EU-ministers bedrukken rol onderwijs en bereiken akkoord over aanpak jeugdwerkloosheid via sociale integratie (en)

Today’s EU Education, Youth, Culture and Sports Council (EYCS) meeting was devoted to education in digital and globalized environment and social inclusion of youth and prospective EU’s youth work plan.

During the meeting of the EU ministers of education, Lithuanian Minister Dainius Pavalkis chaired the discussion on Open Educational Resources and digital learning. It was the first time the EU ministers shared ideas on what new learning resources entail and how to make the best use of them on national and EU level.

“As the current Presidency Lithuania is proud to bring the highly relevant issue of Open Educational Resources and digital learning to the European level of joint discussions,” said D. Pavalkis.

According to the Minister, at the time when world-class universities, such as Harvard and MIT offer classes online, open to anyone anywhere in the world, Europe needs to consider well the direction in which the European education should develop in the future. To ensure competitiveness of European higher education institutions in this digital race, the need to encourage coordinated action and strategic partnerships of the European universities, including through the new Erasmus+ programme, was also emphasized.

The education ministers also adopted two sets of Council conclusions on effective leadership in education and the global dimension of European higher education.

“The EU has a joint vision on the importance of these two issues and will work together towards the same goals. During its Presidency, Lithuania hosted high-level events dedicated to effective leadership and the globalization of European higher education, during which the matters were considerably furthered”, Lithuanian Minister said.

In the second part of the meeting, devoted to youth issues, Ministers adopted an important document on Youth policy - the Council conclusions on better social inclusion of young people not in employment, education or training.

According to the chair of the meeting Algimanta Pabedinskienė, Lithuanian Minister of Social Security and Labour, this is a significant step that will help to solve youth problems, which, unfortunately, still remain highly sensitive.

“The consequences of the financial crisis of 2008 and the ongoing economic recession are still very much felt in the labour market. This largely affected young people, whose unemployment rate is still record high. Ongoing or frequent periods of unemployment along with the non-participation in the education and vocational training can become a cause of poverty or social exclusion. This may not only have a short term effect, but can also be felt in a recovering economy,” said the Minister A. Pabedinskienė.

The Council conclusions on this priority topic of the Lithuanian Presidency present several policy initiatives, including prevention, education, non-formal education, with special emphasis on the transition from education to the labour market. The results of the EU Youth Conference held in September in Vilnius were highly relevant for preparation of the conclusions.

Ministers held a political debate on the future EU work plan in the field of youth, which will help prepare the work plan consisting of concrete youth policy priorities to be adopted by the EYCS Council in May 2014.

The EU Ministers of Youth affairs also held a structured dialogue with representatives from European Youth Forum and national youth councils to discuss main aspects of cooperation in the youth field within the EU.

According to Minister A. Pabedinskienė, it is essential to hear the voice and expectations of the youth while planning future EU actions and making decisions on issues related to youth.