Young Europeans reveal their priorities

Education + Training

ISSN: 0040-0912

Article publication date: 1 January 2004

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Citation

(2004), "Young Europeans reveal their priorities", Education + Training, Vol. 46 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/et.2004.00446aab.013

Publisher

:

Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2004, Emerald Group Publishing Limited


Young Europeans reveal their priorities

Young Europeans reveal their priorities

Foreign-language proficiency seems to be higher among young people in the candidate countries for EU membership than among those in the current 15 member states, according to a Eurobarometer survey published by the European Commission. The research shows that the proportion of young people who speak several foreign languages is higher in the candidate countries than in the member states. English is by far the most widely spoken foreign language, followed by German, Russian and French. The survey also reveals that half of young people in the candidate countries use the internet, compared with 37 per cent in the current member states, and that 31 per cent send and receive e-mails, compared with 31 per cent in the 15-member EU.

More than 61 per cent of young people in the 13 accession and candidate countries feel that the EU spells a better future, because it offers more job opportunities, freedom of movement and the prospect of a better quality of life. Only 21 per cent of young people in the current member states are so optimistic. The significance young people in the candidate countries attach to the notion of European citizenship are (in order) the right to work anywhere in the EU (75 per cent), the right to settle anywhere in the EU (70 per cent) and the right to study anywhere in the EU (69 per cent). Two-thirds of the young respondents in the candidate countries thought that the EU's priorities should be education and training, and the freedom to go and study, work and live anywhere in the EU.

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