Under the EU VAT system, children’s or young people’s education, school or university education, vocational training or retraining provided by bodies governed by public law having such as their aim are exempt from VAT. The author analyses several issues as regards the scope of the exemption for education that have already been brought before the ECJ, such as the VAT treatment of contract research by universities, secondment of teachers by educational institutions and the scope of the exemption for the services of private tutors.