The report presented by the Commission to the Education Ministers Council highlights that funding for education is stable in most Member States and it underlines that higher education remains the best insurance policy against unemployment, with graduates more likely to find a job faster than non-graduates. However, it also warns of growing teacher shortages.

The European Commission has presented to the Education Ministers Council at their meeting held in 10 of February the report entitled 'Key Data on Education in Europe 2012', which shows that, among other findings, several Member States, including Germany, the United Kingdom, Italy, the Netherlands, Austria and Belgium, may face serious teacher shortages in the future. It shows that the number of graduates specialising in education is falling at a time when many current teachers are approaching retirement age.

According to the report, targeted training for teachers, such as mentoring, guidance for assessment and classroom observation, is now more widespread across Europe. However, these measures have not been sufficient to increase the attractiveness of teaching. Thus, the Commission wants to contribute to the attractiveness and quality of the profession by providing 1 million teachers with opportunities to gain teaching and training experience abroad as part of its proposed Erasmus for All programme.

In addition, the report also publishes that the share of the population with a tertiary qualification has risen and that graduates find jobs twice as quickly as people with lower qualifications (5 months compared to 9.8 months). This finding shows that the European Union's 2020 target for a 40% level of higher education attainment is supported by solid evidence. Higher education therefore remains the best insurance policy against unemployment, with graduates more likely to find a job faster than non-graduates. However it is also clear that graduates are increasingly over-qualified for their jobs and that some professions offer better employment perspectives than others; the choice of course is therefore increasingly important.