ABSTRACT
Education policy was, and still is, mostly in the hands of national governments. It is an area where national traditions and methods, which are extremely varied, should be respected and, indeed, fostered. This is also in line with the principle of subsidiarity or devolved responsibility. Any attempt to standardise teaching, structures, methods or syllabi, it is accepted, would be misplaced. The role of the European Union (EU) is therefore one of support and coordination. There was little reference to education in the Rome treaty, except for the need for mutual recognition of vocational training. Despite the EU's limited role, education was formally recognised as an area of EU competence in the Maastricht Treaty of 1992. Many education and training programmes have been launched since the first student exchange programme, Erasmus, was conceived in 1985. The six-point programme was extended to include measures to improve the vocational training of young people and to ease the transition from school to workplace.
