Education

Students and mobility: Europe needs a bigger, more inclusive Erasmus programme

Every year, tens of thousands of European citizens decide to avail of the Erasmus programme: students, lecturers, researchers, artists, athletes, volunteers and other citizens book their flights, pack their bags and leave for other countries, with grants supporting European mobility.

8 April 2019 – Internazionale (Rome) 15

Erasmus programme: How Brexit will impact study exchanges

Despite both the EU and the UK claiming they have made "decisive steps" in setting up the transitional period that will follow Brexit, there is still much uncertainty about the future of British participation in the Erasmus, the European exchange programme, beyond 2020.

29 March 2018 – VoxEurop 1

Student mobility in South-East Europe: Moving beyond Erasmus

Every year, thousands of students from South-East Europe enroll in universities abroad. Most of them, however, tend to stay within the region, because of the bureaucratic and financial obstacles on the way to Western European faculties.

30 October 2017 – Osservatorio Balcani e Caucaso Transeuropa (Trento)

Youth in Europe: More than one young person in ten is a NEET

They are neither employed nor enrolled in college, and are often in transition, but they can end up remaining inactive for all-too long. They are NEETs. Most numerous in Southern Europe, their population exploded with the crisis of 2008.

13 October 2017 – Alternatives économiques (Paris) 7

Religious education at school: In Romania and Spain, religious lessons kick up a storm

Religious education has split Romania in two writes Adevărul. The subject is no longer compulsory, and parents who want their children to take classes in […]

4 March 2015 – VoxEurop Adevărul 27

PISA Report: Europe lags behind

European students are falling behind while those in the Far-East have gained ground, according to the most recent PISA Report, published on December 3. The […]

4 December 2013 – Presseurop Helsingin Sanomat, Jyllands-Posten, Berlingske Tidende & 2 others 10

Greek crisis: Students without future

The strike by university employees, who have been protesting staff cuts for 12 weeks, is threatening students’ study courses. While some students are being delayed and are demanding that the universities reopen, fellow students abroad are busy putting their exams behind them and already thinking ahead to their careers.

26 November 2013 – To Ethnos (Athens) 18

University: Erasmus strikes back and gets a plus

“Forget extinction, Erasmus doubled,” headlines Il Sole 24 Ore. The European university student exchange program, which risked being cancelled after running out of money in […]

7 November 2013 – Presseurop Il Sole-24 Ore 26

Student Funding: ‘Education Ministry cancels thousands of Erasmus scholarships in mid-year’

Funding for Erasmus university scholarships will be limited to Spanish students who already benefit from a scholarship for financial reasons, the Spanish Education Ministry announced […]

5 November 2013 – Presseurop El País 6

University: Eastern Europe draws medical students

Lower tuition costs, greater accessibility and English-language classes are leading growing numbers of foreign students to enrol in eastern European medical schools. And with EU-recognised diplomas and fluid national borders, they feel confident they can find work in Europe.

20 August 2013 – International New York Times (Paris) 24

Romania-EU: ‘10 to a place for a well-paid EU job’

The Bucharest Public University of Medicine and Pharmacy recorded particularly intense competition for admission this year, reports Romanian daily România Liberă, with 10 candidates for […]

23 July 2013 – Presseurop România libera 9

Denmark : ‘It is possible to protect our student grants from EU citizens’

The European Court of Justice ruling on July 18 on the provision of student grants in Germany was anxiously awaited in Denmark, points out Jyllands-Posten. Basing […]

19 July 2013 – Presseurop Jyllands-Posten 20

Universities: Erasmus weathers the crisis

9 July 2013 – Presseurop La Vanguardia 19

University: Vienna aims to halt influx of German students

“Vienna has called on the EU to limit the number of German students,” reports Süddeutsche Zeitung. The newspaper explains that, according to figures from the […]

28 May 2013 – Presseurop Süddeutsche Zeitung, Kurier 22

Croatia: ‘Re-introduce sex education in schools’

The National Education Council has locked horns with the Constitutional Court, which, on May 22, ruled to suspend sex education classes in primary and secondary […]

24 May 2013 – Presseurop Jutarnji List 10

Czech Republic: ‘Zeman threatens university freedom’

Czech President Miloš Zeman has provoked a storm of criticism from academics, politicians and journalists by refusing a request from Charles University in Prague to […]

20 May 2013 – Presseurop Lidové noviny

Spain: ‘Public school teachers take to the streets against education reform’

Public school teachers staged a strike on May 9 in protest of reforms proposed by Education Minister José Ignacio Wert, which were to be presented […]

10 May 2013 – Presseurop El País 4

Hungary: ‘Despair takes to the streets’

On February 11, Hungary’s universities were hit by several student demonstrations and sit-ins. The students are protesting against a government plan to amend the constitution […]

12 February 2013 – Presseurop Népszabadság

United Kingdom: EU teaching dropped over claims it is ‘biased towards integration’

“The EU has been cut from the National Curriculum amid fears that current lessons are effectively biased towards European integration,” thunders The Daily Telegraph on […]

8 February 2013 – Presseurop The Daily Telegraph 11

School: Gap widens between Asia and Europe

It is well established that Asian schools get better results than their European counterparts. Now, however, data from two surveys, PIRLS 2011 and TIMSS 2011, […]

12 December 2012 – Presseurop La Vanguardia, NRC Handelsblad, Die Tageszeitung 11

Education : Erasmus is going bankrupt

“EU runs out of funding for Erasmus grants,” writes*La Vanguardia**.* Brussels is said to have called on contributions from member states to save the successful […]

4 October 2012 – Presseurop La Vanguardia, Dziennik Gazeta Prawna 24

Romania: Discipline, spelling and singing order of day

“Romania today sends to school a new generation of astronauts, of pilots and of every other profession one dreams of at 6-7 years old,” says […]

12 September 2011 – Presseurop Jurnalul Naţional

University: Oxford on the polders

Easier and cheaper enrolment plus courses taught in English: for young Brits, studying in the Netherlands is the fashionable new trend for escaping the problems besetting universities back home.

30 August 2011 – De Volkskrant (Amsterdam) 4

Belgium: “Black flight” from primary schools

“The children of middle class migrants are fleeing mixed schools in massive numbers,” reports De Morgen. According to the Brussels daily, the exodus has been […]

30 August 2011 – Presseurop De Morgen

Romania: Exam disaster for Google generation

"The true worth of the Google generation: academic disaster," headlines Evenimentul zilei. The Romanian daily reports that half the students who sat the state exam […]

4 July 2011 – Presseurop Evenimentul zilei 1

Schengen: Back to the nation oasis

Denmark, which has caused a splash with its solo reinstatement of border controls, is leading the dismantling of the EU and the retreat to the nation state. Border controls back up, no foreign students, import restrictions and transit agreements. Sound good?

13 May 2011 – Die Presse (Vienna) 5

Netherlands: University scandal

“Value of Inholland degrees questioned,” headlines Volkskrant in the wake of revelations that the Inholland University of Applied Scienceshas distributed degrees to students who failed […]

29 April 2011 – Presseurop De Volkskrant

Poland: Government better than Santa?

“Who wants a laptop?” asks Gazeta Wyborcza. On its front page, the Polish daily reports on a government plan to provide all first-year primary school […]

28 March 2011 – Presseurop Gazeta Wyborcza 1

Education: Slovakia, land of doctorate tourism

Increasing numbers of foreign students are “coming to Slovakia to pick up a title” of doctor, reports SME. The Bratislava daily explains that around ten […]

25 March 2011 – Presseurop SME 1

Czech Republic: Schoolkids taught to "compete" with China

“The new plan: schools to train pupils to succeed in competition with Chinese,” announces Mladá Fronta DNES. The Czech National Economic Council (NERV) has presented […]

1 March 2011 – Presseurop Mladá Fronta DNES 1

Netherlands: Multi-ethnic schools not a priority

“The government accepts the possibility of “black” schools,” a Dutch expression denoting schools where a majority of the students are from immigrant backgrounds, reports Volkskrant. […]

7 February 2011 – Presseurop De Volkskrant

PISA ranking: Even Finland has dunces

“One in ten schoolboys has difficulty reading,” reports Aamulehti. In the wake of the publication of the OECD’s PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) survey […]

8 December 2010 – Presseurop Aamulehti

Italy: Universities in revolt

"Green light to reform, universities in revolt," headlines La Repubblica after the lower chamber approved the law named after Education minister Maria Stella Gelmini that […]

1 December 2010 – Presseurop La Repubblica

University: Education for all... but who pays?

There is nothing anodyne about the violent student protests in London, writes Dagens Nyheter, now that the controversy surrounding the hike in college fees has raised the question of the cost of university education for the masses.

15 November 2010 – Dagens Nyheter (Stockholm) 3

United Kingdom: Student rage hits London

“This is just the beginning,” headlines the Guardian, after more than fifty thousand students marched in the UK capital on 10 November to protest the […]

11 November 2010 – Presseurop The Guardian 1

Belgium: Catholic university drops the C word

"Change of course for K. U.Leuven,” headlines De Standaard. The Brussels daily reports that the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, one of Europe’s oldest universities, is planning […]

7 October 2010 – Presseurop De Standaard

United Kingdom: Nein, we don’t speak foreign

“Non. Nein. No – The language crisis in British schools,” leads theIndependent. For the first time ever, the London daily reveals, “French has slipped out […]

25 August 2010 – Presseurop The Independent 1

Germany: Why Munich gets As, Berlin Ds

"Halt education chaos!" headlinesDer Spiegel, pleading for a unified educational system. The Hamburg weekly argues that Germany, which has as many education systems as federal […]

5 July 2010 – Presseurop Der Spiegel 1

Germany / Austria / Switzerland: Hey teacher, don’t leave our kids alone

Germany, Switzerland and Austria are “battling over schoolteachers”, headlines Die Presse, alarmed at dwindling numbers of teachers in all three countries. By 2025 about half […]

24 June 2010 – Presseurop Die Presse 1

EU / Latin America: Bologna process to make Atlantic crossing?

Could the European Higher Education Area reach the New World? El País reports on initiatives ongoing since 2005 to extend the Bologna process’ goals of […]

2 June 2010 – Presseurop El País

Universities: Estonians see spies everywhere

“Last month a conference of budding ethnologists and folklorists in Tartu was suddenly disrupted by two policemen,” recounts Eesti Päevaleht. The cops were snooping on […]

6 May 2010 – Presseurop Eesti Päevaleht 1

University: European court upholds foreigners quota

"The court of Justice of the European Union (CJUE) approves quotas for foreign university students," headlines Der Standard. In response to a request from the […]

14 April 2010 – Presseurop Der Standard

University: Schools feel cost of crisis

The education sector in Europe has been hard hit by cuts in budgets, personnel and investment. Some universities, e.g. in the UK, might even have to be closed down. And some leading institutions could soon lose their top international rankings.

30 March 2010 – Adevărul (Bucharest)

Czech Republic: Schoolkids to get lessons on debt

Team up with another classmate and imagine you’re a household with an income of €1,000 per month: so begins an exercise in a new Czech […]

21 January 2010 – Presseurop Lidové noviny

France: Sarkozy loan to create French Ivy League

On 14 December Nicolas Sarkozy announced plans to set up 10 “centres of excellence” in French higher education, involving investment to the tune of €10bn, […]

15 December 2009 – Presseurop Libération

Czech Republic: Apartheid begins in the school

A third of Roma children in the Czech Republic attend special schools for the mentally handicapped. A situation against which a number of associations are speaking out, and which ends up backfiring on the state when it has to foot the social and economic bill.

8 December 2009 – Respekt (Prague)

University: A taste of academia bolognaise

European university reforms keep rocking the Continental campus. For several weeks now, German students have been objecting to the excessive workload and deplorable conditions at university. And the row over the merits and demerits of the “Bologna process” is raging all across the nation’s press.

26 November 2009 – Presseurop 4

United Kingdom: Queen to declare "good" education a right

What is a good education? Is it science-based, the ability to get a job, to be as well-bred as the Queen of England? Opinions vary […]

18 November 2009 – Presseurop The Daily Telegraph

Education: Anarchy in the uni

French university reforms saw the birth of revolts and street protests, but also the emergence of alternative higher education projects. Cafebabel reports from self-governing universities that aim to abolish hierachy and reiterate the much-attacked notion that education is an end in itself, and not just about getting a job.

13 November 2009 – Cafébabel (Paris)

Austria: Looking for the student billion

In a movement that is now in its third week, Austrian students once again took to the streets on 5 November to protest against poor […]

6 November 2009 – Presseurop Die Presse