Europese ministers van onderwijs maken afspraken om het aantal voortijdige schoolverlaters te verminderen (en)
EU States and the European Commission will reach a consensus agreement on the European and national targets for reducing the number of premature school leavers and raising the figure of higher education qualification holders by 2020, and the Commission will help States to achieve them if they have problems.
"It is not a question of admonishing anybody or casting doubt over any country, but rather identifying the difficulties and seeing what the Commission can do to help resolve them," the European Commissioner for Education, Androulla Vassiliou, said on Wednesday at the press conference which concluded the informal meeting of EU ministers for this area, chaired by Spain.
The Spanish Minister of Education, Ángel Gabilondo, noted that there will be an "annual" monitoring process set up to oversee the progressive and careful compliance of both the national targets and those for the EU overall.
In comparison to the Lisbon 2010 targets and their low degree of compliance, the aim is now to set a limited number of objectives and establish appropriate monitoring to ensure they are achieved by 2020, the commissioner said.
The targets will be set according to the situation in each country in order to make the joint measures the European Council of Heads of State and Government agrees next June possible, in view of the proposal of the formal Council of Education Ministers to be held in Brussels on 11 May.
Before that, on 27 April, the High Level meeting could set those targets, which for the Union as a whole would be around a 10% reduction in premature school leavers and a 40% rise in university graduates and higher vocational training.
"We have to commence a very intense dialogue with Member States and the Commission, which is assisting them" in setting their own priorities, Vassiliou stated.
She specified that if a country is already achieving these levels, such as Spain and France in the proportion of students in higher education, they will also have to improve them.
Ambitious but realistic objectives
When the States find themselves with percentages that are far behind, their targets will be below the European average, since according to Gabilondo, it is a question of "respecting the specific situation" of each State.
In short, the objectives must be "concrete, reasonable and viable" and "compatible", he added. Nevertheless, more than specific percentages, yesterday and today's meetings have discussed the "road map" to set them up, with a general tendency towards being "cautious, ambitious and realistic", according to Gabilondo.
The ministers have furthermore analysed the "Youth in Movement" initiative which is part of the Europe 2020 Strategy.
They underlined its social and mobility aspects, not only for higher education and secondary school students and teachers, but also for young workers to attain work experience in other countries and become familiar with other languages and cultures.
The ministers expressed their belief that the higher the training level, the more possibilities there are for getting a job and a better quality job, as the link between education and employment is inextricable.
"We need higher competencies to assure more and better quality employment," the commissioner said, who also called for a boost to vocational training.
"There will be no future solution for Europe if there are no education policies, " Gabilondo concluded.