On the 10th of June 2016, the European Commission adopted its New Skills Agenda for Europe, that “calls on Member States and stakeholders to improve the quality of skills and their relevance for the labour market. »
Aimed at increasing skills levels, promoting transversal skills and finding ways to better anticipate the labour market’s needs, the Agenda will take the forms of 10 actions to be taken forward over the next two years.
Four have already been launched: a Skills Guarantee tackling the literacy, numeracy and digital skills of low-skilled adults; a review of the European Qualifications Framework, a “Digital Skills and Jobs Coalition” to be implemented both at national and European levels, and ‘Blueprints for Sectoral Cooperation on Skills’ to improve skills intelligence and address skills shortages in six pilot economic sectors (automotive, defence, maritime technology, space, textile and tourism).
Maintaining skills development as a top EU priority, the Agenda will hopefully offer further opportunities for sector partnerships in the years to come.