2024: a year for skills!
Director Pilvi Torsti acknowledges the challenges of the past year, emphasises celebrating education and skills achievements, and highlights the ETF's focus on anticipating future skills.
Greetings from the ETF Director, Pilvi Torsti
At the end of a fraught year geo-politically across the globe, and with sorrow for the pain and suffering of so many people including those in ETF partner countries, it is more important than ever to remember the achievements of this year, however small.
As we enter into a festive season let us celebrate the contribution of all those working on education and skills development which offers so much hope for the future to young and old, next generations, and societies at large.
The ETF has concluded 2023 with a communication campaign on 'skills for growth' and will begin 2024 with a complementary campaign on 'skills for the future' which forms the focus of this edition of Learning Connects. To ensure economic growth means looking into the future and predicting as far as possible the skills that will be needed.
Driven by new technologies that blend the physical, digital and biological worlds, the fourth industrial revolution is transforming industries, economies and societies around the world. Two articles in this edition show first-hand the impact of technologies in different parts of the labour market in the EU’s neighbouring regions: the agri-food sector in the Western Balkans and the platform economy in the Southern Mediterranean.
Other global trends such as shifting demographics, migration and climate change are intensifying this process. Different national and regional contexts require different solutions and alternative pathways to equip and re-equip people with the knowledge and skills they need for life and work in the world of tomorrow. Their impact and how they are managed varies from place to place.
The ETF works closely with partner countries to reform their education and skills development systems in response to national and local needs with a few to the future and the global context. Ensuring multi-stakeholder engagement in the policy process is a core pillar of the our work to develop inclusive, evidence-based skills ecosystems. Emphasis is given to building high-quality vocational education and training systems within a lifelong learning perspective to ensure that people have the correct skills for the green and digital transformations in particular. We offer targeted studies on education, skills and the labour market, regular monitoring and evaluation. Policy learning and the sharing of good practice are facilitated across ETF supported networks spanning local, national, European, and international levels.
The 18th December marked International Migrants Day. Migrants build bridges between countries; sending, transit and receiving countries. They are critical for the survival of many sectors and economies across the globe. The ETF’s Senior Expert in Migration and Entrepreneurship, Mariavittoria Garlappi, highlights the importance of the skills dimensions of migration in the ETF's work and support to the European Union as an important component to securing a better future for all.
On behalf of all the staff of the ETF we look forward to continuing our efforts in 2024, when the ETF celebrates its 30th birthday which means 30 years of partnership with all our counterparts that has weathered many critical events and changes in economies and societies, and will continue to do so.
We wish you all peace and prosperity.