Learning mobility panel

Following up on the citizens’ vision for learning mobility

The Citizens’ Panel on Learning Mobility produced 21 recommendations that contributed to the Commission’s proposal for the Council Recommendation “Europe on the Move”. The proposal addressed the citizens’ recommendations by strengthening the focus on promoting inclusive mobility accessible to all, strengthening language learning, rewarding the work of the staff implementing learning mobility projects, and making learning mobility more sustainable.

The Commission’s proposal was accompanied by the Citizen’s Report that informed the Member States of the citizens’ recommendations. The Council adopted the Recommendation “Europe on the Move’ – learning mobility opportunities for everyone”. The Recommendation aims to enable more people to undertake study, training, or non-formal or informal learning abroad, including people who typically have fewer opportunities to do so.

New 2030 targets for greater educational mobility

To encourage greater take-up of learning mobility opportunities, the Council recommendation sets new targets to be achieved at the EU level by 2030: at least 23% of graduates in higher education and at least 12% of learners in vocational education and training should benefit from learning mobility opportunity. Furthermore, by 2027, the EU aims to ensure that at least 20% of all learners benefiting from learning mobility abroad are people with fewer opportunities.

The Council invited Member States to inform the Commission by the end of 2026 about existing or planned actions that could support the Council Recommendation ‘Europe on the Move’ in higher education, vocational education and training, school education, adult education, and the youth and sport sectors.

A new chapter for free movement in education

In November 2023, citizens of the European Citizens Panel on Learning Mobility reunited for a feedback event as part of the European Education Summit. Commission policymakers addressed the steps recently undertaken to act on the Panel’s recommendations. In that context, specific attention was paid to the proposal for a Council Recommendation “Europe on the Move” that was included in the Skills and Talent Mobility Package.

Click the link below to explore how the European Commission has taken citizens' recommendations into account.

Proposal for a Council Recommendation 'Europe on the Move' - learning mobility for everyone

21 recommendations to make learning opportunities abroad a reality for all

From 28 to 30 April 2023, the Commission gathered a Citizens' Panel in Brussels for the third and final session of deliberations on how to expand learning opportunities abroad to everyone. The ideas put forward by the citizens turned into 21 concrete recommendations aiming to facilitate the mobility of learners, educators and staff from one country to another.

With the general goal of making the learning environment more accessible for everyone, the panel's recommendations highlight the importance of increasing further the awareness of opportunities and encourage the participation of people with fewer opportunities. They also outline opportunities and challenges brought by digitalisation and explore sustainable solutions to reduce the environmental impact of mobility.

Over three weekends in March and April 2023, 150 randomly selected citizens of different age groups and backgrounds from all 27 Member States discussed and identified obstacles to learning mobility abroad.

Learning mobility session 3 plenary group picture

The participants pointed out key areas for improvements and prioritised solutions to increase access and participation to learning experiences abroad, regardless of age and educational field, from school education to vocational education and training, as well as higher education, adult learning, and also non-formal learning settings.

The full set of recommendations can be found in the documents section below.

How can we make opportunities for learning mobility a reality for everyone?

The European Commission asked citizens for help in making learning mobility in Europe more accessible to and better known by any learner or educator. The citizens’ panel was part of a broader consultation strategy, which aimed at gathering opinions and proposals of all interested parties and stakeholders.

Citizens were invited to take the following points into account:

The need to include multiple groups of learners and trainers, and in particular, people with fewer opportunities (because of disabilities, health problems, economic, social, geographic and other barriers) and less mobile groups (such as school pupils and teachers, apprentices and trainees, adult learners and educators);
the need to keep mobility as environmentally friendly as possible in choosing the means of travel and promoting sustainable practices, in order to contribute to the fight against climate change;
opportunities and challenges that digitization might offer (for example, better use of digital platforms for learning, blending on site and online learning);
the potential of learning mobility for intercultural dialogue, active citizenship and promotion of common values.

Find out more in the information kit that is available in the documents section below.

What was the outcome of the Panel?

The European Commission decided to put forward a new policy proposal in 2023 with an objective of promoting learning mobility for everyone in the European Education Area – no matter where you come from or where you are in life.

The outcome of the panel is a list of recommendations. It will support the Commission’s work on the proposal for a Council recommendation on learning mobility.

Timeline

The learning mobility panel sessions took place between March and April 2023.

3-5 March 2023
Session 1 - Brussels
In the first session, citizens built a shared vision of what the future of learning mobility in Europe should be. They also identified the different target groups that we need to consider to make learning mobility a reality for everyone.
Please see the summary in the Documents section below.
24-26 March 2023
Session 2 - online
In the second session, participants - based on the shared vision, target groups and emerging trends identified in session 1 - discussed in more detail the main obstacles and challenges faced by different groups of European citizens when it comes to learning mobilities.
Please see the summary in the Documents section below.
28-30 April 2023
Closing session - Brussels
The closing session submitted the conclusions of debates, together with the panels’ recommendations, to the European Commission. The final list of recommendations can be found in the documents section below.