CESI at the first European Education Summit
2018-01-26 12:00
On January 25 a CESI delegation participated in the first European Education Summit organised by the European Commission in Brussels. Having placed education as a priority of the EU’s political agenda, the European Commission has repeatedly highlighted the tremendous challenges brought up by the digital age. The new era does not only require the necessary new skills and life-long learning, it also requires, as the European Education Commissioner Tibor Navracic underlined in his opening address, “rediscovering the value of our values.“
CESI has in the past strongly supported and ecouraged the European Commission to come up with proposals in this regard: “Indeed, the technological revolution leads to a gigantic societal upheaval which will not only require totally new skills, but a growing need for orientation, values and identity. We live in times where we increasingly need media competence paired with an intellectual and moral compass“, CESI Secretary General Klaus Heeger recently stated.
As the field of education perfectly illustrates, the challenges linked to digitalisation cannot only be tackled at Member State level alone. “A European vision of education will not only help address the most pressing challenges for the future, it will also contribute to maintain and create cohesion within the EU, and not least give the youth a chance“, CESI Youth Representative Matthäus Fandrejewki summarised the conference. He added:
“As has been highlighted in the 2016 Bratislava Declaration, the EU is not perfect, but it is the best instrument we have for addressing the new challenges we are facing. Furthermore I strongly believe that the EU has to consist of more than just the single market – We need a shared European identity which can be transferred via education to have also a positive impact on social cohesion.“
In this sense, the Presidium of CESI has lately also called for an understanding of subsidiarity which should not per se require action at the lowest levels, but which should focus on tackling challenges in an increasingly-integrated EU and digitised world.
Picture: Matthäus Fandrejewski with Commissioner Tibor Navracsics at the European Education Summit © CESI 2018
