International Education

Politicians across the European Union (EU) recognise that education is essential for continued growth and prosperity in today’s knowledge society.

The EU’s role in Education

The role of the EU in education and training is to help to improve the quality of education systems across the EU through:

• supporting policy co-operation between EU Member States
• providing EU funding for education and training activities, for example, under the Erasmus student mobility programme

At the same time, EU Member States maintain full responsibility for the content of their curricula, the organisation of their education and vocational training systems and their cultural and linguistic diversity.

Policy co-operation

Policy co-operation involves EU Member States sharing good ideas to address common challenges across all sectors of education – from early childhood to higher and adult education.

Policy co-operation happens at many levels:

• Education Ministers meet three times each year to agree on policies to improve education and training at Education Council
• experts from Member States – including civil servants, academics and national agency representatives – meet to share their experiences of good practice

Areas to be examined are drawn from the common priorities of Member States and re-evaluated every 2-3 years

EU Funding

The EU’s Erasmus+ programme provides funding for a range of international education and training projects, including student and staff exchanges, job shadowing, teaching assignments, and strategic partnerships between organisations.

The European Social Fund (ESF) is one of the European Structural and Investment Funds. The ESF focuses investment on activation of the unemployed, improving social and labour market inclusion, enhancing education attainment and tackling youth unemployment.

The European Globalisation Adjustment Fund (EGF) assists EU Member States to provide active labour market supports to workers made redundant (or self-employed people whose activity ceases) as a result of major structural changes in world trade due to globalisation or global financial and economic crisis.

The Department of Education engages with international partners in education and training policy, including the EU, Council of Europe, OECD and UNESCO. The department makes sure that Ireland's best interests are highlighted at EU level so that:

• Ireland gets the greatest benefit possible from EU funding
• Irish policies are informed by EU best practice.

In practice, on an ongoing basis:

• the Minister for Education attends the Education Council to discuss policy with EU counterparts
• through the Higher Education Authority and Léargas - agencies of the Department - Irish students can access study and work placements in other EU countries and Irish organisations can work collaboratively with other organisations in Europe, funded by Erasmus+

Also, the department must report to the Oireachtas on major developments in education at EU level every six months.

The Eurydicenetwork provides those responsible for education systems and policies in Europe with european-level analyses and information which will assist them in their decision making.

Eurydice publishes descriptions of national education systems, comparative reports devoted to specific topics, indicators and statistics, as well as news and articles related to the field of education. Read more

PISA is the OECD's Programme for International Student Assessment. PISA measures 15-year-olds’ ability to use their reading, mathematics and science knowledge and skills to meet real-life challenges.

TIMSS (Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study)assesses the mathematics and science skills of students in fourth class and second year.

The Your Europe portal gives individuals and businesses practical information on their rights and opportunities in the EU. It focuses on real-life, cross-border situations, e.g. European citizens wishing to work or study in another country in the EU, or European businesses wanting to move to or open a new branch in another country in the EU.

Related

• International Education Strategy For Ireland 2016-2020
• National Framework of Qualifications
• Make your Qualifications Easily Understood in Europe