Top recipients of EU aid for education

At home and abroad, the European Union is praised by many for its unwavering commitment to the promotion of quality education. In the field of global development, the 28-member bloc is one of the Global Partnership for Education’s most reliable and generous donors, and its total funding for education is slated to reach a colossal 4.5 billion euros ($5.1 billion) by 2020. This year marks the first European Year for Development, and with the month of February dedicated to the theme of education, Devex decided to dig deeper into the numbers to uncover where the EU directs most of its bilateral assistance for education. Using data for 2013 — the latest year for which the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development has detailed information on EU official development assistance — Devex found that Jordan, Indonesia, Lebanon, Tunisia and Serbia were the five top recipients of EU aid for education. What might seem like an odd bunch at first is in fact a good illustration of the breadth of the EU’s commitment to education, both geographically and across its funding instruments. Jordan ($49 million) Receiving $49 million in 2013, Jordan is the top recipient of EU assistance for education. About two-thirds of Jordan’s population is below 30 years old, but the country struggles with one of the highest levels of youth unemployment in the world. According to the International Labor Organization, recent economic growth has failed to generate sufficient quality jobs, leaving more than 33 percent of young Jordanians ages 15 to 24 unemployed. A key reason for Jordan’s stubborn unemployment lies in the failure of the public education system to prevent an ever-growing mismatch between school curriculums and the demands of the labor market. This had led the Jordanian government to allocate ample resources to bridge the gap, and in doing so, it has benefited from substantial budget support from the EU. In 2013 alone, the EU pumped $32.1 million into the kingdom’s new strategy on technical and vocational education and training. That same year, the EU also earmarked $37.6 million for wider education reforms supervised by the World Bank. EU funding for education in Jordan has been rising since 2011 — a trend that is set to continue in the next few years in view of the size of the challenge. The EU’s latest programming document for cooperation with Jordan indicates that for the 2014-2017 period, up to $131 million will be allocated to the strengthening of economic competitiveness and education quality. Further, it’s important to note that since 2012 the EU has provided more than 225 million euros of aid to Jordan in support of the continuous inflow of Syrian refugees, a significant part of which was directed at helping Jordanian authorities provide education to Syrian refugee children. Indonesia ($44.6 million) As the second-largest recipient of EU funding for education, Indonesia received $44.6 million from the European Commission in 2013. The Indonesian constitution requires that at least a fifth of the national budget be devoted to education — a policy which has helped the archipelago move much faster than many of its Southeast Asian neighbors in the attainment of universal education. But achieving gains in the quality and equity of education remains one of the country’s most pressing challenges. In the past decade, the Indonesian government has been pursuing a range of major education reforms. These include a series of ministerial decrees on minimum standards for basic education, a focus on the decentralization of education management to the local government and school level, and a sustained effort to upgrade and professionalize Indonesia’s teaching profession. Such robust targets and plans have led EU funds for education to predominantly take the form of budget support. In 2010, the EU initiated its largest budget support operation in Asia by signing a 201 million euros agreement for basic education in Indonesia. More recently, the EU handed out a 37.3 million euros grant to the Asian Development Bank to implement a capacity development program aimed at reaching the basic education minimum service standards in 110 Indonesian districts. Overall, the EU’s financial commitment to improving education in Indonesia is likely to follow an upward curve in the near future, as illustrated by the evolution of its past spending. From 2008 to 2013, the share of education in the total annual aid budget grew from 15 to 65 percent. However, it’s important to note that EU education assistance was nearly divided by three between 2012 and 2013 — a reflection of the EU’s shift toward an enhanced aid differentiation policy, which reduces assistance to middle-income states. Lebanon ($31.7 million) With a population of barely 4.5 million, Lebanon is the EU’s third major recipient of education assistance. Often dubbed the “school of the Middle East,” Lebanon continues to rank high for the quality of its education, as illustrated by recent data released by the World Economic Forum. But some dangerous trends are underway. As government spending on education remains largely inefficient due to the high number of teachers and the lack of modern regulations, the achievement gap between private and public schools is widening. The framework guiding EU-Lebanon cooperation for 2014-2016 mentions enhanced EU support for education reform. However, it remains to be seen if such a pledge will translate into greater action in the field of education policy and management, which only received $3.3 million in 2013. A further look at EU development assistance to the Lebanese education sector reveals an overwhelming emphasis on primary education, prompted by the growing influx of refugees from neighboring states. In addition to 500,000 Palestinian refugees, an estimated 1.5 million Syrians are said to have fled to Lebanon, thus exerting tremendous pressure on public services. In the past three years, this has led the EU to allocate more than 100 million euros to Lebanon for the education and integration of refugee children — a trend that is expected to continue as Brussels ramps up humanitarian support to those affected by the Syrian crisis. Tunisia ($29.1 million) As the first Mediterranean country to have signed a trade agreement with the EU, Tunisia boasts strong ties with the European bloc. In 2013, it received $29.1 million worth of education assistance from the EU — an amount which earned it a place among the top recipients of EU aid for education. Like Jordan, Tunisia suffers from high levels of youth unemployment fuelled by a gap between labor supply and demand and its limited ability to cope with the population’s recent “youth bulge.” All of these factors combined call into question Tunisia’s capacity to provide better vocational training and higher education. As a result, the EU has been providing substantial budget support to Tunisia’s national strategy for youth employment, notably through a 65 million euros package. More recently, this was complemented by a 170 million euros loan from the European Investment Bank to modernize education facilities and programs in Tunisia. Following the Arab Spring revolution, EU development programs for its northern African partner were thoroughly reviewed to reflect the urgent need for socio-economic reforms — a context which bodes well for sustained investment in the country’s education sector. Serbia ($28.7 million) Despite entertaining a somewhat turbulent relationship with the EU — in the past few years, strong disagreements have risen over the independence of Kosovo or the extradition of suspected war criminals — Serbia draws one of the highest EU contributions for education. Receiving $28.7 million worth of education assistance in 2013, the Balkan state is also one of the highest recipients of EU aid, a fact that is hardly surprising in light of its candidacy to the 28-member bloc. As a precondition to its accession to EU membership, Serbia has to improve the overall quality of education as well as its relevance to the labor market. Yet many reforms have yet to be fully or properly implemented, causing persistent skills disparities, increased dropout rates and youth inactivity. According to the ILO, many young people in Serbia continue to consider their education as having little or no benefit to their professional life. This grim assessment is shared by the EU, which also notes that education quality and tertiary education enrollment are way below European standards. In its indicative strategy paper for 2014-2020, the EU emphasizes the use of twinning — a cooperation instrument for the implementation of EU legislation — technical assistance and supplies of equipment to help Serbia enhance its education system. So far, in what can be considered as an unfavorable practice to achieving comprehensive progress, EU funds dedicated to Serbia's educational system have only been channeled through isolated projects. But 2015 marks the year when Serbia might be eligible for budget support, provided certain prerequisites are met. Check out more funding trends analyses online, and subscribe to Money Matters to receive the latest contract award and shortlist announcements, and procurement and fundraising news.