Last 13th April 2010, the ministers of education from the European Union held a meeting in Madrid to analyze the newly proposed strategy called Europe 2020. The Europe 2020 strategy has been outlined by the European Commision and includes measurable objectives concerning different topics that are considered key for Europe, such as employment, environment, energy or education. As for the objectives related to education, the European Commission proposes to reduce the school dropout rate from the current 18% to 10%,and increase the amount of population with a higher education qualification from the current 30% to over 40% by 2020 as a way of staying competitive in a globalized world.
After the poor results as delivered by the Lisbon Strategy to make Europe the most competitive knowledge-based economy in the world, I am taking this new strategy with a bit of caution. However, I believe the situation is completely different from the one we lived when the Lisbon Strategy was proposed. Mainly, because European Higher Education Institutions, whose role is of utter importance to achieve many of the outlined targets in other areas beyond education, are more integrated than before in the cohesive European Higher Education Space. With the creation of the ECTS system, the rollout of the Lisbon Convention on the recognition of foreign qualications, the establishment of common procedures for non-EU students to apply for a study visa, and what's more important, the creation of comparable study programs througout Europe, the objectives for education seem to be more realistic to achieve than before.
Whether Europe will succeed in achieving its objectives as set forth by the Europe 2020 strategy, only time will tell. What I am sure of is that if we want to stay competitive in the global arena, we have to place education in the center of our society more than ever before.
- Click here to download the Europe 2020 strategy in English
- Haga click aquí para descargar el documento sobre la estrategia Europa 2020 en Español
- Cliquez ici pour télécharger le document sur la stratégie d'Europe 2020 en Français
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