Slow pace of reform in education and training threatens Europes competitiveness in the long term

There is insufficient overall progress in Europes education and training systems towards the goals set in the Lisbon strategy for more jobs and growth. This is the main finding of the 2007 edition of the European Commissions annual report on progress towards the Lisbon objectives in the field of education and training, which is published today. The report charts progress since 2000 in the light of key indicators and focuses on five education benchmarks agreed by the Member States. On the positive side, the number of tertiary-level maths, science and technology graduates continues to increase. However, progress was only moderate for the other benchmarks.