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Education

Article 14 of the European Union (EU) Charter of Fundamental Rights states that ‘everyone has the right to education and to have access to continuing and vocational training’.

EU Member States are responsible for the organisation of their education and training systems and the content of teaching programmes. Under Article 165 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, the EU contributes to the development of quality education by encouraging and facilitating cooperation between its Member States, and by supporting and supplementing their action.

With a budget of more than EUR 28 billion, the new Erasmus+ programme (2021-2027) funds projects on education and training, as well as measures in favour of youth and sport.

In addition, the 27 Member States and the European Commission are working towards a wide-ranging improvement of the EU’s education and training sector. This shared vision is called the European education area (EEA), and aims at creating a genuine common European space of learning, which will benefit all learners, teachers and institutions, by 2025, through:

  • improving the quality of education and training for all;
  • ensuring inclusion and gender equality;
  • promoting policies and investments to bring about the green and digital transitions;
  • enhancing competence and motivation in the education profession;
  • reinforcing higher education institutions;
  • promoting lifelong learning and mobility; and
  • strengthening the geopolitical dimension of the EEA.

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