EN    EN EN 
 
EN    EN  EUROPEAN COMMISSION 
Brussels, 15.9.2010 
SEC(2010) 1050 
COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT 
SUMMARY OF THE IMPACT ASSESSMENT  
 
 
Accompanying document to the 
  
Proposal for a 
 
COUNCIL RECOMMENDATION 
 
Youth on the Move – promoting the learning mobility of young people  
  
{COM(2010) 478 final} 
{SEC(2010) 1049} 
 
EN 2   EN EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 
This impact assessment will accompany th e proposal for a Recommendation of the 
Council to promote the learning mobility of young people, which will be one part of a 
suite of actions to be pursued within the fr amework of a Youth on the Move initiative.  
1. B ACKGROUND  
Youth on the Move (YoM) is a flagship EU initiative to support the Europe 2020 Strategy. 
The aim is to "enhance the performance and in ternational attractivene ss of Europe's higher 
education institutions and raise the overall quality of all levels of education and training in the EU, combining both excellence and equity, by promoting student mobility and trainees' 
mobility, and improve the employment situation of young people
1.  
Promoting learning mobility is a core objective of Youth on the Move. It will aim to  boost 
(and improve the quality of) student mobility substa ntially. It will also aim to spread learning 
mobility opportunities more broadly, for all young people, notably among groups such as 
vocational training students and young people with fewer opportunities.  
It is, however, clear that EU programmes cannot  on their own meet the high ambitions which 
lie behind the initiative. For that reason, th e Youth on the Move Co mmunication envisages 
that EU programme support should be compleme nted by a mobilisation of the efforts of 
Member States and other actors in support of learning mobility. An important element will 
involve work in identifying and elim inating barriers to mobility.  
The Commission proposes a draft Council Reco mmendation as the means to synthesize good 
policy approaches at the national level to prom oting learning mobility and to serve as a policy 
guide for the Member States in making their contribution to the gene ral Youth on the Move 
objectives. This Impact Assessment focuses di rectly on this element of the Youth on the 
Move package, in particular to tackle obstacles to mobility . 
2. P ROBLEM DEFINITION  
As part of the freedom of movement of persons , learning mobility, i.e. transnational mobility 
for the purpose of acquiring new skills, is one of th e fundamental ways in which individuals, 
particularly young people, can strengthen their fu ture employability as well as their personal 
development. 
The European Union has a long and highly-re garded record in pr omoting and supporting 
learning mobility; a domain of direct and tangibl e benefit to the European citizen. Initiatives 
such as the Erasmus programme have made it po ssible for more than 2 million people to study 
in another country and to have t hose studies formally recognised.  
However, for too many of Europe's young people learning mobility is still not a realistic 
opportunity. Still relatively few young people reap  the benefits of a learning experience 
abroad and some groups, such as young pe ople from disadvantaged backgrounds are 
particularly underrepresented. Linguistic, cultu ral, financial, legal and administrative 
                                                 
1 COM(2010) 2020. 
 
EN 3   EN obstacles persist, including recognition, valid ation and perception of quality of learning 
completed abroad, in particular outside the stru ctured EU mobility programmes . In 
addition, awareness of mobility opportunities remains low among young people. Moreover, 
the current legislative framework adopts a sector al focus (i.e. tertiary education, vocational 
education and training, volunt eering, teachers and trainers, young resear chers) which can 
hinder joined up approaches. Whilst additional re sources at both national and European levels 
(via existing programmes) can boost mobility, more money will not be sufficient alone to 
realise the vision of mobility as  a realistic opportunity for all. Member States must do more to 
remove obstacles which persist at national and regional levels. 
A 2001 Council Recommendation2 on mobility within the Comm unity for students, persons 
undergoing training, volunteers, teacher s and trainers exists but ha s fallen into disuse and is 
now somewhat out of date. Evaluation of  the effectiveness of this 2001 Council 
Recommendation3 demonstrated that the Recommendati on has been effective to a certain 
extent but information regard ing progress in implementing th e specific provisions of the 
Recommendation is not comprehensive and easily  accessible. There is a pressing need to 
update, refocus and revitalise this Recommendation . 
3. A NALYSIS OF SUBSIDIARITY  
Education, Youth and Training Policy  is an area where the EU has supporting competence  
as defined by the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (Lisbon Treaty). The Treaty (article 165) provides that 'The Union shall contribute to the development of quality 
education by encouraging cooperation betw een Member States and, if necessary, by 
supporting and supplementing their action' and in particular, foresees that European Union 
action shall be aimed at ' encouraging mobility of students and teachers, by encouraging inter 
alia, the academic recognition of diplomas and periods of study' as well as at  "encouraging 
the development of youth exchanges and of exchanges of socio-educational instructors". 
The EU adopts a twin-track approach to  taking forward this mission, through policy 
cooperation with EU Member States, and th rough the implementation of the Lifelong 
Learning (i.e. Erasmus, Come nius, Leonardo, Grundtvig) and Youth in Action Programmes 
which provide funding in support of mobility actions.  
4. O
BECTIVES OF F EU INITIATIVE  
The main policy objectives to be achieved ar e to make learning mobility an opportunity for 
all, via: 
– The elimination of barriers to learning  mobility at national/regional levels 
– The promotion of learning mobility 
Specific objectives will be  pursued as below:  
• improve the availability and accessibly of info rmation on the possibilities and benefits of 
study abroad  
                                                 
2 2001/613/EC. 
3 COM(2004) 21 .  
 
EN 4   EN • improve language skills, consistent with the aims of the multilingualism strategy4, 
including the target of "Mothe r tongue plus two (foreign lan guages) for every citizen"  
• remove legal and administrative barriers to  the development of cross-border joint study 
programmes and other forms of learning mobility 
• reduce legal and administrative barriers relating to health and social security coverage for 
young researchers, trainees and volunteers  
• promote a coherent legal framewor k for the mobility of minors 
• reduce or remove restrictions on the porta bility of student financial support  
• improve recognition and validation for form al, non-formal and informal learning 
completed abroad 
• increase opportunities for young people from  underrepresented groups (lower socio 
economic backgrounds, minority ethnic, disabled  people) to participate in mobility  
• encourage a focus on improving the quality of mobility 
• encourage cross-sectoral working to facilitate  shared solutions common to different target 
groups 
• enable a better comparison of progress between Member States and reinforce peer learning  
It should be stressed that whilst it is a ppropriate to set out the areas where action is 
particularly needed by Member States, Reco mmendations at the EU level in the area of 
education and training should not  be overly prescriptive: it will be for Member States 
themselves, in respect of the subsidiarity principle, to define how this will be taken forward in light of their specific circumstances. 
5. P
OLICY OPTIONS  
Following an initial assessment of possible options , three main options emerge as those most 
realistic and feasible, and are in line with the narrow scope for EU intervention in the field of education and training. 
5.1. Option 1: No EU Action/S tatus Quo (baseline scenario) 
An existing 2001 Council Recommendation on mob ility within the Community for students, 
persons undergoing training, volunteers, teachers a nd trainers, which has fallen into disuse. 
5.2. Option 2: A Council Recommendation:  Youth on the Move: Promoting the 
learning mobility for young people 
A new Council Recommendation, updating and refocusing the 2001 Recommendation and 
promoting a cross-sectoral approach to rem oving barriers to mobility common to several 
target groups and more focussed monitoring.  
5.3. Option 3: A new Open Method of Co -ordination (OMC) for the learning 
mobility of young people 
A new stand-alone 'Open Method of Co-ordin ation' to monitor and report upon existing 
Member State actions to increase learni ng mobility and to share best practice. 
                                                
 
4 2008/C 320/01. 
 
EN 5   EN 6. A SSESSMENT OF IMPACTS OF OPTIONS  
6.1. Likely economic, social and environmen tal impacts of the short-listed options 
Whilst the option "status quo" would have a small but limited economic and social and 
environmental impact because it implies no furt her action at EU level,  options 2 and 3 would 
lead to more substantial positive economic and social impacts through more young people 
engaging in learning mobility, which has proven benefits for their employment and cultural 
integration via the development of increased and broader skills. This increase in mobility is expected to result from more informa tion, better recognition, sm oother administrative 
procedures, and improved suppor t structures. Young people from  disadvantaged backgrounds 
or for whom mobility was beyond reach, are expected  to benefit particular ly from the removal 
of specific barriers which disadvantage them and as  a result may benefit from increased social 
and economic (re)integration.  
6.2. Assessment of administrative burden 
Option 1 requires no additional administrative burden because it involves no further action on 
the part of the EU or nationa l authorities. Option 2 will im ply some additional costs for 
implementing agencies, institutions and govern ment departments in responding to the 
Recommendation e.g. in the design  of new strategies or revi sion of legislation to make 
learning mobility easier for young people. Some additional costs will result from the creation 
of a mobility scorecard, although th e overall effect will be neutra l because it will be offset by 
a re-orientation of the existing monitoring and reporting requirements. Op tion 3 represents the 
most significant increase in administrative burden: whilst implemen tation costs would be 
broadly in line with Option 2, additional costs would result at both EU and national levels 
associated with the establishment of a new OMC monitoring and reporting framework. 
6.3. Impacts outside the EU  
Option 1 is expected to have a limited impact  on extra EU mobility, since the 2001 Council 
Recommendation does not address this specific ally. Option 2 will brin g positive impacts for 
mobility outside the EU, given that a new Council  Recommendation will e xplicitly target this 
aspect, which will provide an important update and enhancement compared to the baseline. 
Option 3 will have more limited impact for extra-EU mobility as the absence of a legal instrument might provide less of an incentive for action by Member States. 
7. C
OMPARISON OF THE OPTIONS BASED UPON THEIR LIKELY IMPACTS  
The status quo might allow for some improvements in evoluti on, but these are likely to be 
insufficient to realise the aspi ration of learning mobility as an  opportunity for all. The 2001 
Recommendation does not cater for important developments in recent years within the 
education and training sector which have infl uence on learning mobility. Furthermore, its 
sectoral approach makes it difficult to address issues common to more than one target group. 
In addition, longstanding obstacles to mob ility which are not adequately recognised or 
addressed, are likely to remain areas of concern. Even if fully  implemented, the 2001 
Recommendation and its follow-up  as part of the Educati on and Training OMC would be 
insufficient to address all current obstacles to mobility. Further action is therefore necessary 
to achieve the objectives se t out in section 4 above. 
Options 2 and 3 offer much increased potential  to bring about changes in Member State 
provisions to deliver upon the objectives out lined above. A new Counc il Recommendation, as 
put forward in Option 2, has the advantage of  setting out a comprehensive and clear agenda 
 
EN 6   EN for change in specific areas of identified shor tcoming against which pr ogress can be assessed. 
This option would offer the potent ial to re-launch, re vitalise and update work  in this area via a 
new legal instrument focussing on horizontal ob stacles common across sectors and give fresh 
impetus and an increased visibility to mobility issues, combined with the potential for clear 
comparison of progress between countries; and therefore would be expected to act as a 
stimulus to drive forward progre ss in this area. Option 3 is limited to its nature of 'soft law' 
which could weaken its potential impact compared  to a legal instrument, in particular as 
regards addressing legal and admi nistrative barriers at the Member State level. As compared 
with Option 2, the absence of a Recommendation as the initial driver of the exercise risks to 
weaken the collective effort. Finally, the a dditional administrative burden, both at national 
and EU levels which would result from the establishment and operation of a new OMC would 
be significant and would most likely meet strong opposition from the Member States. 
7.1. Preferred policy option 
On the basis of the assessment above, th e preferred option is Option 2 (A Council 
Recommendation) which represents the best combination of expected impact balanced with cost and administrative burden. 
8. M
ONITORING AND EVALUATION  
Monitoring, evaluation and reporting would ta ke place within the existing Strategic 
framework for European cooperation in Educ ation and Training (O pen Method of Co-
ordination), which will be reor iented to this end. Based upon the national reports, the 
Commission would present a bien nial assessment of progress across Member States and 
observations at country-level regarding strengths and weakne sses in removing obstacles to 
learning mobility in the format of a 'Mobility Scoreboard' which will allow for comparative 
assessment across countries. 
Core indicators of progress towards meeting th e objectives will be based upon the following:  
• Decrease in significant problems with obs tacles to mobility reported by mobile 
students/volunteers/researchers (as measured by surveys) 
• Specific indicators to be elaborated based upon progress in each field of obstacle, to be 
monitored via a proposed 'Mobility Scoreboard'  
• An increase in the number of young people (15-35) engaging in learning mobility 
• An EU-level mobility benchmark(s) for learni ng mobility will be proposed (foreseen in the 
context of the Strategic Framework on Education and Training ET2020) 
• In higher education: by 2020, at least 20% of  those graduating in the European Higher 
Education Area should have had a study or training period abroad (Bologna Process 
mobility benchmark) 
An independent external evaluation is proposed to  assess progress after the first four years of 
implementation of the Recommendation (i.e. by end 2014).