Their determination further to strengthen their partnership in order to . . . pursue policies aimed at achieving a sound world economy marked by sustained economic growth with low inflation, a high level of employment, equitable social conditions, in a framework of international stability. The Declaration went on to state that The partnership . . . will be based on continuous efforts to strengthen mutual cooperation in various . . . fields which directly affect the present and future well-being of their citizens, as well as in education and culture, including academic and youth exchanges.Since the Noordwijk conference, a number of key developments have taken place within the European Community which have a direct bearing on the issues discussed at the San Diego conference and in this volume. This chapter outlines these developments in order to provide a framework of reference for the more detailed contributions on the European side in this volume.
Of the developments covered in this chapter, two are pivotal, providing the power to act and the rationale for the action to be taken. The first of these is the Maastricht Treaty, which gives the European Community wider prerogative to undertake education and training actions. The second is the White Paper entitled Growth, Competitiveness, Employment: The Challenges and Ways Forward into the 21st Century, which, by indicating the central role education and training can play in stimulating economic growth, provides the impetus for the European Community's recent actions.
In education, the role of the European Community is to "contribute to the development of quality education by encouraging cooperation between the Member States," while for training, "the Community shall implement a vocational training policy." Both articles give the European Community power to introduce measures which "support and supplement the action of the Member States while fully respecting the responsibility of the Member States for the content and organization as well as for cultural and linguistic diversity." In addition, for both education and for training, the treaty states that, "The Community and the Member States shall foster cooperation with third countries and the competent international organizations . . . ." It is particularly gratifying to have this solid legal basis, and one which so clearly defines objectives and responsibilities. The objectives of European Community action in training are fivefold:
The area of mobility illustrates the success which these European Community programs have already achieved. An estimated eight percent of all European third-level students now spend a semester or more in another member state institution, for which they receive full academic recognition from their home university.1 This mobility has taken place within the framework of the higher education programs, ERASMUS (European Community Action Scheme for the Mobility of University Students) for academic cooperation or COMETT (cooperation program between universities and enterprises for education and training for technology) for cooperation in training. Thanks to programs such as ERASMUS and COMETT, EU is not just a customs union, but is becoming a real community of neighbouring nations. In this European Community, not just goods and services, and capital and labour, circulate freely, but ideas and culture do, too.
The challenges addressed by the White Paper--those of employment creation and social inclusion, and of a flexible, decentralized economy characterized by solidarity--are not sought through some simple miracle solution. Rather, the White Paper suggests a series of policies and concrete actions aimed at restoring relative competitiveness. It emphasizes the key role that education and training could play in the creation of quality employment. Elements of reform are identified and actions at both member state and European Community levels are proposed.
If implemented, the recommendations in the White Paper and the Communication should direct the European Community toward a model of economic development which breaks with the recent phenomenon of economic growth without the corresponding growth in employment--and the subsequent unacceptable levels of social exclusion through unemployment.
By redesigning the various activities they contained, conserving the best elements, and introducing new activities based on the two criteria of innovation and quality, the European Community has regrouped the existing programs into two new, all-embracing programs. Both were introduced in 1995. SOCRATES provides for cooperation in all areas of education. LEONARDO DA VINCI covers all aspects of training: initial, ongoing, and preparation for technology.
Of course, the two new "framework" programs share areas of common concern such as language instruction and Open and Distance learning. These shared interests will act as bridges linking their activities. A third program, YOUTH FOR EUROPE III, covers the area of youth, encouraging an active sense of European citizenship among young Europeans.
These new programs will continue to combine mobility with other cooperative activities designed to achieve a systemic, long-term effect. For example, the mobility of academic staff and students, which, in ERASMUS, served as the main transmission channel for best practice, is reinforced in SOCRATES by new thematic networks. These pedagogic forums will build on the academic networks which have grown through the present ERASMUS. These networks have proved to be an ideal vehicle for developing grassroots links among individual academics across frontiers.
In parallel, the new Institutional Contract will embed the cooperative activities of the individual academics more firmly into the overall strategies of their institutions. This goal will be accomplished by encouraging each higher education institution to develop a coherent European policy, and to implement the strategies and the supporting structures to accomplish these aims.
Particular attention will also be paid to the role of the social partners, especially in the field of continuing training. The EU will help develop a support system to assist their dialogue and joint actions. The aim is to raise the quality of its relations with the labor and management sides of industry, and to promote a closer involvement of enterprises and unions in the development of training.
Based as much as possible on practical experience, the European Community will highlight how individuals can use education and training to take control of their lives, both by improving their employment prospects and, more generally, by promoting their own personal development. The European Year will also deal with the following aspects of lifelong learning:
Although many countries undertaking political and economic reform are preoccupied with physical capital, technology, and infrastructural investment, the most vital need is usually for the creation of new civic and institutional structures. One can provide lavish funding to encourage the creation of new enterprises, but if the legal structures are not in place, the donated aid can disappear into an economic black hole. The creation of new institutional and civil structures are facilitated first and foremost by the transfer of know-how and experience, and by the introduction of new courses and curricula in schools and colleges. Education and training are the primary sources of enhanced competitiveness and quality job creation in less-advanced economies and regions: They play a vital role in changing attitudes and consolidating democratic values in societies shaking off the shackles of authoritarian rule.
The newly democratizing countries of Eastern and Central Europe, Russia, and the NIS (Newly Independent States) are a case in point. The TEMPUS Program (Trans European Mobility Scheme for University Studies) has brought together academics from these countries and the European Community, for the purpose of updating their higher education provision.
In addition to these training responsibilities, the foundation has taken over the task of providing technical assistance to the European Commission in its management of the TEMPUS Program. The establishment of the foundation should ensure that education and training continue to occupy a high profile position at the top of the political agenda. In the future, this commitment should translate into concrete activities providing the basis for political and economic change.
Regarding other global regions, the assistance offered to the ACP (African Caribbean Pacific) group by the EU is the most substantial of any such international aid program. Overall, the European Union is spending many hundreds of millions of ECUs (European Currency Units) in promoting training in a wide range of developing countries. The expertise of DG XXII is being increasingly called upon to help advise and design initiatives. For example, DG XXII participated in the programming mission of the EU to South Africa following the election of the first government based on universal franchise.
In addition to closer collaboration within the EU services, colleagues in the DG XXII of the EU have recently taken steps to ensure a closer liaison between the actions of the individual member states and EU-level action.
Preliminary reviews of these projects indicate that this innovative form of multilateral cooperation, each involving partners in a number of European countries and American states, is especially useful at encouraging certain pedagogic innovations. The most successful examples have been in multidisciplinary studies where the frontiers of knowledge are advancing, and where regional institutions less used to international collaboration have been involved. Although it is too early yet for definitive data, the DG estimates that in the 1995-1996 academic year some 250 European students will have travelled to partner institutions in the United States, and a similar number of American students will have travelled to Europe.
The projects' underlying philosophy is that those students should integrate themselves both academically and culturally in the normal life of the host institutions, undertaking intensive language preparation where necessary, and benefiting from full academic recognition for the study period in the overseas establishment. However, the European Community's experience with the European Economic Area and in Central and Eastern Europe suggests that, while student mobility may be an important objective, the most valuable form of international collaboration lies in the construction of networks which pursue a variety of innovative pedagogic means to improve educational quality. In order to put this experimental action on a more secure legal basis, in November 1994, the European Commission was given a mandate to negotiate an agreement for cooperation with the U.S. in the area of education and vocational education and training. A draft agreement has now been submitted on the European side to the Council of Ministers and the European Parliament for their approval.
Both Europe and the United States share the concern for those not best served by the system, be it due to gender, race, family fortune, or personal capacity. Europeans tend to believe that access to gainful employment is a fundamental human right. Americans may call it inclusivity, whereas Europeans tend to call it solidarity or social inclusion.
Local leadership is also a shared concern in Europe and the United States. Local educators, employers, and public officials must now play a key role in ensuring an equilibrated supply and demand for skills and qualifications in their communities.
Small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), the major source of employment both in Europe and the U.S., play a major role in providing jobs. (European statistics compiled by Eurostat suggest that some 70 percent of employment in Europe is created in such SMEs.) As such, SMEs have aroused policy interest in the European Community and in America. The European Community's concern is obviously to promote those SMEs which process knowledge: These are, again, the main source of quality employment with high value added. On both sides of the Atlantic, policymakers appreciate the importance of investment--not just in physical capital, but as a generator of employment. It is the intangible capital of human resourcefulness which is fostered by high-quality education and training.
Finally, both the EU and U.S. emphasize the fundamental importance of "learning"--meaning a lifelong process where individuals take more responsibility for equipping themselves with the skills of the future. They can then reap the creativity and independence of spirit that comes with such knowledge.
1 This is calculated on the basis of data provided by member states concerning the total number of students in higher education, together with the annual data on the total number of mobile students supported by each European Community program.
2 Depending on its relative size, each member state proposes the names of one or two Commissioners who each take responsibility for an area (or areas) of European Community competence. The College of Commissioners is headed by its President, currently Mr. Jaques Santer, who is elected by the member states. The European Commission as a whole must be approved by the European Parliament before taking up office for five years.
3 Aquis denotes the accumulated experience and practice of the European Community expressed, for example, through its legislation and programs.
