The questions of education and professional skills are high on the agenda of the European Union. So, European the strategy, Horizon 2020, defined the main points to be changed and improved in the European education. As a result, all the countries-members of the EU start changing their systems of education, try to create transparent profiles and sets of skills which should be characteristic of the professionals of all the spheres of activities. Thus, it will not matter in which country you’ve studied, as your diploma will be organized all over Europe and your knowledge and skills will be competitive on all the markets. In order to achieve this target, all the countries have to make some efforts to create the uniformity of the skills and competencies in all the countries of the Union. The EU has developed eight levels of control of the education. They cover all the levels of the qualification starting from the basic level (e.g. primary school certificate) up to the advanced level which may be a doctor’s degree. These standards were developed in order to support the concept of life-long education and they cover general education, vocational education and higher education.
The advantages of the standardized skills and competences
One of the most important advantages of the standardization of education and the recognition of the skills, competencies and diplomas all over Europe is that it creates the possibilities of experience and best practice exchange as well as the flexibility of the students, graduates and those who are looking for work. The systems of education of all the EU countries are being compared and this exercise will help to define their advantages and disadvantages and complement them with the missing components. As a result, we will get an improved and more efficient system of education. The standardization of education systems will boost the mobility of students and workers, it will bring more possibilities for them. It will be easier for employers to “read” the diplomas of the candidates and understand their level of qualification. Moreover, having the list of skills and competencies needed for a given position, the students will definitely know what they should learn in order to get a desired job in no matter which country of the European Union. It will improve the level of professionalism all over Europe and make the education more applicable and modern.
