(Brussels) – “As far as investments in education are concerned, according to the latest figures from the monitoring report (2014), in the EU, public expenditure in education has started to growth again after three years of decrease in a row”. This has been stated by the EU Executive in today’s report on the educational systems of the EU member states. Across the EU, public investments in this area “have grown by 1.1% a year. About two thirds of the member states have seen an increase”. In six countries, such increase exceeded 5% (Bulgaria, Hungary, Latvia, Malta, Romania and Slovakia), while in ten member states the 2014’s expenditure in education decreased was lower than in 2013 (Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Italy, Lithuania and Slovenia)”. At the same time, “more efforts need to be made to make the educational systems more inclusive”. Education is actually “a powerful driver of social inclusion for young people with a background as migrants”. “The member states must work harder, since the number of refugees and migrants coming to the EU is increasing”. For instance, extra lessons have been organised in educational and vocational facilities in Austria; the option to hire 40 thousand teachers and thousands of social workers to cover approximately 300 thousand new posts in the educational system, from nurseries to vocational schools, is being discussed in Germany.