COUCIL OF

THE EUROPEA UIO EN

Council conclusions on the social dimension
of higher education

3239th EDUCATIO, YOUTH, CULTURE and SPORT Council meeting

Brussels, 16-17 May 2013

The Council adopted the following conclusions:

"THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

IN THE CONTEXT OF:

1. Articles 165 and 166 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.

2. The Europe 2020 strategy, in particular the headline target of increasing the proportion of 30-
34 year olds having completed tertiary or equivalent education to at least 40%.

3. The Council conclusions of 12 May 2009 establishing a strategic framework for European
cooperation in education and training (ET 2020)1, which identified the promotion of equity,
social cohesion and active citizenship as one of its four strategic objectives and emphasised
that education and training policy should enable all citizens, irrespective of their personal,
social or economic circumstances, to acquire, update and develop over a lifetime both job-
specific skills and key skills and competences.

1
OJ C 119, 28.5.2009, pp. 2-10.

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4. The Council conclusions of 11 May 2010 on the social dimension of education and training2,
which stressed the importance of ensuring equal opportunities for access to quality education,
as well as equity in treatment and outcomes that are independent of socio-economic
background and other factors which may lead to educational disadvantage, and which
recognised the economic and social rationale for raising overall education attainment levels
and developing high levels of skills and noted that the provision of key skills and
competences for all will play a crucial role in improving citizens employability, social
inclusion and personal fulfilment.

5. The Council conclusions of 28 November 2011 on the modernisation of higher education3,

which invited the Member States to promote the systematic development of effective
strategies to ensure access for under-represented groups and increase efforts to minimise
higher education drop-out rates by improving the quality, relevance and attractiveness of
courses, in particular through student-centred learning and by providing relevant post-entry
support, guidance and counselling.

6. The Bucharest communiqu from Ministers attending the Bologna Process Ministerial
conference of 26 and 27 April 2012, in which they agreed to adopt national measures to widen
overall access to quality higher education and reiterated the objective that the student body
entering and graduating from higher education should reflect the diversity of Europes
populations, along with the specific treatment of the social dimension in higher education in
the 2012 Bologna Process implementation report, examining available statistical information
on the impact of students background on participation in higher education and different
policy approaches to widening access.

7. The Communication of 20 November 2012 from the Commission to the European Parliament,
the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the
Regions Rethinking Education: Investing in skills for better socio-economic outcomes4,
which in its accompanying staff working document5 promotes the development and
strengthening of partnerships and flexible pathways for lifelong skills development.

8. The Council Recommendation of 20 December 2012 on the validation of non-formal and

informal learning6, whereby Member States agreed to have arrangements in place for the
validation of such learning, with a view to ensuring that individuals are given the opportunity
to make use of what they have learned outside formal education and training for their careers
as well as for the purpose of further learning, including in higher education.

9. The 2013 Annual Growth Survey, which identifies education as a key driver for growth and
competitiveness, alongside innovation and research and development, and underlines the key
role of investment in human capital for tackling unemployment and preparing for economic
recovery.

2
OJ C 135, 26.5.2010, pp. 2-7.
3
OJ C 372, 20.12.2011, pp. 36-41.
4
14871/12.
5
14871/12 ADD 6.
6
OJ C 398, 22.12.2012, pp. 1-5.
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10. The ET 2020 peer learning activity on policies and practice to reduce drop-out and improve
completion rates in higher education, held in Prague in March 2013, which focused on
approaches at national, institutional and European level to improve completion rates and adapt
institutional realities to a more diverse student body, underpinned by evidence and analysis.

AGREES THAT

1. While the challenges facing Europe today cannot be resolved by education and training alone,
it is critical both in economic and social terms to equip people with the high-level skills and
competences that Europe needs, including by striving to secure more equitable access to,
participation in and completion of higher education. There are still too many capable
individuals who do not participate in higher education for social, cultural or economic reasons
or due to insufficient systems of support and guidance.

2. Europes economic recovery and drive for sustainable growth, including through enhanced
research and innovation, are increasingly dependent on its capacity to develop the skills of all
its citizens, demonstrating the interdependence of social and economic objectives. In parallel
with efforts to improve skills through vocational education and training, high-quality higher
education and lifelong learning also have a crucial role to play in enhancing employability
and increasing competitiveness, while at the same time promoting the personal and
professional development of students and graduates, and stimulating social solidarity and
civic engagement.

3. The Bologna Process and subsequent development of the European Higher Education Area
(EHEA), the EU agenda for the modernisation of higher education and the Europe 2020
Strategy all demonstrate that European cooperation and shared policy responses have a
valuable contribution to make in confronting common challenges through the exchange of
good practice, comparative evidence-based policy analysis and the provision of funding
support, as well as through helping to provide sustainable mechanisms to facilitate greater
mobility of diverse student groups.

INVITES THE MEMBER STATES, WITH DUE REGARD FOR SUBSIDIARITY AND THE
AUTONOMY OF HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS, TO

1. Adopt national objectives which are aimed at increasing the access, participation and
completion rates of under-represented and disadvantaged groups in higher education, with a
view to progressing towards the Bologna Process goal that the student body entering,
participating in and completing higher education at all levels should reflect the diversity of
Member States populations.

2. Encourage cooperation between education providers at all levels, including those providing
non-formal and informal learning, and other relevant stakeholders, in order to identify the
particular groups that may be under-represented in higher education, as well as to promote
greater participation of under-represented groups within the teaching profession itself across
all sectors of education.

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3. Facilitate the development of proactive strategies and related structures at institutional level,
including outreach activities and lifelong learning opportunities, the provision of information
on educational and labour market-related opportunities and outcomes, guidance on
appropriate course choice, peer mentoring, and counselling and support services.

4. Promote permeability and the development of flexible and transparent progression routes into
higher education, in particular from vocational education and training and from non-formal
and informal learning, facilitated by transparency tools such as national qualifications
frameworks linked to the European Qualifications Framework.

5. Increase opportunities for flexible learning by diversifying the way in which learning content
is delivered, for instance by adopting student-centred approaches to teaching and learning, by
expanding part-time provision, by developing credit-based traineeships, by modularising
programmes and distance learning through the use of ICT and by developing quality-assured
open educational resources.

6. Explore how funding mechanisms might provide incentives for institutions to develop and
deliver quality-assured, flexible learning opportunities.

7. Examine how the overall structure of institutional funding and student financial supports
impacts on the participation of under-represented and disadvantaged groups in higher
education and consider how financial supports can be best targeted to improve access,
participation and completion rates.

8. Work together with higher education institutions and other relevant stakeholders to increase
higher education completion rates by improving the quality of the teaching and learning
process, in particular through more flexible delivery and the provision of relevant post-entry
supports, and by improving the attractiveness of courses and labour market relevance.

9. Examine and seek to reduce any regional and geographical disparities within Member States
in terms of access to, participation in, and completion of higher education.

10. Engage in the systematic collection of relevant comparable data - while making optimum use
of existing resources - in order to enhance the evidence base for policy development and to
enable the effective monitoring of national objectives on access, participation and completion
rates among under-represented and disadvantaged groups in higher education.

WELCOMES THE COMMISSION'S INTENTION TO

Strengthen the evidence base for Europe 2020 in support of Member States' action to increase
access, participation and completion rates in higher education by:

a) embarking on a mapping study of policies on access and drop-out and completion rates in
higher education with a view to analysing the effectiveness of different national and
institutional approaches and how structural, institutional, personal, socio-cultural and socio-
economic factors influence drop-out and completion;

b) pursuing joint work with Eurostat on a feasibility study to improve the methodology for
collecting administrative data on the duration of studies and completion rates in higher
education;
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c) developing a study on the influence of different models of funding, or cost-sharing, on the
effectiveness, efficiency and equity of higher education in line with commitments in the 2011
agenda for the modernisation of higher education7.

AND INVITES THE MEMBER STATES AND THE COMMISSION TO

1. Pursue work on the social dimension of higher education, for instance by developing peer
learning and evidence-based policy analysis on this topic through engagement in the Open
Method of Coordination, as well as through working within the Bologna Process and with
appropriate bodies and existing initiatives.

2. Use the results and the outcomes of the studies and other work being carried out by the
Commission and other relevant sources as a basis for further debate and policy consideration
in examining issues of access, participation, completion and the impact of different funding
models in relation to higher education.

3. Strengthen synergies between the EU and the Bologna Process in realising the social
dimension of higher education by optimising funding support under the post-2013 Union
programme in the field of education, training, youth and sport.

4. Utilise the financial support under the Youth Employment Initiative for the provision of
targeted opportunities in higher education for disadvantaged or unemployed young people
under the age of 25, in order to enable them to acquire employment-specific skills."

_________________

7
OJ C 372, 20.12.2011, pp. 36-41.
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