EU Presidency and ETF host conference on education
Year/Date: 5/10/2011
Education and training in the context of the European Neighbourhood Policy was the subject of a seminar in Brussels on 4 October. The event was organised jointly by the Polish Presidency of the EU Council and the ETF just a few days after the Eastern Partnership Summit in Warsaw.
Among nearly a hundred participants were representatives of the European Parliament, European Commission, Member States and the neighbouring countries.
Grzegorz Chorąży from the Polish Ministry of Education said that one of the priorities of the Poland’s EU Presidency is the development of skills for mobility.
‘Poland as a country that earlier had greatly benefited from EU external assistance, believes that education and training can make a positive change in countries’ political and socioeconomic situation,’ said Mr Chorąży.
The need to cooperate with and support civil society organisation and young people in the region, and not only to rely on relations with governments, is what Sylwia Kosińska, who works with the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly, pointed out in her speech. Euronest gathers representatives of parliaments of all Eastern Partnership parliaments except of the Belarusian.
Jordi Curell, Director for Lifelong learning, higher education and international affairs, Directorate General for Education and Culture at the European Commission presented some of the achievements of various EU programmes such as Erasmus Mundus or Tempus.
These programmes not only had impact on the individual level, said Mr Curell, for example increasing employability of students, but they also facilitated institutional changes, modernised the curricula and equipment in the schools, as well as brought closer together world of education and labour market.
The seminar was also an opportunity for ETF director Madlen Serban to present the practical examples of work done by the ETF in the European Neighbourhood. Among others Ms Serban mentioned the support the ETF provided to the Tunisian government in the wake of the political changes in early 2011 and the comprehensive Black Sea Labour Market Review carried out in the six Eastern partner countries in 2009 and 2010.
Topics
Lifelong learning
Put simply, lifelong learning means that people can – and should have the opportunity to – learn throughout their lives.
Equality in education
Across the world, certain groups of people are still hard pressed to get the most out of their education and training system.
Education and business
Partnership between the worlds of work and education is a process that is set to become an integral part of how we go about developing education.
Employment
“Employment”: promoting better functioning and inclusive labour markets and vocational education and training systems in ETF partner countries.
Skills recognition
Making qualifications transparent and easily readable, even across international frontiers, is a high priority for the ETF.
School and teacher development
Teachers are a critical factor in education reforms. The ETF takes therefore the role of schools and teachers seriously throughout its work.
Key competences
Focusing on key competences is one of the surest ways of keeping education and training relevant in a fast-changing environment.
VET Governance
Governance modes and models have a high correlation with the overall performance of education and training policies, influencing their strategic formulation and implementation.
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