2 Education and training programmes 2007-13
| (25846)
11587/04
COM(04) 474
+ ADD 1
| Draft Decision and Staff Working Paper establishing an integrated action programme in the field of lifelong learning
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| Legal base | Articles 149(4) and 150(4) EC; co-decision; QMV
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| Document originated | 14 July 2004
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| Deposited in Parliament | 22 July 2004
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| Department | Education and Skills
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| Basis of consideration | EM of 31 August 2004
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| Previous Committee Report | None; but see (25466) 7351/04: HC 42-xviii (2003-04), para 8 (28 April 2004)
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| To be discussed in Council | No date set
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| Committee's assessment | Politically important
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| Committee's decision | Not cleared; further information requested
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Background
2.1 In April, we considered a Communication from the Commission
outlining its proposals for education and training programmes
to succeed the current programmes when they expire at the end
of 2006.[1]
2.2 The Community's main current 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 2000-06. 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 2000-06 is €1,850 million and it is open to the same
countries as Leonardo da Vinci.
- eLearning, which has
four main priorities: first, to foster awareness and understanding
of how Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) skills
can help people who are unable to benefit from traditional education
and training; second, to encourage the development of new organisational
models for European universities and for European exchange schemes;
third, to promote European-wide school twinning via the internet;
and, fourth, to encourage the take-up of good practice and reinforce
cross-border cooperation.
- Jean Monnet, which
provides financial support for research into European integration,
for Jean Monnet Chairs and for the College of Europe, the European
University Institute, the European Law Academy and the European
Institute of Public Administration.
2.3 Between November 2002 and March 2003, the Commission
consulted people and organisations concerned with education, training
and youth programmes about the development of the programmes.
The main views which emerged from the consultations were:
- the existing programmes and,
in particular, the promotion of student and teacher mobility,
are important and should continue;
- the programmes should contribute to the development
of European citizenship and the teaching of languages;
- the current 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.
2.4 The Communication said that the Commission had
taken account of these views in developing its proposals for the
new generation of education and training programmes. The Commission
had also taken into account relevant Community objectives, most
notably the goals set by the Lisbon European Council in March
2000: education and training have an essential contribution to
make to the achievement of the goal of making Europe the most
competitive knowledge-based economy in the world by 2010, with
more and better jobs and greater social cohesion.
2.5 The Communication said 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".
2.6 The Commission concluded that, for the period
2007-13:
- there would be major benefits
from having one "Integrated Programme", bringing together
the education and training activities now funded separately by
the Socrates and Leonardo da Vinci programmes;
- the Integrated Programme should also fund the
Jean Monnet activities;
- there should be a four-fold increase in spending
on the new generation of education and training programmes; and
- the administrative procedures of the new programmes
should be simplified and over 80% of the budgets should be managed
by national agencies.
2.7 We noted that the Government was concerned about
the proposal for a massive increase in the spending on the programmes
between 2007 and 2013 and that it had questions about other aspects
of the proposals. We reserved comment on the substance of the
Communication pending the deposit of the Commission's legislative
proposals.
2.8 Article 149 of the Treaty establishing the European
Treaty (the EC Treaty) provides for the Community to contribute
to the development of education by encouraging cooperation between
Member States and by supporting and supplementing their action.
It also provides that Community action should include developing
the European dimension in education, encouraging youth exchanges
and the mobility of students and teachers and fostering cooperation
with third countries. Article 149(4) provides for the Council
to adopt incentive measures to contribute to the achievement of
these objectives. Article 150 makes similar provision for vocational
training.
The document
2.9 The document comprises a draft Decision and explanatory
memorandum. ADD 1 contains an extended impact assessment of the
draft Decision and supporting information about the proposals.
2.10 Article 1 of the draft Decision proposes the
creation of an Integrated Programme for lifelong learning and
sets out the Programme's objectives. These include contributing
to the development of lifelong learning; the promotion of innovation
and a European dimension in education and vocational training;
helping to improve the attractiveness and accessibility of lifelong
learning; reinforcing the contribution of lifelong learning to
personal fulfillment, active citizenship, gender equality and
the participation of people with special needs; promoting competitiveness,
employability and language learning; helping create a sense of
European citizenship; and encouraging tolerance for other peoples
and cultures.
2.11 The Integrated Programme would be implemented
through the six programmes proposed in Article 2. The six are:
- Commenius,
to develop the understanding of the diversity of European cultures
among the children and staff of primary and secondary schools;
- Erasmus, to
support education and advanced vocational training at the higher
education level;
- Leonardo da Vinci, to
support all other aspects of vocational education and training;
- Grundtvig, to
support adult education.
- Jean Monnet,
to stimulate teaching and research related to European integration
and support institutions and associations concerned with European
integration and with education and training with a European dimension;
and
- Transversal, to
support activities that cut across the other programmes (for example,
the development of language learning materials, innovative approaches
to teaching and dissemination of good practice).
2.12 Article 4 proposes the activities to be supported
by the Integrated Programme. They include support for the mobility
of people engaged in lifelong learning; multilateral and bilateral
partnerships and projects; analysis of policies and systems; conducting
surveys; and providing operating grants to organisations for certain
activities. Article 4(1)(e) proposes, in particular, that support
should be available for "unilateral and national projects".
2.13 Article 6 provides that Member States should
appoint and supervise national agencies to implement the decentralised
aspects of the Integrated Programme.
2.14 Under Article 7, EFTA countries which are members
of the European Economic Area would be able to take part in the
Programme. So would Turkey and, subject to certain conditions,
Switzerland and countries in Central and Eastern Europe and the
Western Balkans.
2.15 The total budget of the Integrated Programme
between 2007 and 2013 should be €13.620 billion (about three
and half times as much as the budget for 2000-06). Comenius would
be allocated at least 10% of the budget, Erasmus at least 40%,
Leonardo da Vinci at least 25% and Grundtwig at least 3%.
2.16 The Commission would be required to produce
a report on an interim evaluation of the Programme in 2011 and
a final evaluation report in 2016.
2.17 Articles 17 to 21 make provision for the Comenius
programme, which would be "aimed"
primarily at school children and their teachers and bodies associated
with their education. Specific objectives for the programme would
include increasing the number of cross-border exchanges of children
and staff; encouraging the learning of a second foreign language;
and reinforcing the European dimension of teacher training. Not
less than 85% of the Comenius budget is to be used for supporting
mobility and cross-border partnerships between schools.
2.18 Articles 22 to 26 contain provision specific
to the Erasmus programme. The programme is to be
aimed primarily at students and trainees in higher and advanced
vocational training; higher education institutions and their staff;
and associated organisations. The programme's specific objectives
are to include increasing the mobility of students and teaching
staff, and multilateral cooperation between higher education institutions
and between them and enterprises. Not less than 85% of the budget
is to be used for the support of mobility.
2.19 Articles 27 to 31 are concerned with the Leonardo
da Vinci programme. The programme is to be aimed at students,
teachers and other staff in vocational education and training
outside the higher education sector; enterprises; organisations
representing employers and employees; and other associations and
organisations concerned with lifelong learning. The specific objectives
of the programme are to include more placements and exchanges
of people involved in vocational training and greater cross-border
cooperation through partnerships and projects. Not less than 75%
of the Leonardo da Vinci budget is to be used to support mobility.
2.20 Articles 32 to 36 propose that the Grundtvig
programme should be aimed at people engaged in adult education,
whether as students, teachers, policy-makers and administrators,
and at organisations with an interest in adult education. Again,
increasing the number of cross-border visits and exchanges and
encouraging partnerships and joint priorities are included in
the specific objectives for the programme. Not less than 60% of
the budget must be used to support mobility.
2.21 The Transversal programme (Articles
37 to 39) is to support policy development at the European level;
ensure that there is an adequate supply of comparable statistics
and other data about lifelong learning; monitor progress towards
objectives; promote language learning and the development of ICT
to support lifelong learning; and disseminate the results of the
Integrated Programme. Study visits and multilateral projects and
networks are among the actions to be supported by the programme.
The draft Decision does not specify what proportion of the budget
is to be used to support mobility.
2.22 The Jean Monnet programme (Articles
40 to 44) is to be aimed at students, researchers and teachers
in higher education who are concerned with European integration
and at organisations and institutions active in that field. The
programme's specific objectives are to include stimulating excellence
in teaching and research, improving knowledge and understanding
of issues relating to European integration and supporting European
associations active in the field. Financial support may be provided
for Jean Monnet chairs; young researchers; associations of academics
specialising in European integration; and multilateral projects.
Operating grants may be made towards the costs of the College
of Europe, the European University Institute at Florence, the
European Institute of Public Administration and the Academy of
European Law. They may also be made to other teaching and research
institutions and associations.
2.23 The Commission proposes that:
- 1 in 20 school children should
be involved in Comenius actions between 2007-13;
- there should be 3 million Erasmus students by
2011;
- there should be 150,000 Leonardo da Vinci placements
a year by 2013; and
- there should be 25,000 visits and exchanges a
year under the Grundtvig programme by 2013.
The Government's view
2.24 The then Minister of State for Lifelong Learning,
Further and Higher Education (Alan Johnson) told us that the United
Kingdom participates fully in the current programmes and intends
to do so in the new ones. The Government recognises the value
of the transfer of experience, best practice and new ideas through
cross-border cooperation.
2.25 The Explanatory Memorandum adds that the Commission
has taken account of many points which the Government had emphasised
as being essential to the new generation of education and training
programmes. Among other things, the Government welcomes the proposals
for greater decentralisation and to simplify and reduce bureaucracy;
it will, however, be seeking clarification of how decentralisation
will work in practice.
2.26 Stressing the importance the Government attaches
to vocational education and training, the Explanatory Memorandum
says:
"We shall seek to ensure in negotiations that
there is sufficient emphasis in the programme as a whole on vocational
education and training and improving employability because of
their links to human capital and flexible labour markets which
contribute directly to improving competitiveness and meeting Lisbon
targets. We also want to ensure that the programmes enhance access
to education for disadvantaged groups to help improve social cohesion
…. and to help tackle particular identified weaknesses in
adult skills in the UK."
2.27 The Explanatory Memorandum notes that the draft
Decision proposes a budget of €13,620 million for the Integrated
Programme between 2007-13, about three and a half times the budget
of the current programmes. The proposal is part of the total budget
the Commission has adopted for the next Financial Perspective,
amounting to 1.24% of the EU's Gross National Income (GNI). The
Governments of the United Kingdom and five other Member States
consider this excessive and believe that the Union's priorities
could be funded from an EU budget of 1% of EU GNI. The funding
available for the proposed Integrated Programme cannot be settled
until the negotiations on the next Financial Perspective have
been completed.
2.28 Finally, the Explanatory Memorandum says that
the Government is satisfied that the draft Decision complies with
the requirements of subsidiarity; and that the Spring 2004 European
Council called for the proposals for the Integrated Programme
to be decided by the end of 2005.
Conclusion
2.29 We recognise the importance of the Community's
education and vocational training programmes not only for the
individual beneficiaries and international competitiveness but
also for the contribution they make to peace and good relations
between the Member States and neighbouring countries. In principle,
therefore, we see benefits in the Commission's proposals for a
new generation of programmes for the period after 2006.
2.30 We welcome the Commission's stated intention
of making the administration of the new programmes more decentralised
and simpler. We share the Government's wish to know more about
how these intentions will be realised in practice.
2.31 The Commission proposes that most of the
budgets of the Comenius, Erasmus, Leonardo da Vinci and Grundtwig
programmes should be used to support cross-border exchanges and
visits of various kinds. Earlier this month, we considered a draft
Decision for a new youth programme for 2007-13, with a budget
of €915 million.[2]
The encouragement of the mobility of young people is an important
component of that proposal, too. We ask the Minister to comment
on whether, taking the proposals for the Youth and Integrated
Programmes together, the intended expenditure on cross-border
visits and exchanges is proportionate given all the Community's
other priorities.
2.32 We note that the Government considers that
the draft Decision is consistent with the principle of subsidiarity.
We also note, however, that Article 4(1)(d) proposes that financial
support should be available for "unilateral and national
projects". It is not immediately apparent that that provision
satisfies the requirements of Article 5 of the EC Treaty. We question
whether the objectives of Article 4(1)(d) "cannot be sufficiently
achieved by the Member States and can, therefore, by reason of
the scale or effects of the proposed action, be better achieved
by the Community". We should be grateful for the Minister's
comments on the question.
2.33 Negotiations on the draft Decision are just
beginning and, as the Minister noted, cannot be completed in advance
of the outcome of the discussions on the next Financial Perspective,
which could have a significant impact on the scale of the Integrated
Programme. We ask, the Minister, therefore, to keep us informed
of the progress of the negotiations and to respond to our specific
questions. Meanwhile, we shall keep the document under scrutiny.
1 (25466) 7351/04: see headnote. Back
2
(25863) 11586/04; see HC 42-xxx (2003-04), para 3 (9 September
2004). Back
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