On 26 and 27 November 2009, ministers of education and other high-level education representatives of EU member states gathered in Brussels for another meeting under the umbrella of the Education, Youth and Culture Council (EYC) (for details on the previous meeting of this body see ACA Newsletter – Education Europe, May 2009).

Quite a number of top issues featured on this meeting’s agenda. The participants discussed, among others, the EYC’s contribution to the wider discussion on the post-2010 Lisbon Strategy and the role of education in a well-functioning knowledge triangle. They also held a debate on diversity and transparency as “drivers for excellence in higher education” and underlined the salience of quality assurance for the development of the education sector as a whole. Also during this meeting, the European Commission gave information to the Council on the 2010 joint progress report on the implementation of the Education and Training 2010 work programme (see above article).

The essence of the meeting was, as always, the message for the next European Council. The latter was advised to focus in 2010 on further “promoting investment in education and training”.

Council of the European Union