% and 51.1% respectively). Cyprus and Malta did not take part in the survey.
Progress varies from one member state to the next. The Commission comments that they all have their strong points and their weak points. Overall, nine member states have, on average, reached and sometimes exceeded the thresholds set by the five reference criteria: Finland, Denmark, Sweden, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Poland, Slovenia, Norway and Iceland. Three member states, on the other hand, are below the reference thresholds and have stopped making headway: France, the Netherlands, Belgium. Lifelong learning is, moreover, a reality in Sweden, the United Kingdom, Denmark, Norway and Iceland thanks to the setting in place of truly coherent strategies, the European Commission is pleased to say.
The report is available at:
http: //ec.europa.eu/education/policies/2010/progressreport_en.html (I.L./transl.rh/jl)