Education and Training in Europe

While Europe is certainly one of the richest and most educated areas of the world, some of the challenges faced by the old continent are staggering: low economic growth, structural difficulties in the labour market, and increasing international competition. Politicians and policymakers may advocate different means of overcoming the potential economic decline of Europe, but most agree that Europe needs to strengthen human capital, its ultimate competitive advantage in the world economy. This book looks at the accumulation of human capital from two perspectives, first through formal education and then professional training. It provides a useful summary of the key characteristics of education and training in Europe and also asks key questions about the fundamental problems with the current educational and training systems. More importantly, the book goes on to discuss which policies are necessary to make existing education and training systems more efficient, while also making higher skills available to a wider range of people. Contributors to this volume - Andrea Bassanini, OECD and EPEE-University of Paris XIII Giuseppe Bertola, University of Turin Alison Booth, Australian National University and University of Essex Giorgio Brunello, University of Padua Maria De Paola, Calabria University Juan J. Dolado, Universidad Carlos III Peter Fredriksson, Uppsala University Pietro Garibaldi, Fondazione Rodolfo DeBenedetti and University of Turin Daniel Gros, Centre for European Policy Studies Ana Lamo, European Central Bank Edwin Leuven, University of Amsterdam and CREST John Martin, OECD Julian Messina, European Central Bank Giovanni Peri, University of California, Davis Steve Pischke, London School of Economics Etienne Wasmer, Universite du Quebec a Montreal