Dreamando Politics wants to guide you through the most distinctive traits of the Member States’ Recovery Plans connected to youth, research and education initiatives. Let’s start with the analysis of the plans of these three Member States.
Increased inequalities in education: time to build a better Europe
The COVID-19 crisis has lowered general educational outcomes and aggravated the already present inequalities in the educational outcomes of vulnerable learners by increasing the risk of dropouts from education and training. As stated by Ursula von der Leyen, president of the EU Commission, now more than ever the COVID-19 crisis “can serve as an opportunity to build a better Europe ”.
However, are the Member States taking advantage of this opportunity? To what extent did the Member States address the issue of education in their Recovery Plans? Given the relevance of this topic, the team of Dreamando Politics decided to analyze the Component of Education and Research of the German, Belgium, and Italian Recovery Plans.
Italy
Although the need to reduce early school dropouts to less than 10% across the Member States by 2020 is one of the EU’s priorities in the field of education, countries like Spain, Malta, and Italy still have high rates of school dropouts.
As a response, Italy will invest ≈ 16% of its Recovery Plan resources in Research and Education. The first component of the mission includes a new reform agenda for the whole education cycle and the teaching profession, investments for the upskilling of the school system and staff and upgrading of educational infrastructures.
The second component aims at increasing public and private spending on research and innovation by providing support to the public research system, researcher’s skills & mobility and fostering closer interaction between business and research.
Belgium
In Belgium, similarly to Italy, the percentage of young people not mastering basic skills, Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM), and digital skills needs to be improved. Furthermore, there is a high gap in educational outcomes linked to socio-economic and migration background.
Belgium will thus invest €4.8 million to ensure a more inclusive education system and, in all three language communities, it will upgrade digital connectivity and equipment in schools to improve the digital delivery method of education.Emphasis is placed on the acquisition of skills in line with labor market needs and tackling early school dropout.
Finally, €4.5 million is dedicated to the reskilling and upskilling of vulnerable groups. The country also wants to invest in Research and Development in the medical sphere by looking at alternative production processes for nuclear medicine to treat cancer. Other relevant measures are designed to support research and innovation in artificial intelligence.
This is a great opportunity for Italy and Belgium given that low education outcomes, insufficient acquisition of skills, and regional gaps in educational attainment remain a major growth impediment.
Germany
Germany’s education component focuses on the digitalization of education and aspires to close the gaps in the digital skills of teachers and the availability of equipment. It further aims to create a national digital education platform to facilitate access to, and exchange educational material.
€7.25 million is disposed to support apprentices during the crisis by sponsoring companies that keep apprentices in employment. In conclusion, the German Recovery Plan has many specific measures that are expected to contribute to Research, Development, and Innovation such as support for vaccine research, innovation premiums on electro-mobility, setting up a technology and innovation center for hydrogen, and project-based research on climate change.