The European Commission’s Communication “Rethinking Education”

European education and training systems continue to fall short in providing the right skills for employability, and are not working adequately with business or employers to bring the learning experience closer to the reality of the working environment. These skills mismatches are a growing concern for European industry's competitiveness, says the most recent Communication of the European Commission, appealing to EU Member States to set actions. 

The Communication underlines the importance of tapping on the potential of ICT for education and teaching and highlights the need to develop transversal skills (such as problem solving, team work etc. often also referred to as soft skills) and entrepreneurial skills as they not only contribute to new business creation but also to the employability of young people. 

In this respect, the Communication emphasises at several instances the importance of languages. In a world of international exchanges, the ability to speak foreign languages is a factor for competitiveness. Languages are more and more important to increase levels of employability and mobility of young people.

Further education in STEM – science, technology, engineering and mathematics – is needed if Europe wants to compete with countries like Brazil, China and India that spend more on high skilled STEM education than the USA, Japan and UK together. 

More information about the full document.

Study on the Role and Impact of Professional and Scientific Societies in ICT Research, Education and Innovation

This new report summarises the results of the SMART study, carried out under a mandate from the European Commission to investigate the current situation and the dynamics of the ICT societies in Europe and to recommend strategies that may help overcome ICT society fragmentation, increasingly seen as a major bottleneck to their future development.

The study gathers and analyses information about ICT societies, performs an assessment of the actual contribution of societies to ICT research, education and innovation, analyses the impact of "participative" technologies and services, such as web 2.0, on the future of scientific societies, particularly in enabling new ways of producing & sharing knowledge and consensus building.

It furthermore analyses how the world-wide competing societies head-quartered in Europe are perceived by researchers, industrial stakeholders and policy-makers.

One of the key conclusions of this study is that the current set-up of ICT societies in the EU does not optimally address the key challenges of globalisation and multi-disciplinary.

The document also provides several recommendations, ideas for further research and activity and a list of European ICT societies.

Download the study

“Soft skills” essential for employers but missing among young people

The results of the a survey entitled "Closing the Gap Between Business and Education” show that business leaders find young people to lack 'soft skills' such as confidence, teamwork, self-motivation, networking and presentation skills. 63 % of respondents said that their countries’ educational systems were not preparing young people with the right skills to enter the workforce and 70 % of respondents said their countries were doing a poor job developing financial and entrepreneurial skills among young people.

The survey was carried out by FreshMindsResearch for JA-YE Europe, which is Europe's largest provider of entrepreneurship education programmes bringing together businesses, schools and young people.

Download the report
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