Regions and cities “have key role in achieving Lisbon goals on education and training”

Citation

(2006), "Regions and cities “have key role in achieving Lisbon goals on education and training”", Education + Training, Vol. 48 No. 8/9. https://doi.org/10.1108/et.2006.00448hab.013

Regions and cities “have key role in achieving Lisbon goals on education and training”

The role of regions and cities in education and culture policies that can help Europe to become the most competitive knowledge-based economy in the world by 2010 was discussed at meeting hosted by the European Committee of the Regions. The European Commissioner for Education and Training, Ján Figel, told the representatives from European and national associations for local and regional authorities that education and culture lay at the heart of the renewed Lisbon strategy for jobs and growth. He highlighted the value of a Europe that was “fully aware of its own potential” and eager to embrace the richness of cultural diversity.

Paying particular attention to the Lifelong Learning Programme for 2007-2013, Mr Figel pointed to the success of previous initiatives such as the Bologna process and education programmes such as Erasmus and Jean Monnet in helping to achieve the Lisbon goals. “The overall aim is to contribute, through lifelong learning, to the development of the EU as an advanced knowledge society. This means sustainable economic development, more and better jobs and greater social cohesion. We intend to make this happen by fostering interaction, co-operation and mobility between Europe’s education and training systems so that they become a world quality reference.”

Kent Johansson, president of the European Association of Regional and Local Authorities for Lifelong Learning, commended the Commission’s initiatives to promote lifelong learning programmes. He also stressed the importance of the role played by small and medium-size enterprises. “SMEs are the key to future growth, so it is essential to promote education and continuing education initiatives in this sector, in order that we can capitalise on its existing growth potential,” he said. “In the light of the limited access small businesses and their employees have to traditional skill-development measures, the need for flexible, customised education solutions becomes clear. This is a common challenge for us all in Europe.”

Hening Jensen, of the Socialist group, emphasised the responsibility of local authorities in helping to implement the Lisbon strategy and insisted that close co-operation between the various players at national and European levels was the only way to ensure that more young people completed their education or training in a European country other than their own. “Seen from a local-authority perspective, co-operation, information and co-ordination among the various players are of vital importance. These can be fostered through the transfer of best practice and through innovative thinking underpinned by pilot projects. It involves exchanges, at national level, between the various sectors concerned and, at European level, between the Commission, the individual governments and the local and regional authorities,” he explained.