Following our earlier announcement of a Digital Enlightenment Forum workshop on “Skills and Jobs for the Digital Era” initially planned to take place in Brussels on May 31, we have been involved, together with our associates in consultations with a number of European organizations that are at the center of EU policy formulation and related initiatives in this very important domain.
These consultations resulted in the conclusion that a postponement of the workshop for the fall of this year could provide the time needed to allow the deeper involvement of these organizations in the planned workshop which, in turn, would greatly enhance the impact of the event especially in view of the currently ongoing planning of new, pertinent EU initiatives.
We have therefore decided now to postpone the workshop and enter into discussions with the aim of agreeing and announcing by the end of June a new date for the workshop to take place in the fall.
See below on the change of date. We will soon announce a new date
Multiple studies performed during 2017 and monitored by the Digital Enlightenment Forum show clearly that the rapid transformations taking place in the new digital ecosystem have a strong and measurable collateral effect on the job market demand and the difficulty of existing educational systems to supply it with suitably skilled human resources. See for more details attachment below.
Earlier Digital Enlightenment debates have recommended an approach be developed to combine flexible and hybrid learning mini- courses, self-regulated learning, mentoring and coaching, all aimed at clearly measurable acquisition of skills that are readily recognizable by potential employers.
A palette of new-generation e-learning tools, existing or to be developed, will need to be effectively integrated into such approach.
We believe that it is now timely to take up the challenge and bring together knowledgeable people who can collectively and via the trademark DigEnlight interaction shed as much light as possible on how fast and vast this education vs employment disruption is and provide insights as well as concrete recommendations.
To this end Digital Enlightenment Forum will contribute by organising a one-day workshop on May, 31 2018 in Brussels under the title: “Skills for Jobs in the Digital Era”.
We expect participants to be actively engaged in addressing the challenge of education and skills provision for the new employment ecosystem. They will come from policy, educational institutions and industry and be ready and open for multi-disciplinary debate.
Existing and/or under development e-learning and “up-training” tools will be showcased.
The workshop aims at producing recommendations for pertinent EU policy, including for the new 2021-2028 Research Framework Programme. It also strives to enable participants to interact and take new ideas back with them to work out in their own environments or in future partnerships and collaborations.
The draft programme is:
Opening Policy Keynote
Followed by three panel discussions:
New Jobs, New Skills: Status and Prospects
Up- and re-skilling – Innovative Approaches
New Generation e-Learning Tools for Career Development – Trials and Showcases
More details can be found in the documents given below.
Digital technologies are affecting the emergence of disruptive business models, challenging traditional hierarchies and creating new commercial value systems as illustrated e.g. by the all-permeating use of data analytics (6)
It is already amply documented (3) that there are already hundreds of thousands of ICT related job vacancies in Europe and the US across all industry sectors due to lack of suitable digital skills among the young.
The number of these vacancies is growing as our traditional educational institutions struggle against deeply entrenched entropic resistance to rapid change which, in turn, results in a growing skills mismatch (4).
In the context of the overall “digital disruption” a drastic re-think of both formal and informal education and skill acquisition programs is taking place at all levels both in Europe, the US and elsewhere to address the issue of digital education and skills.
Furthermore, Digital Enlightenment Forum (1) debates and reports lead to the conclusion that the sought after “digital literacy” cannot and must not be limited to the necessary prerequisites of the digital equivalent of “reading, writing and arithmetic” but extend to the acquisition of a certain degree of “professionalism”, including:
Functional skills (e.g. in data analytics or mobile apps)
Critical thinking and selection skills
Effective communication and collaboration skills
There are already budgeted new EU initiatives to address this via the creation of Skills Hubs, usually within an Innovation Hub with a broader scope.
In a number of EU regions, where the skills mismatch is worse than the average in the EU (see Eurostat) it further aggravates the tragic youth unemployment situation (e.g. Greece, Spain).
There are in such regions large numbers of young (many with university degrees in STEMS) who are unemployed. At the same time there is a growing demand by healthy and growing enterprises in the digital domain and increasingly, in other business sectors ready to hire candidates possessing suitable ICT skills that they need.
This is where the idea and ensuing proposal for a Skills Hub comes in.
Unlike most other EU and US related initiatives it is not proposed to set up a full Innovation Hub (2) but rather just one of the key components of such an Innovation Hub, a Skills Hub which enables young people to acquire, in a relatively short time, functional digital skills which will make them immediately “hirable” by existing companies.
The approach to be developed will combine mini and “flipped” courses, self- regulated learning, mentoring and aim only at clearly measurable skill acquisition.
TAXUD launched the European Pilot Project on Digital Tax Education for Young Europeans
Brussels, 21 November - New training tools are used for European civic education. Embracing an initiative of the European Parliament, the European Commission’s Taxation and Customs Union Directorate-General - DG TAXUD - launched the project TAXEDU - "Digital Tax Education for young people in Europe" (https://europa.eu/taxedu/).
TAXEDU is led by SIVECO, a DigEnlight associate member.
The project is meant to improve tax education for European children, teenagers and young adults. Information is conveyed through games, e-learning material and microlearning clips so that European youngsters can learn about tax in its different forms in a fun and engaging way.
The Digital Skills Hub, powered by ALBA Digital Academy, in cooperation with DigEnlight
aspiration and scope
SOCIAL FOCUS/IMPACT: Employability
The Digital Skills Hub is a learning initiative that is part of the Digital Skills Academy. The Digital Skills Hub is addressed to STEM majors and University Graduates and aspires to:
- Educate STEM graduates with contemporary ICT and AI knowledge and skills &
- Empower STEM graduates with self- awareness, self – confidence and self - leadership competencies (critical thinking, effective communication and collaboration skills)
in order to assist them pursue a job and build a career in the Digital Economy.
BUSINESS FOCUS/IMPACT: Matching Digital Talents with Corporate Needs
The Digital Skills Hub, aims at connecting individuals with Organizations that are in an evolving and exponential need for digital talent that will assist them to navigate through the challenges of Digital Transformation.
COMMUNITY FOCUS/IMPACT
The Digital Skills Hub aspires to establish Greece as an ecosystem/ hub of value creation in the fields of technology and software development.
INTERNATIONAL POTENTIAL/ IMPACT
The Digital Skills Hub will cooperate with the Digital Enlightenment Forum, and the related European expert network to enable the Digital Skills Hub to demonstrate its viability and sustainability. Our aim is to make this initiative a pilot, catalyst and a showcase model for similar initiatives in EU countries.
characteristics, dimensions & approach
EMERGING, DYNAMIC & ADAPTIVE
Operating within a disruptive and ever-changing technological environment and in a disruptive market, the Digital skills Hub will be flexible and continuously adapt learning priorities and methodologies in order to successfully respond to changing and evolving technological challenges, needs and demands. It aims at quick and measurable results with skill acquisition programs of relatively short duration that enable those completing them to immediately fill available positions in companies.
The close interaction/ collaboration/ co-creation with local corporations lies at the core of the endeavor and provides opportunities for constant iterations and innovations that will add value both to individuals and employers.
LEARNING IN ACTION
Through its close links with corporations, the Digital Skills Hub aims providing its “graduates” with the opportunity to apply their skills in the industry, through internships that will provide mutual value for the interns and the Organizations.
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