We no longer live in a world that is neatly divided between rich and well-educated countries, and poor and badly-educated ones.

In poor countries, the rich and powerful crush the poor and powerless.

When demand for education began to outpace supply, students were not sent home. Instead, class size and schooling hours were extended....The incentives driving these reforms forward was a plethora of merit-based learning opportunities where progress depended on what children were able to do, not where they came from.

If Europe wants to retain its competitive edge at the top of the global-value-added chain, the education system must be made more flexible, more effective and more easily accessible to a wider range of people.

The time when Europe competed mostly with countries that offered low-skilled work at low wages has gone. Today, countries like China and India are starting to deliver high skills at low costs.

They have clear objectives, well defined and clear to all stakeholders who are pursuing these objectives systematically.