Interview with the European Commissioner for Education, Culture, Multilingualism and Youth, Androulla Vassiliou

1. As you are approaching the end of your office at the European Commission, what are the best goals you achieved and what do you think the next Commissioner for Education, Culture, Multilingualism and Youth should prioritize?

When I took office as Commissioner for Education, Culture, Multilingualism and Youth in February 2010, Europe was facing its deepest crisis since the 1930s. The European Commission's most urgent task was to stabilise the economy. We had to respond with new policies for growth and jobs – and this is what drove our work in my areas of responsibility. The Commission put education at the heart of its Europe 2020 strategy and set EU targets to reduce the number of early school leavers (to below 10%) and increase the number of young people completing higher education (to 40%). We are on track to achieve those targets.

In 2014 I launched Erasmus+, giving four million people the opportunity to study, train, teach and volunteer abroad between 2014 and 2020. With a budget of almost €15 billion – a 40% increase on previous levels – the programme makes a new commitment to young people. Erasmus+ will equip them with the skills they need for a world that is increasingly mobile and multicultural. By spending part of their studies or training in another country, young people learn a new language and a different way of thinking. They open their minds.

Erasmus+ supports all levels of education: early school leaving is a priority; Erasmus+ will share the best solutions across Europe. Poor reading skills are a serious problem; Erasmus+ will fund cross-border projects to improve them. Our learning of foreign languages is falling behind; Erasmus+ will help us catch up. It will support better use of ICT in education and help to modernise our vocational training systems, which too often fail our young people.

Erasmus+ will also help education to build partnerships with the world of work. 125,000 schools, youth groups, universities and enterprises will work together across Europe. 150 Knowledge Alliances will help 1,500 universities and businesses to develop new ways of learning, while 150 Sector Skills Alliances will bring together 2,000 training institutes and businesses. We also launched the European Alliance for Apprenticeships to fight youth unemployment.

I am proud that, over the past five years, we have made it easier to compare courses and qualifications, created new tools for measuring progress and transparency, and delivered strategies on early childhood education and care, early school leaving, vocational training, rethinking skills and open education resources. We paid special attention to literacy – one in five young Europeans suffers difficulties – through the Europe Loves Reading campaign.

We funded cross-border projects that promote national, regional and minority languages across Europe; one of the strategic goals of Erasmus+ is to improve the teaching and learning of languages and to promote the Union's linguistic diversity.

Universities want to attract the best talent but we want to make this a race to the top, so that every young person has a fair chance to succeed. Our High-Level Group on the Modernisation of Higher Education published recommendations underlining the importance of quality and the continuous improvement of teaching. We also launched a strategy for the internationalisation of European higher education, with the aim of making Europe an attractive place to study while preparing students for a globalising job market.

I am also pleased that we succeeded in putting in place a new strategy, with much-increased funding, that will allow the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) to move up to a new level. The EIT is a ground-breaking project that is changing the way we think about innovation. The Institute created three cross-border partnerships between higher education and business to work on climate change, energy efficiency and ICT. These knowledge and innovation communities (KICs) helped to launch more than 100 start-ups and trained more than 1,000 students on postgraduate courses combining scientific excellence and coaching for the entrepreneurs of tomorrow.

With a budget of €2.7 billion for 2014-20, the EIT will be able to expand and fulfil its potential. It will launch five new KICs while developing the existing three. Two of the new KICs will appear at the end of 2014, tackling the challenges of healthy ageing and raw materials; two more will be selected in 2016 to work on food supply and manufacturing, and another in 2018 on urban mobility.

To complete our work in higher education, the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions are making Europe an attractive place to do research. With a budget of more than €6 billion for 2014-20 – an increase of 30% – we can help 65,000 researchers to develop their careers.

The crisis has not only driven unemployment to chronic levels; it has also raised questions about the place of young people in society. This Commission has given youth organisations a new role in policy-making. We launched a structured dialogue, bringing together youth organisations, non-organised youth and policy-makers. The dialogue makes a difference: young people brought their priorities to the Council of the EU and their proposals led to initiatives such as the Youth Guarantee.

Creative Europe

Over the past five years, we also changed the way we see our cultural and creative industries. We have managed to strike a balance between the intrinsic value of culture and its contribution to our identity, along with culture's economic role and ability to create new jobs. Europe’s artists, creators, designers and cultural leaders account for nearly 4.5% of the European Union’s output and provide jobs to over eight million people. This Commission proposed the first-ever comprehensive strategy for the European cultural and creative sectors, backing them with new funding.

In January this year we launched the Creative Europe programme with an increased budget of almost €1.5 billion. The programme will support 250,000 European artists, 2,000 cinemas, 800 films and 4,500 book translations. It will enable our cultural and creative sectors to strengthen their international competitiveness, while sustaining diversity.

Supporting the new creative economy goes hand-in-hand with a celebration of cultural heritage. Our new European Heritage Label puts the spotlight on places that embody our shared European history, educating future generations and enriching cultural tourism. And we have renewed the European Capitals of Culture, helping to brand our cities and regions through culture and stimulating investment.

This Commission also increased support to the audiovisual industry through the MEDIA arm of Creative Europe. We will help the distribution of European film and encourage co-productions, fund training and support independent cinemas. We made the case for the cultural exception in international trade, and reformed the state-aid rules for cinema.

Europe's 'soft power' in the 21st century is less about projecting a single cultural vision of Europe than about bringing our values to the global stage and engaging our partners in debate. We commissioned a major report on the role of culture in the EU's external relations, which will guide our action in the years to come. In this spirit we launched a High-Level People-to-People Dialogue with China to help develop a deeper mutual understanding between our peoples.

Under my leadership, this Commission also opened up sport as a new policy area. We focused on three priorities: the integrity of sport, its economic aspects and its social role. For the first time, grassroots sport will receive funding from the Union's budget. Erasmus+ will help to maximise the impact of sport for health, social inclusion and gender equality. It will also tackle cross-border threats such as doping and match-fixing. We created a European Week of Sport, which will take place for the first time in 2015 and highlight the value of physical activity for health and the economy.

As the European Union searches for a new narrative, education and culture provide some of the answers. In all that we do, we are working for a Europe that learns to live together. I am proud of my role in helping to promote a Europe that is open among its neighbours and open to the world. A Europe that sees diversity not as a threat, but a strength.

I hope my successor is able to build on what we have achieved in the past five years and to continue to ensure that education and culture remain a priority in EU policy. It is crucial that we do everything possible to support the skills and employability of young people – and to maximise the capacity of the creative sectors to contribute to future jobs and growth.

2. What do you think about starting a new long-term project that adds education about European Citizenship and what you can do with it from the very first levels of school?

This idea flows in the same direction of our current work of contributing to the development of pedagogies and practices which respond to modern needs. Thanks to the development of basic skills and key competences (the key competences identified by the European Union include social and civic competences) active citizenship will be strengthened. Skills should be acquired by everyone, regardless of their age. Civic competence, particularly knowledge of social and political concepts (democracy, justice, equality, citizenship and civil rights) equips individuals to fully engage in active and democratic participation.

Citizenship education is therefore a necessary part of modern education. This is why the Commission supports Member States in putting in place better and more effective teaching and learning methods to foster the development of the concept.

As a European Commissioner, I believe that a special focus on the European aspect of citizenship is key for the future of the European Union.

3. The level of foreign language competence is very different among Member States. How do you think the less prepared countries can reach the level of the others?

Language competences are the result of language learning at school, although other factors count too. To improve the proficiency, Member States need to make language learning a priority. The Commission cannot take direct action on this as education is a national competence. We do, however, support and coordinate national language policies, for example by facilitating the exchange of good practice. We use what is called the 'open method of coordination': national working groups meet regularly in Brussels and elsewhere to exchange ideas. We also make proposals to the Member States to adopt common goals in order to stimulate progress.

Language learning is a key element in our education programmes and was reinforced in Erasmus+, the new European Union programme for education, training, youth and sport for 2014-2020. This programme will contribute to improving the quality of language learning and to make better use of new technologies in giving more people access to language learning. Indirectly, it also encourages language learning by funding mobility for students, trainees, apprentices, teachers and volunteers. This contributes to gradually closing the gap between the more advanced and less linguistically successful countries.

4. About 16 billion euros are designated for Erasmus+ : do you think it is possible to rescue Europe from its economic crisis by 'betting on youth'? If so, how?

Erasmus+ is designed to respond to the challenges Europe faces today with almost 6 million young people unemployed and levels above 50% in some countries. At the same time, paradoxically, there are over 2 million vacancies in Europe, and 36% of employers report difficulties in recruiting staff with the skills they need. This is a tremendous lost social and economic opportunity. An important part of the solution is to increase investment in formal and non-formal education and training in order to modernise and improve education, training and youth systems to provide young people with the skills and competences they need in today's world.

Erasmus+ with its Europe-wide budget of almost €15 billion – plus an additional €1.7 billion for international cooperation ‑ will provide grants for millions of people to study, train, teach or volunteer abroad (see Q1).

The benefits which mobility brings for individuals, such as improving their prospects of finding a job, developing their foreign language skills and increasing their adaptability, will have an impact on the EU economy as a whole.

The evidence shows that young people with higher levels of qualifications experience lower levels of unemployment (the unemployment rate among higher education graduates in the EU working age population is 6.2% compared with 9.7% for those with only upper secondary qualifications). However getting a job is not just about having the right diploma. Employers increasingly look for soft skills acquired outside school and university, including, for example, through volunteering.

As well as increasing opportunities for mobility, Erasmus+ launches various new initiatives, including a loan guarantee facility for Masters' level students, following a full course abroad.

By strengthening the European Voluntary Service, transnational youth exchanges and the mobility of youth workers, Erasmus+ will also promote active citizenship and the participation of young people in democratic life in Europe.

5. Italy, like the rest of Europe, benefits from a priceless artistic and cultural heritage. How can we make a better resource out of it? What do you think about Pompei’s situation?

I agree that our artistic and cultural heritage is priceless. It is a major factor in defining Europe's identity in the world and its attractiveness as a place to live, work and visit. I also agree that we can and should make a better resource out of our heritage. In July I published a policy paper inviting governments and civil society to work together to maximise the value of cultural heritage, and its contribution to jobs, growth and social inclusion.

I am pleased that there are more opportunities for young people – and all audiences - to engage with heritage through digitisation, online access to collections, and e-learning. It is important to involve local communities in the protection and management of heritage sites. And we need to promote new and traditional heritage skills and training, to create more apprenticeships and job opportunities in the sector.

Pompei is one of the most important archaeological sites in the world and a showpiece of European cultural heritage.  The EU is working with Italy on its conservation; we have provided €78 million out of a combined investment of €105 million through the European Regional Development Fund. On 17 July, my colleague Commissioner Hahn travelled to Pompei to sign an Action Plan to accelerate preservation work on the site. The work is managed by the Italian authorities.

Interview by 

Gabriele Bortolotti