Taking stock of education in Europe: the 5th European Education Summit
On 1 December 2022, the European Commission organised the 5th European Education Summit, on the topic of "Bright Young Minds". Despite the focus on young people, the Summit was the perfect occasion to take stock of education and training at large in the European Union. In fact, the event was centred on discussing how European education and training systems can adapt to allow all individuals to develop the skills and competences they need to thrive and innovate.
Taking place in a hybrid format, this high-level event was hosted by European Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth Mariya Gabriel and saw the presence of several ministers for education from European Member States, as well as hundreds of representatives of civil society and education stakeholders from all sectors among the public and panellists.
A strong focus was placed on the implementation of the European Education Area by 2025: Commissioner Gabriel presented the report on progress to achieve the European Education Area by 2025 - an area where barriers to learning are gone and everyone has better access to quality education - which had been adopted by the European Commission on 18 November 2022. The report looks at the ongoing work and progress towards EU-level targets, including strategic policy initiatives across all education sectors and EU-funded projects such as Teacher Academies, the Education for Climate Coalition or Centres of Vocational Excellence.
Another point of interest was the link between the 2022 European Year of Youth to the 2023 European Year of Skills, recognising the efforts of all learners to build resilient societies. A special attention is dedicated to young adults, which constitute the red thread between these two years. Together with the Member States and through the recovery and resilience plans, the European Commission committed to guarantee that enough budget is dedicated to education and training.
Given the hybrid format, all speeches and panels are available here.
Opening image: EC - Audiovisual Service, Lukasz Kobus
