Conclusies Raad Onderwijs, Jeugdzaken, Cultuur en Sport (en)

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  Documents adopted today provide a good basis to continue work on the European forum for education and youth - said the Minister of National Education Krystyna Szumilas during the first day of the EU Council meeting on Education, Youth, Culture and Sport.

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  Through effective collaboration with Member States, the General Secretariat of the Council and the European Commission, there have been implemented the priorities set by the Polish Presidency. In the field of education these are: education for the mobility and modernization of higher education, while the priority in the field of youth is: youth and the world - specified Christina Szumilas, who chaired the meeting held in Brussels on 28 November.

Androulla Vassiliou i , the UE Commissioner for Education, Culture, Multilingualism, Sport, Media and Youth thanked the Polish Presidency for fruitful cooperation. - This Presidency ends successfully in spite of a difficult economic situation, which is particularly worth emphasising - said the Commissioner Androulla Vassiliou.

While summarising the Council meeting, Krystyna Szumilas pointed out that the ministers responsible for secondary and higher education of the Member States adopted the documents important for further cooperation and implementation of the common aims, contained in the Europe 2020 strategy and in the Education and Training 2020 programme.”

The issues concerning education are covered in the following documents:

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  Council’s Conclusions on language skills to enable increased mobility;
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  Council’s Conclusions on the modernization of higher education,
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  Council’s Conclusions on the level of reference for educational mobility, and
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  Council’s Resolution on a renewed European agenda for adult learning.

The matters dealing with youth are included in the following document:

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  Council’s conclusions on the Eastern dimension of the involvement of young people and their mobility.

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  An appropriate level of investment in education should be maintained, but this investment should be made wisely, which means that is should be effective - said the minister Christine Szumilas while summing up the debate concerning effective ways to invest in education in times of crisis. The Minister of Education pointed out that the Polish Presidency initiated a discussion on effective investment in education and training in times of crisis.

During the debate the Ministers pointed out that in times of crisis the management of education must be rationalized, among other things through better use of human resources. It was emphasized that it is also important to properly use the EU structural funds in carrying out the systemic reform in education. - The overriding principal value should always be the student's interests and competencies acquired at school - emphasized Minister Krystyna Szumilas.

The Minister of National Education reminded the listeners that the Polish Presidency undertook the educational mobility problems. - We underlined the need to remove barriers and to improve the quality of educational mobility within the EU. We also postulated broader access of neighbouring countries, including the Eastern Partnership, to the European Union programmes - said the minister Krystyna Szumilas.

As for the Youth and the World priority programme, the Polish Presidency has taken steps to promote and strengthen cooperation between young people of the EU with their peers in Eastern Europe and the Caucasus, and included them in the discussion on the future of the EU programme for youth and its on opening to the countries neighbouring European Union.

While discussing the priority programme: Modernization of Higher Education, the attention was drawn, among others, to the need of modernization of the higher education systems. Important aspects of the debate were also the issues of quality assurance in the context of widening access to higher education, increasing transparency level and the necessity to ensure greater diversification of the institutions of tertiary education.

As part of the Polish Presidency, there were many conferences and meetings organized by the Ministry of National Education and the Ministry of Science and Higher Education. These events contributed to the work on the documents adopted by the Council on November 28.

At the end of the meeting the Minister Krystyna Szumilas emphasised that the programme of the Polish Presidency was the continuation of the achievements of previous presidencies, including Hungarian. - We tried to ensure that it would be also a propitious starting point for implementation of the programme of the current Trio, which is another reason why I wish the Danish Presidency to successfully realize its priorities - said the Minister of National Education.