This new Eurydice report provides a detailed overview of the national public fee and support systems in place across European countries. The report contains key points which enable readers to have a good overall understanding of the topic while the national diagrams aim to show the main characteristics of each system. Download National student fee and support systems.
The national system information sheets aim to give an overview of the public fee and support system. The diagram aims to show the main characteristics of the system, while the text aims to provide complementary key points to enable the reader to have a good overall understanding. Information refers to public or government-dependent private higher education institutions but not to private higher education institutions. Information covers students in the first and second cycles only, while fee and support arrangements for doctoral students are not covered. Information on subsidised accommodation, transportation and canteens is also not included.
France
Fees (2013/14)
• The amount of fees per year fixed by the Ministry of Higher Education and Research is EUR 183 in the first cycle (L1, L2, L3) and EUR 254 in the second cycle (M1, M2). However, a number of universities have decided to add associated costs related to specific services (e.g. for diplomas related to continuing learning and training). In some public universities, the tuition fees can reach more than EUR 2 000 per year.
• Fees in the grandes écoles and Engineering Schools vary, but the most common amount is EUR 550 per year. However, tuition fees in some of them reach up to EUR 10 000 per year, depending on family income. However, there are grandes écoles which not only deliver education free of charge, but may even pay some students (such students are prospective civil servants and receive a wage from the State), e.g. in école polytechnique and écoles normales supérieures.
• Students who receive a grant (34.7 % of the student population in 2012/13) are exempted from fees.
Support (2013/14)
• Grants are awarded on the basis of financial need to students that are less than 28 years of age.
• The amount awarded for the need-based grant depends on the assessment of social criteria. Students are classified into categories based on the family income; within the framework of a reform of the grants (2013), a new category has been created for lower middle-class students, and a new one for the most deprived students. All grant holders get tuition for free and social security contribution waivers (EUR 211). In 2013/14 the amount of the annual grant varies from EUR 0 (for lower middle-class students who only get the waivers) to EUR 5 500. In addition, students having a need-based grant can get a complementary merit-based grant (based on school performance from the baccalauréat results) which amounts to EUR 1 800.
• Loans are also available. In 2008, the Ministry of Higher Education and Research started a new policy to get loans easier for all students aged less than 28. It provides loans with a maximum amount of EUR 15 000, guaranteed by a special fund 'OSEO'. Less than 0.1 % of university students take out such a loan.
• Parents are eligible for tax relief if students are financially dependent on them and are less than 25 years old. The amount of tax relief is proportional to the amount of taxable income of the household.
• Family allowances are paid for two or more dependent children that are under 20 years old. The minimum amount is EUR 128.57 per month and increases with the number of eligible children; as of 5th child the amount is EUR 164.73 for each child. An additional amount of EUR 64.29 per month is paid for every child that is aged 16-20 years.
Download National student fee and support systems.

Eurydice Report Teachers and School Heads Salaries and Allowances in Europe, 2012/13.
A report comprising 62 indicators on topics such as initial teacher education or working conditions for teachers and school leaders from pre-primary to upper secondary education in 32 countries.
Introduction
Attractive salaries combined with the potential for earning additional allowances as well as good working conditions constitute some of the primary incentives for drawing people into the teaching profession and ensuring high levels of satisfaction and motivation among staff.
In recent years, the range of skills required of teachers has become increasingly broad. Besides their traditional responsibility for transferring knowledge, teachers now have to be able to perform a variety of extra tasks, such as using information technology, working in teams, assisting in integrating children with special educational needs, and contributing to school management, etc. At the same time, the education sector is increasingly in competition with the business sector in terms of attracting the best qualified young graduates. Salaries and working conditions must be competitive to ensure that sufficient numbers of people of the right calibre are attracted into the profession. Policies that affect the earnings of those employed in the education sector cannot, therefore, be overlooked.
This overview compares the different levels of decision-making responsible for setting teachers' statutory salaries in Europe. The minimum and maximum statutory salaries are presented relative to per capita GDP in each country, with an indication of salary progression and its relationship to professional experience. The impact of the economic crisis on teachers’ salaries and their purchasing power is also analysed. Finally, the different types of allowances available to teachers are presented, indicating the decision-making levels involved in allocating these payments.
Download the Report Teachers and School Heads Salaries and Allowances in Europe, 2012/13.

'Educational exchange can turn nations into people, contributing as no other form of communication can to the humanizing of international relations'. Senator William Fulbright
As the debate on internationalisation of higher education grows stronger, so does the interest in mobility not only of students, but also of staff. This is likely to intensify in the coming months, as the European Commission's new Erasmus+ programme, starting in 2014, promises more opportunities and funding for higher education and teaching staff to study, train and work in another country. Indeed, higher education staff will account for a significant percentage of the 1 million beneficiaries of a mobility period funded by the programme between 2014 and 2020.
Staff mobility is seen as a vital and often cost-effective means of creating 'internationalisation at home' – enabling students to (in)directly experience another higher education culture on site. It is also widely believed that staff mobility has an additional value in acting as a catalyst for student mobility. More...

"Expert RA" rating agency prepared the second annual ranking of Russian universities. A comprehensive survey included the statistics analysis and large-scale interviews with more than 4,000 respondents: employers, representatives of the academic and scientific community, students and graduates and was carried out with support of ‘Volnoye Delo’ Oleg Deripaska Foundation.
Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, Bauman Moscow State Technical University, Saint Petersburg State University, and National Research Nuclear University ‘MEPhI’ are on top of the ranking. More...

ECA Winter Seminar
On Wednesday 11th December 2013 ECA organises its winter seminar. In the afternoon MOOCs and external QA is the topic of the seminar. The programme features eminent speakers and will be announced soon. In the morning ECA members will have a business meeting.
On 10th December meetings of the ECA Working Groups and Management Group take place.
Registration starts in October.

This post, written by Wikichild co-ordinator Melinda George, wraps up the Wikiprogress September Series on Education and Skills. It provides the infographics and some key figures from the soon-to-be launched 2013 Education for All Global Monitoring Report.
While we are waiting for the full Education For All Global Monitoring Report (EFA GMR) to be launched, UNESCO has released a booklet of the new infographics and data to show how education transforms lives. The EFA team also held a tweetchat last week around these infographics. You can search for the #educationtransforms hashtag to catch up on the conversation. More...