Help us shaping European qualification profiles for jobs in the field of Internet-related services

The EQF-iServe project aims at making qualifications and current competence needs of internet-related services jobs roles transparent at European level by linking them to the European reference framework e-Competence Framework and EQF. The project partnership focused on 5 job roles in the field of internet related services and elaborated the following 5 European Specialist Profiles: Usability specialist, Internet Hotline Operator, Online community manager, Web marketer and Web seller.

Now we would like to validate the results obtained within our project by getting your feedback on those European Specialist Profiles!. If you are interested please fill in this questionnaire and hep us shaping the job profiles.

Eqf iserve jobs-descriptions

These five profiles include all relevant knowledge, skills and competences, needed for the proposed job profiles and refer them to the eCompetence framework and EQF. This will help to render existing qualifications in this field more transparent and comparable at European level which eventually will lead to easier employability of job seekers, and to overcome the skills shortage that SMEs experience in this area.

Furthermore, EQF-iServe supports training organizations to develop training curricula that correspond to the market needs and that are based on emerging knowledge, skills and competences description standards that guarantee comparability across Europe. In trying to bridge the gap between the educational world and work, it contributes to the goals set in the policy paper "New skills for new jobs".

Give your feed back on the profiles
More information on EQF-iServe
More information on e-Jobs in Europe
Download the Internet-related services profiles

The Copenhagen Declaration Launched at the e-Skills Week final event

The European e-Skills Week 2012 – a pan-European campaign backed by the European Commission - came to its conclusion last Friday, 30 March 2012, after hundreds of exciting events and activities delivered across thirty-six countries.

As a result, the partners and stakeholders in European e-Skills Week have produced the e-Skills Copenhagen Declaration, which supports the objectives of the 2007 Communication from the Commission to the Council, the European Parliament, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions and is a complement to the e-Skills Manifesto.

The Copenhagen Declaration has received the endorsement of thirty eight organisations, and many more will join in supporting the implementation of a grass roots activities to deliver competiveness, productivity and growth to Europe, through a strong commitment to ensuring that all European citizens are equipped to work and participate in the digital economy of the 21st century.

The Declaration is a complement to the latest version of e-Skills Manifesto, which will be published in fully in June 2012 – an interactive version of the Manifesto may be found on line for comment.

Download the Copenhagen Declaration

EMF attended the e-Skills Week stakeholders opening conference

EMF as e-Skills Week stakeholder attended on 19 March 2012 the  e-Skills Week stakeholders opening conference in Brussels. The Conference bought together all stakeholders – such as high-level public authorities, key industry representatives and research organisations - to discuss the current situation and needs of the e-Skilled workforce.

The event featured a plenary session on e-Skills policy in practice, as well as panel debates on the topic of e-Skills with both young people and ICT professionals.

More events and activities are foreseen for the upcoming weeks, culminating in a dedicated e-Skills Week final conference on 30 March 2012.

What´s the future for Internet related Jobs?

In the following video made in the context of the first Round table of the ProInterNet (PIN) project, I. Marinou, director of the Greek Man Power Employment Organization (OAED) in Patras and I. Kostopoulos, ICT consultant in the Municipality of Patras, discuss about the future of Internet related Jobs. They speakers outline their views on future needs and make suggestions about what can be done to improve the situation in the Internet related job market.

EMF is partner of the ProInterNet (PIN) project funded by the LLP programme of the European Comission. PIN aims to improve transparency, information systems and guidance on skills and qualifications for Internet related professions at European Level. As a result of the project the e-Jobs Observatory has been implemented as the one-stop-shop for e-Jobs, e-skills and e-competences in Europe.

Consumers want Internet, phone and TV in one package

A new Eurobarometer survey "E-Communications Household Survey", shows that four out of ten European households are buying "bundled" Internet, phone and TV services from a single provider and that one in four respondents considered that their Internet download/upload speeds do not match the conditions of the contract they signed. However, six out of ten households say they have never considered switching to another service provider as they have to face too many obstacles such as the risk of a temporary loss of service, the risk of having to pay for more than one provider during the switching process and the lack of clarity about the steps required for switching.

The survey measures the attitude of European households and individuals towards fixed and mobile telephony, Internet access, TV broadcast services, bundled offers, privacy, quality of services, affordability and switching.

Download the survey

EU copyright policy endorsing Internet censorship?

A new EU Intellectual Property Rights Strategy will be released tomorrow (24 May 2011). The draft is severely criticised by Internet circles.

Many opponents fear that the Strategy will endorse a growing trend to hold Internet service providers (ISPs)liable for piracy, forcing them to punish the users without the involvement of a judge or jury.

Digital rights campaigners argue that the EU is about to weaken citizens' fundamental rights and give way to an already growing trend of censorship across the EU.

At regional level, Spain, Ireland and the UK have recently decided to tackle piracy with access restrictions, but the laws have been widely contested in the countries' courts.

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Half of the EU Internet surfers use foreing languages on-line

According to a pan-EU Eurobarometer survey 55% of Internet surfers use at least occasionally another language than their own when they are on-line. However, 90% of the surfers prefer to access websites in their own language and 44% of them feel they are missing interesting information because web pages are not in a language that they understand.

The survey confirms that English is the most commonly used language when it comes to reading and watching content on the Internet in a different language than one's own: almost half of Internet users in the EU (48%) would use English at least "occasionally" while Spanish, German and French would be used by 4% to 6% of users.

To face this situation the European Commission manages 30 different research projects working at the interface of language and digital content and one of the objectives of the Digital Agenda for Europe is to ensure more accessibility to web content for everyone.

EMF follows closely the development on Languages and opportunities in EU and participate in META (the Multilingual Europe Technology Alliance) and the CELAN project (Promotion of Language Strategies for Competitiveness and Employability) .

Download the Survey
Visit the CELAN project site
Visit the META website

The European Commission will present tomorrow proposals to foster a neutral and competitive Internet

In a draft proposal seen by EurActiv, the European Commission does its homework on possible infringements of net neutrality but prefers to adopt a wait-and-see approach before coming up with concrete measures to prevent network operators and Internet providers from forging monopolies.

Large industry is in favor of this proposal for its prudence, while consumer groups and activists lament the lack of substance.

As more European media consumption – such as radio, TV, telephony and video conferencing – migrates to the web, regulators are concerned about operators' attempts to block or slow down services which compete with their own or don't yield much profit, effectively creating fast lanes and slow lanes for different services.

The EU paper admits that problems have been detected such as blocking of Internet telephony and anticompetitive traffic management, but also claims these have so far been dealt with by a national regulator or negative media coverage.

Source EurActiv
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Europe and the United States trying to reach agreement on the protection of privacy on the Internet

For years the United States and Europe have diverged in their approach to policing the web. However, the two sides are converging in their web privacy positions, partly through intensive meetings in recent months between regulators from Washington and Brussels.A series of meetings between U.S. and European regulators have helped to bridge the different views on how to regulate the protection of privacy on the Internet, but significant differences still remain, such as the insistence of Europe for the recognition of the "right to be forgotten".

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