ETTW Educational Conference, hosted by the Committee of the Regions – Brussels March 7 th, 2018, 2-6 p.m.

1. Introduction to the conference

• Csaba Borboly (European Committee of the Regions, rapporteur for ‘Modernising school and higher education’ as well as the ‘Youth Strategy’)
• European Parliament
• Dr.Raymond Xerri (President of ETTW)

2. Key challenges

• Pierre Mairesse, former Director at the European Commission for youth and education

3. Priorities:  

       How to preserve one’s roots?

Access for all to knowledge of the mother tongue and the culture of the country of origin, including through distance learning and online tools

• introduction by association members/experts of ETTW
• debate with European institutions and representatives of EU Member States

      Recognizing learning outcomes

Facilitating transitions between education systems, improving the mutual recognition of diplomas, especially when students leave school to enter university

• introduction by association members/experts of ETTW
• debate with European institutions and representatives of EU Member States    

      Mobility of talent – yes; loss of talent – no

Developing European policy to attract talents and to avoid unnecessary brain drain

• introduction by association members/experts of ETTW
• debate with European institutions and representatives of EU Member States

4. The key role of school networks abroad

Promoting networks of schools abroad and identifying their challenges

• Presentation by AEFE (French network)
• Presentation by the European schools (tbc)
• debate with European institutions and representatives of EU Member States

5. Engaging regions and cities

• Presentation by representatives of cities/regions
• debate with European institutions and representatives of EU Member States

6. Conclusions

• By ETTW (Dr.Raymond Xerri); by CoR

Context

 ETTW (Europeans Throughout The World) is a European NGO speaking out for European citizens living abroad – the expatriates. ETTW’s members are national and regional associations (21) representing these citizens. They have identified a number of themes and concerns which are relevant both to European institutions in general and to the European Committee of the Regions (CoR) in particular because they deal with the everyday living conditions of European citizens (social rights, education, integration, mobility).

More than 60 million European citizens are living in a country other than their own, where they constitute important diasporas. More than 15 million of them live, study and work in one of the other 27 EU Member States. People living abroad bring important economic gains to both receiving and sending regions and countries, especially if well-tailored policies are put in place to tackle the challenges to free movement of people across national borders.

 Education is an important part of such policies. EETW has identified the following challenges for expatriates: mastering the language of instruction; training teachers for multicultural classes; recognizing grades, degrees, and qualifications; maintaining the link with the mother tongue and the culture of the origin country; avoiding brain drain, promoting return policies where and when relevant and strengthening formal and informal education systems for expatriates. Providing viable solutions for the education of expatriates’ children will help strengthen the whole European area of education.

Purpose

The purpose of the event, organized by ETTW and hosted by the CoR, is:

• raising the awareness in European Institutions of the importance of education for expatriates and their children
• discussing key issues which are considered as a priority by ETTW
• improving cooperation between the different parties through mutual inspiration and a first exchange of good practices

Participants

The event tries to bring together members of the CoR, representatives of other European Institutions, representatives of Member States, ETTW member associations, NGOs active in the field of education, managers of networks of schools abroad and education services for expatriates and representatives of regions and cities.