8 New education and training programmes
after 2006
| (25466)
7351/04
COM(04) 156
| Commission Communication on the new generation of Community education and training programmes after 2006
|
| Legal base | — |
| Document originated | 9 March 2004
|
| Deposited in Parliament | 19 March 2004
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| Department | Education and Skills
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| Basis of consideration | EM of 30 March 2004
|
| Previous Committee Report | None
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| To be discussed in Council | May 2004
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| Committee's assessment | Politically important
|
| Committee's decision | Cleared
|
Background
8.1 The European Community's programmes to promote education and
training within the EU expire at the end of 2006. So, too, does
the programme to support higher education in the EU's neighbouring
countries.
8.2 The Community's main existing education and training
programmes are:
- Leonardo da Vinci,
a vocational training programme with the objectives of making
people more employable and improving competitiveness and entrepreneurship.
The programme has a total budget of €1,150
million for the period 2001-06. It is open to Member States, accession
countries, European Economic Area countries and Bulgaria and Romania.
- Socrates, which covers
all sectors of education from nursery schools to universities
and adult education. It funds a wide range of activities, including
the development of the curriculum, student and teacher exchanges,
language training and research projects. The programme's budget
for 2001-06 is €1,850 million and it is open to the same
countries as Leonardo da Vinci;
- Tempus, one of the
Community's programmes to encourage and help the EU's neighbouring
countries to develop democratic institutions and competitive market
economies. The current beneficiaries are the countries of central
and eastern Europe, the former USSR and the southern and eastern
Mediterranean. Tempus helps the beneficiary countries to restructure
and modernise their higher education systems. The help comes in
the form of grants to students and academics to travel and study
abroad and financial and practical assistance for projects to,
for example, re-shape the curriculum, computerise libraries and
give university staff training in management.
The document
8.3 Between November 2002 and March 2003, the Commission
consulted people and organisations concerned with education, training
and youth programmes about the development of the education and
training programmes. The Commission says that the main views which
emerged from the consultations were:
- great enthusiasm for the existing
programmes and, in particular, for the promotion of student and
teacher mobility;
- the programmes should contribute to the development
of European citizenship and the teaching of languages;
- the programmes are bureaucratic, inflexible and
over-complicated; and
- decentralised procedures (that is, administration
by the National Agencies of participating countries) are simpler
and more user-friendly than the Commission's.[12]
8.4 The Commission says that it has taken account
of these views in developing its proposals for the new generation
of education and training programmes for the period 2007-13. The
Commission has also taken into account relevant Community objectives,
most notably the goals set by the Lisbon European Council in March
2000. The Commission considers that education and training have
an essential contribution to make to the achievement of the Lisbon
goals of making Europe the most competitive knowledge-based economy
in the world by 2010, with more and better jobs and greater social
cohesion.
8.5 The Communication says that Member States must
remain responsible for the organisation, content and financing
of education and training. But there are some things which require
action by the European Community:
"Enabling the mobility not only of students,
trainees, adult-learners, teachers, trainers, and academics, but
also of practices and ideas, is an important area where Member
States' own actions will not produce the necessary results; and
it is crucial to the development of the knowledge society, since
it entails the direct transmission and experience of new approaches
and skills and, equally importantly, promotes networks of institutions
that cooperate at a European level".[13]
8.6 The Commission argues that cooperation in education
and training is not just an internal matter for the EU. It is
also a powerful means to strengthen relations with third countries
and to promote stability, peace and prosperity. The Community
will, therefore, continue to need a programme for external assistance.
8.7 Accordingly, and taking account of the results
of its consultations and evaluations of the existing education
and training programmes, the Commission proposes that, for the
period 2007-13:
- there should continue to be
separate programmes for the Community and for neighbouring countries;
- there are major benefits to be gained from having
one "Integrated programme" for the EU, bringing together
the education and training activities now funded separately by
the Socrates and Leonardo da Vinci programmes;
- the Integrated Programme would also fund the
"Jean Monet activities"[14]
and grants to the College of Europe, the European University Institute,
the European Law Academy and the European Institute of Public
Administration;
- there would be benefits from having only one
committee to manage the whole of the Integrated Programme;
- the existing programme of assistance to neighbouring
countries (Tempus) should be broadened to provide financial support
not only for higher education (as now) but also for schools, vocational
training and adult education (the Commission refers to the new
programme as Tempus Plus);
- the administrative procedures of the new programmes
should be simplified and over 80% of the budgets should be managed
by National Agencies.
8.8 The Commission says that:
"Over the next programming period [2007-13],
the annual budget for the proposed Integrated Programme could
increase by four times compared to the current funding level.
Funding at this level would permit the achievement of a set of
ambitious but realistic targets, commensurate with the political
importance of the new programme".[15]
The Commission also says that financing the major
increase in the scope of the new programme of assistance to neighbouring
countries (Tempus Plus) "would require a significant budgetary
increase".[16]
8.9 The Commission envisages that, under the new
Integrated Programme:
- 10% of the Community's school
children and teachers would take part in mobility projects between
2007-13;
- the number of university students who take part
in mobility projects would rise from 120,000 a year now to 375,000
and the number of university teachers would increase from 18,000
a year now to 40, 000 a year;
- placements abroad for people receiving vocational
training would rise from 45,000 a year now to 150,000 by 2013;
- at least 50,000 adult learners should take part
in mobility schemes each year.
8.10 The Commission also says that one of the aims
of the Tempus Plus programme would be to support the mobility
of 100,000 people from neighbouring countries between 2007-13.
8.11 The Commission expects to present draft legislation
to give effect to the proposals by this summer. It says that nothing
in the Communication prejudges the final contents of the legislative
proposals to be adopted by the Commission, including their financial
aspects.
The Government's view
8.12 The Minister of State for Lifelong Learning,
Further and Higher Education at the Department of Education and
Skills (Mr Alan Johnson) tells us that the UK has always participated
fully in the existing programmes and intends to do so in the new
ones. He says that the Commission's Communication appears to take
on board a lot of the suggestions the Government made following
its own consultations, at the end of 2002, on the next generation
of programmes. The Government particularly welcomes the proposal
that over 80% of the budgets of the new programmes should be subject
to decentralised management.
8.13 The Minister comments, however, that:
"we do have reservations about the likely structure
of the new lifelong learning programme. The Commission seem to
assume that by increasing funding for mobility and mobility projects,
a climate will be created in education and training systems which
will heighten the focus on the Lisbon goals. We also believe that
the bulk of the budget may be focussed on higher education rather
than other sectors where the opportunities available through these
programmes can bring greater added value. We will test the Commission's
assumptions in these areas thoroughly throughout the discussion
of the Communication so that we will be better informed when the
draft proposals for decisions are published.
"This document provides little evidence of how
the programme procedures will be simplified, other than through
decentralisation. In the current programmes, much of the bureaucracy
stems from a Commission lack of trust in national systems and
audit trails and in decentralised actions. Cumbersome procedures
are mandatory for the smallest amounts of money. We will be examining
the Commission proposals in this area very carefully to ensure
that greater decentralisation does not lead to undue and unnecessary
administrative burdens on both project coordinators and National
Agencies."
8.14 The Government also has reservations about the
proposed Tempus Plus programme. The Minister tells us that:
"We will examine carefully the [Commission's
formal] proposal to extend its volume and scope, particularly
in the context of funding, programme management, monitoring and
evaluation".
8.15 Finally, the Minister says that the Government
is concerned by the Commission's suggestion of a four-fold increase
in the expenditure on these programmes. The UK and some other
Member States consider that the Community's budget should be stabilised
at 1% of the EU's Gross National Income in the Financial Perspective
for 2007-13. The Minister says that the budget should support
the Lisbon goals and that "value added proposals need to
be consistent with meeting these and other EU priorities".
Conclusion
8.16 Education and training have a major contribution
to make to the competitiveness, prosperity and personal fulfilment
of the people who live in the EU and neighbouring countries. The
Commission's Communication is, therefore, of political importance
and we draw it to the attention of the House.
8.17 We believe it is useful to have this exposition
of the Commission's thinking about the next generation of education
and training programmes before the legislation to give effect
to the proposals is presented. We note the Government's concern
about the suggestion for a massive increase in the spending on
the programmes between 2007 and 2013 and that it will be raising
its reservations about other aspects of the proposals during the
discussion of the Communication. We should be grateful if the
Minister would keep us informed of the progress of the discussions.
8.18 We shall scrutinise the draft legislation
in detail when it is presented. Both for that reason and because
there are no specific questions we wish to put to the Minister
at this stage, we clear the document from scrutiny.
12 Page 14 of the Commission Communication on the new
generation of education and training programmes after 2006. Back
13
Page 8 of the Communication. Back
14
Financial support for research into European integration, for
Jean Monet Chairs and other academics at universities, and for
research on European integration. Back
15
Page 15 of the Communication. Back
16
Page 19 of the Communication. Back
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