Chairpersons:
Anja Todorovic (RS) Toni Dirlinger (AT) |
Journalist:
Iasonas Pafitis (CY) |
Key Terms
- Brain drain / human capital flight is a phenomenon typical for developing countries, and it means that a lot of perspective and usually young people leave one country, never to return again. This kind of behaviour can create serious issues within a country, seeing as brain drain tends to initiate even more brain drain. See http://one-europe.info/brain-drain-eu for more.
- Primary education usually begins at the age of six and generally requires no previous formal education.
- Secondary education represents the education beyond the primary grades, the length of it varies from country to country, but most secondary programmes are finished by the age of 18.
- Tertiary education is the education following secondary grades,
- Modernisation is the process of accepting or introducing new ways, ideas or style, in order to improve a segment of society.
- Employability represents a set of achievements – skills, competences, understandings and personal attributes – that make individuals more likely to gain employment and be successful in their chosen occupations, which benefits themselves, the workforce, the community and the economy.
- Mobility is an ability to move between different levels in society or employment, as well as to physically move from one country to another for education or work purposes. See http://ec.europa.eu/education/policy/higher-education/mobility-cbc_en.htm for more.
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IntroductionAs European countries are still facing the hardships of economic recession, their primary focus is unfortunately not on modernising the educational systems, but rather on improving economically and financially. This neglect of education improvement has set back a lot of schooling systems throughout the EU and has thus created an even more pressing need to renew them.
Currently, a vast majority of Member States do not have educational systems which are adapted to teaching skills that match the requirements of the labor market. This issue is directly affecting the employability of European citizens, especially recent graduates, making them less desirable to prospective employers. Furthermore, mobility is of great importance to this topic, taking into account that it entails travelling, learning through foreign methods and living in different environments and that it can be greatly beneficial to an individual, as well as to their surroundings. When a person decides to go abroad for a certain period of time, it is inevitable that they will gain new skills, which they can implement into their original community when they go back. However, a lot of people tend to leave their home countries and never come back, thus enhancing brain-drain. This is especially the case in developing countries. On another note, even though EU citizens are legally able to migrate within the Union, a problems rises when an individual wants to go abroad to study or work. Experts agree that while the Bologna process has certainly pushed forward student and recent graduate mobility, much remains to be done, taking into consideration that a lot of universities still do not recognise foreign diplomas. In 2009, the Council of the European Union has set forth a strategic framework for European cooperation in education and training (ET 2020), in order to resolve these issues and to work towards creating an environment suitable for effectively modernising educational systems. This framework was generally well thought through and contains some rather crucial objectives, but it still needs improvement when it comes to practical implementation of the ideas stated therein. |
Key Conflicts
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Key Actors
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- There is no guaranteeing that when one person leaves their home country to go abroad to master some of their skills, that they will come back. In fact, in a lot of cases people decide to stay abroad. These individuals consider this as a progress, but their home countries tend to suffer from grave losses due to an outflow of brilliant young minds.
Measures already in Place
- Since Member States’ educational systems are not within its competences, the EU can only call for cooperation, a share of good practices and set joint goals like the ET 2020 framework. The realisation of those goals is completely up to Member States’ governments.
- The EU Youth Strategy has been agreed on by EU ministers and has the objectives of providing equal opportunities for young people as well as encouraging them to be actively involved in society.
- To reach the ET 2020 objectives Member States are cooperating in working groups. Those ET 2020 Working Groups look to foster mutual learning among Member States and each of the several groups is concerned with another area, e.g. primary and secondary education, higher education or adult learning.
- Annually, the European Commission publishes the Education and Training Monitor that shows the progress that has been made on the ET 2020 objectives and benchmarks, those being:
- Making lifelong learning and mobility a reality;
- Improving the quality and efficiency of education and training;
- Promoting equity, social cohesion and active citizenship;
- Enhancing creativity and innovation, including entrepreneurship, at all levels of education and training.
Key Questions
- Why are there so many different educational systems in the first place?
- How can brain drain be prevented and instead turned into a ‘brain circulation’?
- How can educational systems improve to match the requirements of the labour market?
- What main skills should be taught in order to create a generation of EU citizens with high employability?
- Should the EU strive towards an assimilation of its Member States education systems? If yes, what measures should be taken in order to achieve this goal?
- Why are there so many different educational systems in the first place?
Facts and Figures
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Links for Further Research
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Iasonas Pafitis (CY)You could find him savouring a novel from time to time: writing means very much to him. He spends time admiring films as well, and regularly runs between cars, against traffic lights, and through tree rows on the pavement. Be prepared, for Iasonas could not be happier to be part of this team of people.
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