On 23 - 24 May 2005 in Brussels, EU Ministers of Education adopted conclusions on education and training indicators.  The Council Conclusions respond to the European Commission Staff working paper "New Indicators on Education and Training” 

Background: The Commission Staff working paper, as well as the new Council Conclusions seek to establish a coherent indicator framework supported by appropriate data sources, going beyond the 2010 Lisbon horizon.  The Council Conclusions stress the necessity of developing both short and long term strategies (at times lasting 5-10 years) for the development of the necessary data for new indicators.
 
New developments: In particular, the Council invites the Commission to develop new indicators in the areas of language skills and learning-to-learn competences, and to improve indicators used within the following areas:

• ICT
• Mobility
• Adult education
• Teachers and trainers
• Vocational education and training
• Social inclusion
• Active citizenship
• Efficiency of investment

The Council recognized the need to continue to enhance cooperation with other international organizations active in this field (e.g; OECD, Unesco, IEA), particularly in order to improve international data coherence. The Commission will report back to the Council, no later than the end of 2006, on the progress made towards establishing a coherent framework of indicators.