Commission launches a structured dialogue on digital education and skills

European Commission. Source: EC Audiovisual Service, European Union, 2021

The digital transition ranks high on Europe’s agenda as one of the top priorities of the European Commission and EU Member States. To truly benefit everyone from digital transformation, Europe needs a skilled workforce, digitally savvy citizens, and an education system that reflects the growing importance of digital technology and skills.

In the 2021 State of the EU address, President Ursula Von der Leyen underlined the need for a structured and effective dialogue at top level to achieve this – and deliver the Digital Decade targets. 

On 8 October 2021, the Commission announced the kick-off of this structured dialogue with Member States and set a roadmap ahead. The announcement followed a project meeting between Executive Vice-President Margrethe Vestager, Vice-President Margaritis Schinas, and Commissioners Mariya Gabriel, Nicolas Schmit, and Thierry Breton, who declared that:

“For our Digital Decade, we have set ambitious targets, such as to equip 80% of people with basic digital skills and to have 20 million ICT specialists employed in the EU by 2030. We will only achieve this if we work as one in the EU, at all levels. This is why we are very pleased that the structured dialogue is launched with a roadmap for action.”

The dialogue will run until the end of 2022 and will include different levels of member state governments and society, from education institutions, to private sector and civil society. The results will inform concrete EU-level initiatives on the enabling factors to streamline digital education and skills in the next decade. The initiatives and results will be announced by the end of 2022.