News & events

Find more details on the attached presentation (in Dutch) and please get in touch with Didier if you would like more information: d.fouarge@maastrichtuniversity.nl

Didier is the leader of the S2C work package examining the supply of skills and lifelong learning.

In this talk the authors assess different frameworks for analysing vocational education and training systems and proposing a combined approach. This work is part of the Skills2Capabilities Work Package 3 which aims to create a new framework that equally acknowledges social and educational (personal development) aims, in addition to economic aims of VET systems.

A full version of the presentation is available here:Download presentation

In his keynote, Ken Mayhew, Emeritus Professor of Education and Economic Performance at the University of Oxford, stressed that when looking at indicators, skill forecasts and vacancy rates skill mismatch is a problem on European labour markets and that it will get worse – but panic is not the answer, as policy can react to the changing world of work. Job markets have been and will keep on changing fundamentally with new job profiles being created, old job profiles being altered and some jobs completely disappearing, but the main question is: Who will take responsibility and action? The state, the employer or the individual?

He pointed out that policy makers and stakeholders should not focus on predicting the future of work, but take action and create it themselves. In his view, the problem with forecasting labour market changes is that indicators and figures are often (mis)used in the debate to stress an argument in one direction or the other without making it clear what is actually measured. Moreover, Ken Mayhew’s advice to employers is to not rely too much on state-funding and take matters into their own hands by training their workforce wherever possible.

The expert discussion then served as a joint reflection on the keynote’s input and the general topic by a diverse panel of Austrian stakeholders and international researchers. Focus was the direct exchange of experiences, practices and ideas between stakeholders facing the immediate problems of skill mismatches and researchers trying to make sense of the phenomenon. Discussants were Ursula Bazant, Head of Education & Training at ÖBB Infrastruktur AG, Petya Ilieva-Trichkova, Associate Professor at the Institute of Philosophy and Sociology at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (IPS-BAS), Manuela Vollmann, Founder of the social profit organisation ABZ* Austria, Terence Hogarth, Professor at the University of Warwick and lead researcher at the Warwick Institute of Employment Research (IER), and Johannes Schweighofer, Head of the Unit for International Labour Market Policy and Research at the Austrian Ministry for Labour and Economy. The discussion was moderated by Didier Fouarge, Professor at Maastricht University and Director of the Research Centre for Education and the Labour Market (ROA).

From an employer’s perspective that already had to take action due to labour shortages and skill mismatch and an organisation that serves as the mediator between employers and workforce, first hand insights into the problems that have been arising for companies and individuals as well as the methods and solutions that are already in place were given. Concerning research on the matter, it was stressed that some of the biggest problems regarding forecasting and informing stakeholders, lie in the definition of concepts such as “skills” and “competencies”. The issue is overly complex, and even if it was possible to predict skill demands precisely – on national, regional and sectoral level – there are many clear cut fields of action to start to support the change coming: support the acquisition of transversal skills, reach out to adult learners and design motivating learning arrangements, train the trainers, strengthen exchange and cooperation between companies, training providers and experts, acknowledge the value of learning in the workplace and the impact of job design to let individuals’ capabilities be put into practice.

We would like to thank all participants for taking part in this lively event and are hoping to continue fostering the exchange of ideas between stakeholders and researchers on labour shortages and skill mismatch within the Skills2Capabilities project.

We would like to thank all participants for taking part in this lively event and are hoping to continue fostering the exchange of ideas between stakeholders and researchers on labour shortages and skill mismatch within the Skills2Capabilities project.

With the presentation of this report, the first phase of the preparation of the strategic document was finalized. During the second phase, an Action plan will be elaborated. The OECD team leader, Andrew Bell, presented the priority areas underpinned by the strategy, which are:

• Improving youth skills
• Improving adult skills
• Using skills effectively in the labour market and at work
• Improving the governance of the skills system

Petya Ilieva-Trichkova took part in one of the thematic working groups related to the development of the action plan for the Strategy, namely, the working group "Statistics and Data." During the discussion, she presented the project and suggested considering the possibility of including skills mismatch or skills demand/supply as an indicator in the Strategy.

The participation of members of the Bulgarian Skills2Capabilities team in such events and their cooperation with representatives of various state institutions enables the wide dissemination of the project results and increases their impact, namely by providing decision-makers in the executive and educational institutions with a better understanding of the capabilities that skills systems will need to deliver in the future.

Link to official news event (English).