EU countries have improved their education systems in key areas over the past decade but they have achieved only one out of five benchmarks set for 2010, the European Commission's new progress report on education and training reveals.

The EU has succeeded in its target to increase the number of maths, science and technology graduates, with a 37% rise since 2000 - easily outstripping the target of 15%. Significant, but insufficient, progress was made in reducing the school drop-out rate, increasing the number of pupils completing upper secondary education, improving reading literacy skills and increasing the share of adults participating in education or training.

The report, covering all EU Member States, plus Croatia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Iceland, Turkey, Norway and Liechtenstein, contains overviews and detailed statistics identifying which countries perform above or below the EU average and which are catching up or falling behind compared to the others.

 

Reference: Commission Staff Working Document SEC (2011) 526 final, 18.4.2011