Page "Educational policies and initiatives of the European Union" Paragraph 16

Finally, the Commission has supported a variety of networking systems between Ministers ( and Ministries ) in the EU's Member States, in addition to the thrice yearly meetings of the " Education Council " within the EU's own institutional system.

These range from biennial meetings of Ministers responsible for Vocational Education and Training ( the " Copenhagen Process "), through regular meetings of Director Generals for Higher Education or for Vocational Education and Training to more specialised networks or " clusters " within the " Education and Training 2010 programme " in areas such as key competences, foreign language learning or the recognition of informal and non-formal qualifications.

The Lifelong Learning programme comprises separate sub-programmes for schools ; universities and higher education ; vocational education and training ; adult education ; teaching about the EU in universities ; and a ' horizontal ' programme for policy development.