There is no competitiveness without competences”: Pilvi Torsti on skills, Europe’s future and her mandate at the ETF

We may be close to officially entering winter, but rays of warm light burst through the window in what can only be considered a meteorological kindness. In her Turin office, with the Alps on the horizon, Pilvi Torsti is back from the Asian Development Bank International Education and Skills Forum in Manila. She laughs when I inquire on her seasonal break from her trademark yellow attire: “This Christmas I have switched to red Turkmen-inspired clothing — but once the new year starts, gold and yellow will be back.” 

Her choice of colour is deliberate. “It goes very back when I was young… in Finland we had these yellow rain jackets, I associated it with my childhood. Years later during my first election campaign, I chose to be photographed with a yellow background, and we realised yellow was very powerful. I really felt, okay, this is my colour.” For her, colour is more than style: 

I attend many events where women are a minority, and the culture is quite authoritarian. Colours are one way to make us be visible – and for those worried I do not think it compromises the content!” 

A Mandate shaped by history 

A logical milestone: Human capital in the European Semester 

Brussels recently delivered what the director calls a “logical milestone”: the European Semester package now includes, for the first time, a dedicated Recommendation on human capital. The Recommendation sets a common baseline for reforms across EU Member States, linking skills to competitiveness in the green and digital transitions, tackling labour shortages, and reversing worrying trends in basic skills. 

“These documents are very significant because they lead the various layers of policymaking and finally also of actions.”  

This milestone further connects the ETF’s external expertise with Europe’s internal agenda while ensuring that skills are treated systematically and not as a side note. 

Building the ETF’s future 

The timing of the Recommendation could not be better. Last week, the ETF’s Governing Board was in Turin for a deep dive into the new Strategy 2028–34. Pilvi smiles as she describes the session: board members walking through the city with students from partner countries, imagining futures shaped by skills and learning.  

“I always see red whenever someone says that young people are the future. Young people are here and now”.  

The director strongly supports the role of today’s youth in shaping strategic decisions and promotes radical openness to their ideas. Listening to youth who think in terms of decades ahead, she says, can fundamentally reshape strategic conversations. 

Reflecting on the ETF’s future strategy, the Finnish leader stresses that strategy must balance clear direction with flexibility and avoid the trap of “nice ideas detached from reality”. Looking ahead, she sees the next period as an opportunity to shape an ETF that is future‑proof: an agency that strengthens Europe’s competitiveness through skills, supports partner countries amid geopolitical shifts, and remains relevant in the long tun. 

“The kind of weather changes we’ve experienced in the past years make us modest and humble when we need to look ten years ahead. Strategies must be change-proof...prepared for disruption.  

She is seeking guidance from the Commission to ensure the ETF, as a unique agency in how it operates in the geopolitical and strategic landscape, is systematically included in Europe’s structures. At the same time, the director wants the agency to act as a “reference,” not a “top model to be watched,” but an institution whose practices can benefit others — from EU partners to ministries with modest capacities. “If we are clever in how we implement AI, we may also influence ministries with limited resources,” she notes, adding that internal development and care are just as vital as external impact. 

A global perspective 

Pilvi Torsti’s vision for skills is shaped by a career across continents. She studied at United World College in Italy, later co‑founded UWC Mostar in post‑war Bosnia and Herzegovina, and helped launch HEI Schools, now operating in more than 40 countries. She has served as State Secretary in three Finnish ministries, as a Member of Parliament, and as Adjunct Professor at the University of Helsinki. 

Her conviction that education changes lives is personal: 

“My mother was able to take a brave decision because she was educated… the life I’ve been able to live is for sure a game changer for my very personal life.” 

She recalls how divided education systems in Bosnia fuelled conflict, and how bringing young people together created friendships across divides. Experiences in Nepal and Bosnia reinforced her belief that education must uphold democratic values and foster social cohesion. 

The big shift: Green and Digital transitions 

“With children we raise awareness… in secondary we build competences… in tertiary we train highly skilled experts… and lifelong learning is decisive for success.” 

Green skills, she stresses, are not confined to “green experts” but cut across all professions. Digitalisation poses a different challenge: its unpredictability, exemplified by generative AI, represents a transformation that may demand new approaches to social welfare and skills policy. 

 “With generative AI, we probably actually are in the middle of something comparable to industrialisation. That puts us in a totally different set of questions with social welfare.” 

Skills as competitiveness 

The Union of Skills ambition, announced earlier this year, sets a bold target: by 2030, 60% of adults should participate in learning. For Pilvi Torsti, the challenge lies not in expanding opportunities for those already engaged, but reaching the groups historically excluded — the low‑skilled and vulnerable populations who participate the least. Meeting the target therefore requires systemic change and new incentives to draw in these hard‑to‑reach learners. 

“For decades we’ve had a similar trend which is that those who would benefit the most attend the least. So, whenever you try to increase the percentage, you are trying to target those who have not attended before.” 

For  the ETF head, skills are the bridge between education and employment: “Skills is really a fantastic way to bring these important two together — there is no competitiveness without competences.” 

This vision extends beyond classrooms to the wider European project, linking skills to the single market and to mobility itself.

"Human history is about mobility… economies flourish when innovation comes from people moving. Skills recognition is fundamental part of sustainable legal pathways and mobility. It can ensure migration leads to triple win effects, for the countries of destination, for the countries of origin and for the migrants."

Legacy, values, and leadership 

Asked about legacy, Pilvi Torsti resists the term.  

“History writers write about legacies. I think now, in times of disruption, it’s more important to think in terms of clear direction combined with the next step. A mentor once said to me that while as director you must be strategic, what matters at the end of the day is what you get done today. This is a feature among my slogans — as is that 1+1 is always more than two, and to trust the process.” 

For the ETF head, legacy is not about looking back but about building an institution that remains relevant in a changing world. The ETF was founded 30 years ago in the post‑Berlin Wall spirit, and she sees its origins as a source of “historical imagination” for the present.  

“What should and could a unique EU agency working on human capital outside the EU, 
in the current geopolitical weather, do? How can we best serve?” 

Internally, she frames this as a long‑term responsibility: to build an ETF that will matter as an institution that remains part of a globally engaged Europe. This year, next year, but also in ten years and thirty years.

Good public leadership, she adds, is central to that ambition. 

"We must serve the common good, we must be efficient, and our work must have systemic impact.” 

For the Finnish leader, values, clarity of purpose, and everyday action are the real legacy. One that is built step by step, and not declared. 

Halfway through her mandate, when asked she describes her leadership style as balancing form and freedom, drawing on Nordic traditions and leadership that builds on ideas of empathy and empowerment. Her leadership philosophy is still rooted in values:  

“I hope people see a genuine attempt for impact based on strong values… and that I can bring a little bit of kindness and lightness because that’s in our hands.” 

For the ETF, that means keeping skills at the centre of Europe’s competitiveness while building an institution resilient enough to adapt and human enough to empathise. It is this mix of pragmatism and empathy that she has seen at work with ETF colleagues. 

“You see it when supporting Ukrainian counterparts to introduce the EU Youth Guarantee, or when discussing ten‑year strategies with the ministries of labour and education in Turkmenistan — there needs to be the pragmatism that comes from experience and expertise, and the empathy that comes from devotion to our cause and understanding what long-term commitment is required from leaders to see changes through. Many of us have seen what systemic change can bring about.” 

It is this combination of pragmatism, empathy and impact that Pilvi Torsti hopes will define her mandate at the ETF.