Two new papers from the Coimbra Group's Employability Working Group
08/05/2025The Employability Working Group, in which our head Dr. Annette Retsch serves as Vice Chair, has published two new position papers.
How can universities promote the development of AI and digital skills?
As part of the European Commission's ‘Union of Skills’ initiative, the Employability Working Group has issued important recommendations for action:
- Strengthened support from European Funding Sources
- Investing in high quality teaching
- Implementing a real lifelong learning approach
- Recognising the core role of higher education
- Facilitating policy dialogue on trade-offs between benefits and challenges linked to the deployment of AI in education
How can students be ideally prepared for entering the labour market 4.0?
The Employability Working Group addresses this question in its second new position paper. In response to the European Commission's ‘Call for Evidence’ for the ‘Quality Jobs Roadmap’ initiative, challenges for universities were identified and the following recommendations for action were developed:
- Introduce policies relating to students undertaking internships, traineeships or apprenticeships in terms of quality and payment
- Provision of fee subsidies to support learners (incl. university staff) to participate in lifelong learning
- Create structures for universities to engage with enterprise partners at European level in terms of future skills needs, e.g. a European Skills Council
- Collect robust and timely global and European labour market information that is accessible and meaningful
More information?
Both papers are openly accessible here.
