Subject: Discriminatory discrepancies in the conversion of European Baccalaureate grades to grades in national systems
Since its foundation, the European Schools system has contributed to the promotion of the European Idea, in particular by supporting multilingualism and cultural exchange.
It is essential that school leavers completing the European Baccalaureate enjoy the same conditions when applying for further education or apprenticeships in their Member States as those studying the national curriculum there.
It is with this in mind that, in its resolution of 12 September 2023, the European Parliament calls for it to be ensured that academic performance is converted fairly and based on equivalence. To that end, the necessary adaptations must be made as soon as possible to the national conversion formulae.
According to data provided by the responsible unit of the European Schools, 2638 students sat the European Baccalaureate last year. This figure illustrates the sheer number of students who would be individually affected by any restrictions on the freedom of equality.
1. Does the Commission have any evidence of discrepancies or distortions in the conversion of European Baccalaureate grades into the national grading systems of individual Member States, particularly in the case of Germany?
2. How is the Commission making sure that problems creating any kind of discrepancy are resolved promptly?
3. How does the Commission assess the consequences of any discrepancies in terms of access to higher education or the labour market for school leavers from the European Schools?
Submitted:8.3.2024
Answer given by Mr Hahn on behalf of the European Commission
(23 May 2024)
The European schools are governed by an inter-governmental management board (Board of Governors), in which the Commission participates with one vote.
The Commission is working closely with parents’ representatives, who provide information about any issues relating to grade conversion between the European schools and the national systems.
So far, the Commission has been informed of conversion concerns in the case of Denmark and German y (1), both resulting in the opening of infringement procedures (2), based on Article 5 (2) of the Convention defining the Statute of the European schools, that are still ongoing.
To ensure equal access to education and professional opportunities for the European school graduates, the Commission is, as indicated above, actively engaged in addressing and eliminating any discrepancies in grade conversion between different systems.
1 ∙ ⸱ The equivalence requirement can be found in Article 5 of the Convention defining the Statute of the European schools:
https://www.eursc.eu/BasicTexts/SW1_21994A0817-en.pdf Current conversion rules of each Member State are listed here: https://www.eursc.eu/Documents/2014-03-D-25-en-14.pdf 2 ∙ ⸱
https://ec.europa.eu/atwork/applying-eu-law/infringements-proceedings/infringement_decisions/index.cfm? version=v1&typeOfSearch=byDecision&langCode=EN&refId=INFR(2021)2037&page=0&size=10&order=desc&sortColumns=decisionDate and https://ec.europa.eu/atwork/applying-eu-law/infringements-proceedings/infringement_decisions/index.cfm? version=v1&typeOfSearch=byDecision&langCode=EN&refId=INFR(2021)2038&page=0&size=10&order=desc&sortColumns=decisionDate