New EU group aims to tackle education challenges

The European Commission has launched a new high-level group on the modernisation of higher education, with seven leading academic and business figures. The group will address this issue as part of a comprehensive three-year review of the sector across the European Union (EU), writes Martin Banks for The Parliament.

In its first year, the group will focus on how best to achieve excellence in teaching, and subsequently on how to adapt learning in the digital age. With rising youth unemployment rates – the recent EU youth report points out that unemployment among 15- to 24-year-olds has risen by 50% since the onset of the crisis – higher education is a key focus for the commission.

This has been further emphasised by a recent OECD report that highlighted current challenges facing education, identifying the ageing teaching force and the low proportion of men enrolling in higher education as likely problems in Europe in the near future.
Full report on The Parliament site