There are over 20 million unemployed people in Europe, yet employers find it difficult to fill some digital technology positions. The EU responded to this challenge by creating the Grand Coalition for Digital Jobs. The coalition aims to:
- offer more ICT training co-designed with industry
- develop more digitally aligned degrees and curricula
- motivate young people to study ICT – and pursue related careers
Four new National Coalitions for Digital Skills and Jobs are to be launched in Belgium, Cyprus, the Netherlands and the UK – bringing the total number to 12. In the UK the Tech Partnership (previously e-skills UK) has been endorsed as the UK’s official national coalition. The Partnership already has 500 employer members and has plans to deliver skills training for up to one million new roles over the next decade.
The announcement about the new National Coalitions was made at the Digital Skills for the Digital Single Market workshop held in Riga. Other announcements were made at the meeting:
- CA Technologies will organise awareness raising activities to get young people and women interested in tech careers
- Google has pledged to provide digital skills training to one million people; provide training to small businesses and work with seven science, tech, mathematics and computer science education organisations to reach 100,000 young people
- The BBC Academy will remove geo-blocking from training material and hopes to reach 2.5 million users by 2016.
- The EMC Academic Alliance will offer advanced ICT skills training free to HE institutions and will train students in information management and big data.
More information on the Grand Coalition for Digital Jobs can be found here.