Spotlight on the EU strategy for education and training
Investing in education and training is the key to people’s future, particularly if they are young. Moreover, it is strongly affected by the changing demographics. The European Union Member States are responsible for their own education and training systems, but the EU helps them achieve quality education through the exchange of good practices, setting targets and benchmarks and providing funding and expertise. Its strategy for education and training aims to improve quality and efficiency, make lifelong learning and mobility a reality, promote social cohesion and enhance creativity and innovation.
Erasmus+, the EU programme for education, training, youth and sport, helps tackle youth unemployment by boosting young people’s personal development, skills and employability. With a total budget of €14.7 billion, it is helping over 4 million (mostly young) people to study, train, gain work experience or volunteer in another country. Besides Erasmus+, the EU has set up or supports many other initiatives, such as the European Credit System for Vocational Education and Training.
Find out more about the EU’s strategy for education and training in this month’s newsletter, along with some of the most interesting EU publications on other topics, including research.
|
|
|
 |
A vital part of the Europe 2020 strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth is the support of education and training through comprehensive data and statistics. The Monitor is the Commission’s flagship annual publication intended to serve this purpose. In doing so, it fosters discussions surrounding priority themes for education policy, and informs debates about reforms to national education systems in EU Member States. The Monitor is also a reliable and up-to-date source of information for peer learning among Member States.
Available in English |
 |
Work together with European higher education institutions — come to study or teach in Europe
This brochure looks at the opportunities offered by the Erasmus+ programme to higher education institutions and their staff, researchers and students based in Erasmus+ partner countries outside the European Union. It describes how they can work together with partners in the EU and in other parts of the world. It also explains how students, doctoral candidates and staff from higher education institutions all over the world can apply for a grant or scholarship to come to study or teach in Europe.
Available in Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish |
 |
Preparing the future of vocational education and training in Europe 2020-30
As the current framework for cooperation in vocational education and training (VET) approaches its 2020 horizon, the European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training is now looking further ahead to stimulate the debate on European VET cooperation until 2030. This brochure takes stock of the current features of European VET systems, to identify the different interpretations of as well as the emerging trends and challenges ahead.
Available in English, Estonian, French, German, Greek, Italian, Polish, Portuguese and Spanish |
|
|
More on this topic |
 |
Access to quality schooling remains a central concern for many parents of children with special educational needs (SEN) and the options available differ widely across Member States. Children with SEN are less likely to obtain high-level academic qualifications, and thus face greater difficulties entering and remaining in the labour market. This publication provides an overview of the policy and practice of EU Member States in offering children with SEN access to education.
Available in English |
 |
A review of the literature
This paper reviews the recent economic literature on skill mismatch and skill shortages with a focus on Europe. The review starts with a conceptual overview of skill mismatch and skill shortages and how they can be measured. Its second section looks at how these phenomena are affected by cyclical and structural factors. The third section discusses their economic costs.
Available in English |
 |
Schematic diagrams
This report provides information on the structure of mainstream education in European countries from pre‐primary to tertiary level for the 2017/18 school and academic year. It includes national schematic diagrams, an explanatory guide and a map showing the main organisational models of compulsory education. The information is available for 43 European education systems covering 38 countries participating in the EU’s Erasmus+ programme.
Available in Croatian, English, French, German, Italian, Lithuanian, Montenegrin, Romanian, Serbian, Spanish and Turkish |
Research and innovation |
 |
EU research battles the bulge
Obesity has become one of the major public health challenges for both developed and developing nations. In this edition of Research*eu, you can read about EU-funded projects that have taken on obesity and have contributed significantly to our fundamental understanding of the condition, as well as providing possible solutions that can help us confront this growing public health crisis.
Available in English
(Individual article also available in French, German, Italian, Polish and Spanish on the CORDIS website)
|
 |
Spotlight on ERC projects
The projects funded by the European Research Council (ERC) and presented in this brochure illustrate the wide and diverse areas of research of relevance to aerospace. They address topics such as bird and formation flight, combustion thermoacoustic instabilities, material mechanics across spatial and time scales, clusters of nano and picosatellites (cubesats), space orbit perturbations and aerospace communications.
Available in English
|
Also out recently |
 |
At the origin of the European project was the idea that pooling resources together would make Europe stronger and be the key to prosperity and peace. The European Union budget continues to do that by financing projects that make a difference in the life of EU citizens. This publication explains in a simple way how the EU budget helps to deliver on what matters for Europeans.
Available in English, French and German |
 |
Mapping the cost of non-Europe, 2019-24 — Study
This study identifying the ‘cost of non-Europe’ suggests that there are potential gains to the EU economy of over €2 200 billion. These could be achieved if the policies advocated by the European Parliament in a number of areas were adopted by the EU institutions and then fully implemented over the 10-year period from 2019 to 2029. This would be, in effect, a €2 trillion dividend, representing a boost of some 14 % in the aggregated gross domestic product of the EU. The study is intended to contribute to the ongoing discussion about the European Union’s policy priorities over the 5-year institutional cycle, from 2019 to 2024.
Available in English |
 |
How to put knowledge and reason at the heart of political decision-making
This publication brings new insights into our political behaviour, such as how and why emotions, values, identity and reason affect how we think, talk and take decisions on political issues. To do so it uses findings of the behavioural sciences, social sciences and humanities.
Available in English |
You may also like |
 |
Not a reality but an ineffective patchwork. Special report No 19, 2018
High-speed rail is a comfortable, safe, flexible and environmentally sustainable mode of transport. However, there is no realistic long-term EU plan for high-speed rail, but rather an ineffective patchwork of national lines that are not well linked. A main reason is that the European Commission has no legal tools to force Member States to build lines as agreed. This is an audit report on the long-term strategic planning of high-speed rail lines in the EU examining performance, cost-efficiency, sustainability and added value of EU co-funding.
Available in all the official languages of the EU except Irish
|
 |
Can we grow without using herbicides, fungicides and insecticides? — Study
Plant protection products (PPPs) are often perceived by citizens as very harmful for human health and the environment. The tendency in EU policymaking is to stimulate a reduction in their use, but can we maintain high yields while using them less? This study presents the current state of the art regarding the role of PPPs in securing global food production, preserving biodiversity and supporting farmers’ income.
Available in English |
 |
This is the latest (2019) edition of the popular European Cycling Lexicon, which has been updated based on the continuous and welcome feedback of its users. It contains words and phrases related to travelling by bicycle in all the 24 official languages of the EU, and has successfully accomplished what it set out to achieve: to help you enjoy cycling throughout the European Union and beyond.
Multilingual edition in all the official languages of the EU |
Our news |
EU DataViz 2019 is open for registration
Join us on 12 November to learn from the very best in the field!
EU DataViz 2019 is an international conference organised by the Publications Office of the European Union and taking place on 12 November 2019 in Luxembourg. It addresses the specific needs of the community engaged in data visualisation for the public sector in Europe, bringing together experts, professionals and solution-seekers. The World Bank, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the EU institutions and Harvard University, among others, will share their experience and activities in data visualisation.
The conference is free of charge for participants thanks to the support of the ISA² programme of the European Commission. Register here as soon as possible to secure your place!
We would like to take this opportunity to thank all data visualisation enthusiasts who replied to our call for contributions. We received 102 high-quality proposals for topics, ranging from data analysis/exploration to data visualisation for policymaking and data storytelling. We therefore expect an event that is highly relevant for everyone!
You can see the conference programme here.
Want to know more?
|
|
|
