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Youth Unemployment Having run out of funds and become overwhelmed by applications from all over Europe, the failure of this initiative shows that migration is not a real solution to youth unemployment; rather, these problems must be dealt with by each member state. Young EYMD journalist reporting on a panel Overcoming the skills gap One of the issues is that national education systems simply do not offer training in the skills required for the labour market, leading to thousands of unfilled positions across the continent due to a chronic skills gap. Experts present at the EYE warned that this growing «skills mismatch» cuts young people off from their future. Anna Ludwinek, from the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (Eurofound), said that young people were hungry for guidance regarding the skills they need for the job market: “Young people and the industry are actually on the same page in highlighting what skills are necessary, she noted. But education partners are the ones who really don’t grasp this problem”. Boryana Stancheva and Eva Parvanova, from the Bulgarian-Romanian Interuniversity Europe Center (BRIE), tackled this problem in their workshop. They want to develop a European Framework of Reference for Common Employability Skills -in short, FORCES. Boryana Stancheva thinks that the outcome could benefit students across Europe: “The goal is to make a blueprint to regulate employable skills; so that it doesn’t remain some vague description, which differs for each employer, and so that students know what to work on. In an ideal world, we believe, it should even be included in university curricula”. Others believe that the solution to the skill problem is shared educational objectives across the EU, which was also supported by French Socialist MEP Catherine Trautmann stating that: “What’s important is that we give priority to a number of shared educational objectives across the Union, based on what is needed to get people into employment”. But policymakers, as well as youth activists, are divided on the right way to bridge the skills gap, and sceptics warn against placing unreasonable expectations on the EU in terms of education and training policies. Mikkel Barslund, researcher at the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS), said that there was little desire to share power over education policy with Brussels: “I think people have too much faith in what the EU can do here. I don’t feel that there is that eagerness in the member states to work together in forming education policy”. 12 Ideas for a better Europe – EYE2014 Report
Programmes to gain more experience Young people, finding themselves in a situation where the EU has too little impact on education and the member states are reluctant to change, are beginning to become more proactive and find solutions for themselves. The Agros Youth Group from Cyprus, which facilitated an interactive workshop as part of the EYE, identified three key areas in which young people can involve themselves and thus increase their likelihood of finding employment: European programmes, volunteering, and lifelong learning. “Education is very powerful, but you don’t always get a job when you get out of university. Everybody is studying at university now, so it is very competitive. Instead, you need to be researching something you love, and we are not educated enough to know how to get there, to get a job”, said Alexis Orias from the United Kingdom. Many workshops and Ideas Labs at the EYE favoured a bottom-up approach, where young people have their say on the design and content of educational and work programmes. Sebastiaan Rood, representative of Nationale Jeugdraad, believes that only youth engagement can solve the problem. “One of the crucial things is not only to talk to them, but to have youngsters in the boards of education institutes, because at this moment they don’t have the ability to influence the structuring of programmes”. Inclusion: an important part of EU programmes While it is certainly true that these proposals could lead to success, what must be borne in mind is that such policies also, in many cases, contribute to social stratification. Even though volunteering assists in personal development and allows for networking, many young people simply cannot afford to make such an investment in terms of time and resources. The same goes for Erasmus+ opportunities, in that the grant often does not cover all of the costs associated with studying or volunteering abroad; as such, participants often have to depend on their family’s resources. Education has always come with associated costs and now, at a time of high unemployment and wage cuts, many families struggle to support the education of their children. According to Jana Sikorska, a member of OBESSU’s taskforce from Slovakia, the costs of school trips, projects, and learning materials can often add up to over 1,000 euro per year. As Radka Pudilova pointed out: “It is vital to think how we can ensure that the programmes and opportunities offered in the European Union are as inclusive as possible; otherwise, young people will simply have to rely on luck and good connections to gain employment”. Increasing digitalisation in all professional sectors leads to another question regarding competence: What should we do with people who are not able to obtain all of the above mentioned skills, who then cannot keep up with this faster and more complex working environment The European Commission has predicted that there will be almost one million job vacancies in Europe by 2015, as employers struggle to find staff with digital skills. According to its Digital Agenda Scorecard, the number of ‘digital’ jobs is growing by more than 100,000 a year, but the number of IT graduates and skilled IT workers is falling behind the pace. Ideas for a better Europe – EYE2014 Report 13
Page 1: IDEAS FOR A BETTER EUROPE EUROPEAN
Page 5 and 6: Forewords Foreword by Anni Podimata
Page 7 and 8: Report Introduction Ideas for a bet
Page 9 and 10: Similarly, the EYE related activiti
Page 11: Youth Unemployment Youth Unemployme
Page 15 and 16: Thinking out of the box - Youth Une
Page 17 and 18: A first step to quality jobs could
Page 19 and 20: Digital revolution Digital Revoluti
Page 21 and 22: Technology versus content During th
Page 23 and 24: #EYE2014 word cloud Simply put; eve
Page 25 and 26: Thinking out of the box - Digital R
Page 27: • A transversal and comprehensive
Page 30 and 31: The Future of the European Union A
Page 32 and 33: The Future of the European Union Co
Page 34 and 35: The Future of the European Union Ba
Page 36 and 37: The Future of the European Union A
Page 38 and 39: 38 Participants and an EYE voluntee
Page 40 and 41: Sustainability “The EU has the po
Page 42 and 43: Sustainability Sustainable organisi
Page 44 and 45: Sustainability Young people holding
Page 46 and 47: Sustainability • Significant shif
Page 49 and 50: European Values European Values Glo
Page 51 and 52: against in the past, and this play
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Page 55 and 56: innovation, cohesion and youth. Spe
Page 57 and 58: Report Conclusion Ideas today, acti
Page 59 and 60: Facts & figures 5,380 total number

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