Education

In accordance with the subsidiarity principle, education policies are decided at the level of the individual Member States. The role of the EU is therefore mainly a supporting and coordinating one. The main objectives of Union action in the field of education include encouraging mobility of students and staff, fostering mutual recognition of diplomas and periods of study, and promoting cooperation between higher education institutions[1].

Legal basis

Education was formally recognised as an area of EU competency in the Maastricht Treaty of 1992. Article 165(1), in Title XII of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), states: ‘The Union shall contribute to the development of quality education by encouraging cooperation between Member States and, if necessary, by supporting and supplementing their action, while fully respecting the responsibility of the Member States for the content of teaching and the organisation of education systems and their cultural and linguistic diversity’. Article 165(2) states that Union action is to be aimed at:

• Developing the European dimension in education [...];
• Encouraging mobility of students and teachers, by encouraging, inter alia, the academic recognition of diplomas and periods of study;
• Promoting cooperation between educational establishments; developing exchanges of information and experience on issues common to the education systems of the Member States;
• Encouraging the development of distance education [...].

In addition, Article 9 TFEU, which can be described as a horizontal ‘social clause’, states: ‘In defining and implementing its policies and activities, the Union shall take into account requirements linked to the promotion of a high level of employment, the guarantee of adequate social protection, the fight against social exclusion, and a high level of education, training and protection of human health’.

Moreover, the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union states: ‘Everyone has the right to education’ (Article 14).

Objectives

A. The European Education Area

In its communication on achieving the European Education Area by 2025, adopted on 30 September 2020, the Commission outlined a European Education Area with the aim of improving the level of education and training of European citizens and developing their sense of belonging to the European Union. The European Education Area is based on six dimensions: quality of education and training; inclusion; green and digital transitions; teachers and trainers; higher education; and the geopolitical dimension. Following the Commission’s communication, in February 2021 the Council adopted a resolution on a strategic framework for European cooperation in education and training towards the European Education Area and beyond (2021-2030). This resolution sets out a list of objectives to be achieved in the coming years:

• The share of 15-year-olds with underachievement in reading, mathematics and science should be less than 15% by 2030 (2020 share: 22.5% for reading, 22.9% for mathematics and 22.3% for science);
• The share of low-achieving eighth-graders in computer and information literacy should be less than 15% by 2030;
• At least 96% of children aged between 3 and the starting age for compulsory primary education should participate in early childhood education and care by 2030 (2020 participation rate: 94.8%);
• The share of early leavers from education and training should be less than 9% by 2030 (2020 share: 10.2%);
• The share of 25- to 34-year-olds with tertiary educational attainment should be at least 45% (2020 share: 40.3%);
• The proportion of recent graduates from vocational education and training benefiting from exposure to work-based learning during their studies should be at least 60% by 2025;
• By 2025, at least 47% of adults aged between 25 and 64 should have participated in learning during the previous 12 months.

In July 2025, the Commission published an interim evaluation of the 2021–2030 European Education Area strategic framework and found that early positive results had been achieved through Member State cooperation on shared priorities, including progress in higher education mobility, inclusive and digital education and the ‘European Universities’ initiative. However, it also identified challenges and recommended improvements, such as clarifying strategic priorities, strengthening links between different education sectors, improving monitoring, and reinforcing synergies with other European areas, such as research.

B. The Bologna Process

In addition to the Member States’ own political initiatives, the EU actively supports the priorities of the Bologna Process, which, since its inception in 1999, has worked towards more comparable, compatible and coherent systems of higher education in Europe and in neighbouring regions, culminating in the creation of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) with the Budapest-Vienna Ministerial Conference Declaration of March 2010. To date, 49 countries are members of the EHEA.

C. The renewed EU agenda for higher education

In 2017, the Commission published the renewed EU agenda for higher education. It focuses on four priority areas:

• Aligning skills development in higher education with the needs of the labour market;
• Making higher education widely accessible and more inclusive and increasing its societal outreach;
• Boosting the innovation capacity of higher education;
• Increasing the effectiveness and efficiency of higher education.

Achievements

A. Erasmus+

Erasmus+ is the EU programme for education, training, youth and sport for the period 2021-2027. The objectives of the Erasmus+ programme are:

• To improve the level of key competences and skills, with particular regard to their relevance for the labour market and their contribution to a cohesive society;
• To foster quality improvements, excellence in innovation, and the internationalisation of education and training institutions;
• To promote the emergence and raise awareness of a European lifelong learning area designed to complement policy reforms at national level;
• To enhance the international dimension of education and training;
• To improve the teaching and learning of languages.

The programme is delivering on these goals for the education sector through a framework of key actions:

• Key action 1: Learning mobility of individuals;
• Key action 2: Cooperation between institutions and exchange of good practice;
• Key action 3: Support for policy reform.

Within the overarching architecture of Erasmus+, higher education assumes a central role. In the period 2021-2027, a minimum of 34.6% of the total budget of the Erasmus+ programme is reserved for higher education. Erasmus+ not only supports the mobility of students and staff in higher education, but also funds Erasmus Mundus Joint Masters degrees and Erasmus+ Master Loans.

The year 2018 saw the launch of the ‘European Universities’ initiative, with the support of the Erasmus+ programme. The initiative supports the creation of networks of higher education institutions in different Member States with a view to developing common strategies, enabling students to study in several EU countries and awarding European degrees. They encompass 65 European Universities alliances with more than 570 higher education institutions of all types, from all across Europe.

On 22 October 2021, the Commission adopted a new framework of inclusion measures for the Erasmus+ and European Solidarity Corps programmes 2021-2027. This framework aims to facilitate access for people with fewer opportunities and to remove the obstacles that may prevent access. It supports providers of vocational education and training that wish to organise learning mobility activities for vocational education and the training of learners and staff. Cooperation is also fundamental to the new framework and includes small-scale partnerships, which broaden access to the programme.

In July 2025, the Commission published its interim evaluation of the 2021-2027 Erasmus+ programme (and final evaluation of the 2014-2020 Erasmus+ programme). By 2023, more than 1.6 million participants and more than 77 000 organisations had taken part in the programme. Its transversal priorities – particularly inclusion and diversity, digital transformation, and the green transition – are proving effective, with nearly one third of journeys made using greener travel options and many participants reporting increased digital skills and environmental awareness.

In parallel, the proposal for an Erasmus+ regulation for 2028-2034 (COM(2025)0549) sets a proposed budget of around EUR 40.8 billion and signals continuity in priorities such as mobility, inclusiveness and digital and green skills, while maintaining flexibility ahead of upcoming negotiations.

B. Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

The Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) support the mobility and training of researchers. They are part of the EU’s Horizon Europe (2021-2027) Framework Programme for Research and Innovation and are structured around five sub-actions. In the area of higher education, the MSCA have become the main EU programme for doctoral training. The Horizon Europe programme allocates a budget of around EUR 6.6 billion to MSCA.

C. Higher education cooperation

In April 2022, the Council adopted conclusions on a European strategy empowering higher education institutions for the future of Europe and a recommendation on building bridges for effective European higher education cooperation. These acts aim to help European higher education institutions contribute to shaping sustainable and resilient economies and to making the EU greener, more inclusive and more digital. They also aim to intensify transnational cooperation and expand its scope, and to develop a genuinely European dimension in the higher education sector, built on shared values.

D. European degree

In March 2024, the Commission adopted a package of ambitious proposals for Europe’s higher education sector, with the aim of working towards a European degree. The package contains a blueprint for this new and universally recognised qualification, as a result of deeper and wider transnational cooperation between higher education institutions – a key component of the European Education Area.

E. Union of Skills

In March 2025, the Commission launched the Union of Skills, a strategic framework aimed at equipping people in the EU with the skills needed for the green, digital and competitive economy. The initiative emphasises basic skills (reading, maths, science and digital), education in STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths), lifelong upskilling and reskilling (including micro-credentials), the portability of skills and qualifications across Member States, the attraction and retention of talent, and the recognition of a European degree and new vocational education and training diploma. It creates new governance tools (a European Skills Intelligence Observatory and a High-Level Board on Skills) and sets out to achieve various targets, such as reducing the share of under-achievers in literacy, maths, science and digital skills to below 15% by 2030.

F. Other achievements

On 18 April 2018, Parliament and the Council adopted a decision on the Europass framework (Decision (EU) 2018/646 on a common framework for the provision of better services for skills and qualifications (Europass)).

Students are not the only focus of the EU’s education-related initiatives. In 2020, the Commission launched the European Innovative Teaching Award, which aims to recognise the work of teachers (and their schools) who make an exceptional contribution to the profession.

Role of the European Parliament

Parliament has an increasing influence on European policymaking in the area of education.

A. Erasmus+

In its resolution on the future of the Erasmus+ programme, adopted on 14 September 2017, Parliament recognised the extremely positive impact of the Erasmus+ programme, in particular on increasing opportunities for labour market integration and encouraging active citizenship and a sense of European identity. However, with less than 5% of Europeans able to benefit from Erasmus+, it stressed that the new programme should be more open and accessible and that it should focus more on vocational education and training, lifelong learning and non-formal and informal education. It also drew attention to difficulties in implementing the European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS), which are an obstacle to mobility, and called for the creation of a European Student eCard to enable students to access services at EU level.

On 15 September 2020, a resolution was adopted to strengthen the environmental dimension of the Erasmus+ programme, among other initiatives.

In May 2021, Parliament and the Council adopted the Regulation establishing the Erasmus+ programme for the period 2021-2027 (Regulation (EU) 2021/817). With a budget of EUR 26.6 billion (compared to EUR 14.7 billion in the previous period), the new edition of the programme aims to ensure equal opportunities for all citizens, including by increasing its reach to people with disabilities as well as those from disadvantaged economic backgrounds, those with educational difficulties and those living in rural and remote areas.

Parliament’s resolution on the implementation of inclusion measures within Erasmus+ 2014-2020, adopted on 23 June 2022, considered the level of success of the Erasmus+ programme in overcoming barriers to reaching those at risk of exclusion.

In January 2024, Parliament adopted a resolution on the implementation of the current Erasmus+ programme (2021-2027) as part of the programme’s mid-term evaluation. Parliament highlighted the fact that Erasmus+ remains a highly successful programme, given the very high levels of participation. It also emphasised that Erasmus+ needs to remain focused on quality education with actions that are easily accessible to citizens at grassroots level. Parliament welcomed the success of the new European Universities initiative and addressed ways of moving forward with the alliances. Parliament also called for additional funding and simplification measures to improve access for learners with fewer opportunities and encouraged the Commission to strengthen the programme’s green and digital components, in line with the Digital Education Action Plan 2021-2027.

B. Other specific areas

Parliament takes a strong interest in addressing and advocating for specific areas of education, as illustrated by the following examples.

Parliament’s resolution of 25 March 2021 on shaping digital education policy sets out its position on the Commission communication entitled ‘Digital Education Action Plan (2021-2027) – Resetting education and training for the digital age’ (COM(2020)0624).

Parliament’s resolution of 11 November 2021 on the European Education Area emphasised the need for a holistic approach and joint efforts, and stressed the importance of fostering a European Education Area from an educational point of view to provide more and better opportunities for European citizens to study, train and work abroad.

Parliament runs the European Parliament Ambassador School and Euroscola education programmes to help increase awareness about European democracy and values. On 6 April 2022, Parliament adopted its resolution on the implementation of citizenship education actions. The resolution expresses concern about the imbalances in terms of average civic knowledge across and within Member States, and makes various recommendations to tackle this.

On 19 May 2022, Parliament adopted a resolution on establishing the European Education Area by 2025, in which it welcomed the Commission’s proposals to develop a European approach to micro-credentials, individual learning accounts and learning for environmental sustainability, all of which featured among the objectives for achieving a European Education Area by 2025. The proposed developments would help make learning paths more flexible, broaden learning opportunities, deepen mutual recognition, create ties with the digital and green transitions and strengthen the role played by both higher education and vocational education and training institutions in lifelong learning.

On 12 September 2023, Parliament adopted its resolution on the European schools system, which addresses the state of play of the European schools system, the challenges it faces and Parliament’s perspective on how it should be reformed. Parliament also adopted, on 11 September 2025, a resolution setting out its vision for the European Universities alliances, providing guidance on their future development, governance, and role in fostering academic excellence, mobility and European identity.

C. Proposals for the amendment of the Treaties

On 22 November 2023, Parliament adopted its resolution on proposals of the European Parliament for the amendment of the Treaties. In the field of education, it called for the Union to develop common objectives and standards for an education that promotes democratic values and the rule of law, as well as digital and economic literacy. Parliament further called for the Union to promote cooperation and coherence between educational establishments systems while guaranteeing cultural traditions and regional diversity. It also called for the Union to develop common standards on vocational training to increase the mobility of workers. It proposed that the Union aim to protect and promote access to free and universal schooling, institutional and individual academic freedom, and human rights.

For more information on this topic, please see the website of the Committee on Culture and Education.

 

Anastasia MITRONATSIOU

11-2025