The Added Value of EU policy in Education: European Added Value in Action

W skrócie 18-03-2015

In recent years, the EU has developed a European dimension to education, notably in the area of higher education, where it has stimulated mobility of students and teachers. In the last two decades, major progress has also been made in harmonizing university degree structures and increasing the compatibility of higher education systems. The benefits of the support given to education at a Union level derive from the cross-border character of the activities in the field, which are additional to those developed at national or regional levels. It is worth noting that only EU programmes guarantee that all Member States benefit from mobility and exchange of good practices in the area while ensuring optimal dissemination of results. Hence, EU action in the ground is a way of filling in the missing links, avoiding fragmentation and realising the potential of a border-free Europe. In practical terms, the implementation of programmes by the EU offers better value for money and economies of scale - than a series of wholly bilateral relations between Member States in this field would allow- because externalities can be addressed, resources or expertise pooled, and action better coordinated. This ‘At a Glance’ publication is part of a series of summaries of the added value of existing EU policies in practice. Previous publications in this series include summaries of the benefits of the European single market and the added value of EU action in the field of mobile telephone roaming charges.