At the heart of Youth on the Move are plans to boost Europe’s innovation capacity by strengthening links between education, research and innovation. A Strategic Innovation Agenda will be drawn up to define the role of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) in the broader context and lay down the priorities for higher education, research, innovation and entrepreneurship over the next seven years.
In total, 28 new initiatives are proposed to encourage more people into higher education, support learning mobility, raise youth employment rates and promote lifelong learning.
“The measures we are presenting today are aimed at raising the quality of education and training in Europe so that our young people are properly equipped for today’s job market,” Androulla Vassiliou, Commissioner for Education, Culture, Multilingualism and Youth, said as she launched the initiative in Brussels. “The EU needs even more young people who are highly skilled, knowledgeable and innovative if it is to prosper in the future.”
The announcement came as the latest ranking of universities put European institutions even further down the global league table. The embarrassment is compounded because the 2010 -2011 World University Rankings, published today by the Times Higher Education magazine uses a new, broader methodology that includes measures of excellence in the three core elements of a university’s mission - research, teaching and knowledge transfer.
As part of Youth on the Move, the Commission will review all its existing education and training programmes, including Leonardo da Vinci for vocational education and training, Erasmus for higher education, and the Marie Curie programme, which provides opportunities for researchers. The aim is to develop a more integrated approach under the next Financial Framework starting in 2014. There will now be a public consultation, with the Commission planning to present concrete proposals in 2011.
The Commission also wants to improve dialogue between universities and business by expanding the EU Forum for University Business Dialogue, to increase the employability of students and develop the role of education in the ‘knowledge triangle.’
Member States were told to deal with the legal and technical issues that are preventing people from pursuing opportunities in other countries. Commissioner Vassiliou highlighted two such obstacles: difficulties in transferring student grants from one country to another and visa-related problems for non-EU residents wanting to study in a member state.
In one move to improve mobility the Commission is looking into the creation of an EU-level student loan facility, in cooperation with the European Investment Bank and other financial institutions.
The Commission wants to set up a ‘Mobility Scoreboard’ to measure member states’ progress in making it easier for students to study abroad. It is also working on its own university league tables and said that within the next year it will present the results of a feasibility study undertaken with the London School of Economics to develop a new and broader global university ranking system.
The new agenda to support the reform and modernisation of higher education will be published by the Commission next year. The focus will be on strengthening the employability of graduates, encouraging mobility, including between academia and industry, and high quality information on study and research possibilities and the performance of institutions.
For more information, see the European Commission’s Youth on the Move communication, and the proposal for a Council Recommendation on mobility.
Receive the Funding Newswire each Tuesday, our Policy Bulletin each Thursday, and news about bridging Europe’s east-west innovation gap twice a month in The Widening. 
A unique international forum for public research organisations and companies to connect their external engagement with strategic interests around their R&D system.