The Survey of Adult Skills is an international survey conducted in 33 countries as part of the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC). It measures the key cognitive and workplace skills needed for individuals to participate in society and for economies to prosper.

The evidence from this Survey will help countries better understand how education and training systems can nurture these skills. Educators, policy makers and labour economists will use this information to develop economic, education and social policies that will continue to enhance the skills of adults.‌

The first results are published here

The European Parliament launched its institutional information campaign leading up to the European elections in 2014, aiming in particular to emphasise the political nature of Parliament, the impact of its actions on the lives of EU citizens and the new powers it enjoys following the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty.
These imperatives have paved the ground for an institutional campaign based on the notion that this time it’s different.

You are kindly invited to take an active role by using the free of charge one-stop-shop for down loading communication materials at your disposal via the newly created Download Centre http://www.europarl.europa.eu/downloadcentre.

Share free-to-use open educational resources to boost innovation and digital skills.

More than 60% of nine year olds in the EU are in schools which are still not digitally equipped. The European Commission unveils ‘Opening up Education’, an action plan to tackle this and other digital problems which are hampering schools and universities from delivering high quality education and the digital skills which 90% of jobs will require by 2020.
To help kick-off the initiative, the Commission today launches a new website, Open Education Europa, which will allow students, practitioners and educational institutions to share free-to-use open educational resources.

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website: Open Education Europe

The EU is organising a vast online debate across Europe from 23 September to 23 October: to hear citizens’ ideas that can change the future of the Single Market.

Single Market Month will take place online and will be organised in 24 languages over the course of four successive weeks, with a different policy theme explored each week:

• Jobs (23 – 25 September): How to find work, set up a business, or get qualifications recognised in Europe
• Social rights (30 September – 2 October): Social-protection rights in the EU Single Market, pensions, healthcare, public services
• Banks (7 – 9 October): Protecting deposits, preventing another financial crisis, making sure that banks invest in the real economy to foster growth
• E-commerce (14 – 16 October): Selling products online, buying products and having them delivered to another country, protection of personal data on social networking sites.

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Your ideas for Europe

The Commission has proposed adjustments to its proposal for the 2014 EU budget. The changes mainly reflect the political agreement reached on the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) 2014-2020 between the leaders of the European Parliament, Council and Commission on 27-28 June.

The proposal includes an increase of Euro 130 million for Erasmus+ (EU’s new programme for education, training and youth) in 2014

Read the full press release