1. Overview of the New Skills Agenda for Europe
Key elements and actions

2. Main drivers
Digital transformation
Skills mismatches (affect productivity and growth, as well as individuals' self-actualisation)
EU workforce ageing and shrinking
Quality of education and training varies in EU
Perceptions not rooted in reality (e.g. VET)
Importance of learning outside the formal system

3. What's new
Strong (but not exclusive) focus on low-skilled
Impact of digitisation mainstreamed across all actions
Involvement of business and trade unions key, alongside traditional education stakeholders
Closer to economic reality and sectoral dimension

4. 10 Key Measures in 3 Priority Areas:
Improving the quality and relevance of skills formation
Making skills and qualifications more visible and comparable
Improving skills intelligence and information for better career choices

5. I. IMPROVING THE QUALITY AND RELEVANCE OF SKILLS FORMATION
Proposal for a Skills Guarantee - adopted
Proposal for the review of the Key Competences
Proposals on making VET a first choice (e.g. revision of EQAVET and ECVET) –
Digital Skills and Jobs Coalition – end 2016

6. II. MAKING SKILLS AND QUALIFICATIONS MORE VISIBLE AND COMPARABLE
Proposal for the revision of the EQF - adopted
Skills Profile Tool for Third Country Nationals – end 2016
Synergies with Integration Action Plan for Third Country Nationals
labour market integration through "fast-track" insertion
and vocational training (call for proposals)
promotion of best practices for integration

7. Proposal for the revision of the Europass Framework – adopted
III. IMPROVING SKILLS INTELLIGENCE AND INFORMATION FOR BETTER CAREER CHOICES
Proposal for the revision of the Europass Framework – adopted
Blueprint for Sectorial Cooperation on Skills - ongoing
Analysis and sharing of best practice on brain drain
Proposal on Graduate Tracking

8. DELIVERING THE AGENDA
Joint agenda for the EU, the Member States and stakeholders. Social partners: central role to play
European Semester
OECD-EU support for national skills strategies
EU funding

9. The Skills Agenda and the ESF: key synergies
Employment
(IP 8.1)
Inclusion
(IP 9.1)
Relevance of Education & Training
(IP 10.4)
Lifelong Learning
(IP 10.3)
Integration
(IP 9.2)
The Skills Agenda can be supported by the ESF under the following thematic objectives (TOs) and investment priorities (IPs):
TO8: Promoting sustainable and quality employment and supporting labour mobility, in particular under IP 8.1:
(8.1) Access to employment for job- seekers and inactive people, including the long-term unemployed and people far from the labour market, also through local employment initiatives and support for labour mobility.
TO9: Promoting social inclusion, combating poverty and any discrimination, in particular under IPs 9.1, 9.2:
(9.1) Active inclusion, including with a view to promoting equal opportunities and active participation, and improving employability.
(9.2) Socio-economic integration of marginalised communities such as the Roma.
TO10: Investing in education, training and vocational training for skills and lifelong learning, in particular, under IPs 10.3, 10.4:
(10.3) Enhancing equal access to lifelong learning for all age groups in formal, non-formal and informal settings, upgrading the knowledge, skills and competences of the workforce, and promoting flexible learning pathways including through career guidance and validation of acquired competences.
(10.4) Improving the labour market relevance of education and training systems, facilitating the transition from education to work, and strengthening vocational education and training (VET) systems and their quality, including through mechanisms for skills anticipation, adaptation of curricula and the establishment and development of work-based learning systems, including dual learning systems and apprenticeship schemes.
The following key actions of the Skills Agenda can benefit most from the ESF support:
Skills Guarantee (from IP 8.1, 9.1, 9.2, 10.3)
Making VET a first choice (from IP 10.4)
Digital Skills and Jobs Coalition (from IP 10.3, 10.4)
For example, talking about the Skills Guarantee, beyond the €27 billion ESF funding to be invested in education, training, skills and life-long learning under TO10, from 2014 to 2020, a further € 21.2 billion are available for social inclusion (TO9) and € 30.8 billion for sustainable and quality employment (TO8). Not all of these funds have been committed by Member States to initiatives targeting low-skilled people but, based on experience from the period , we can expect that substantial number of low-skilled people will benefit. The evaluation of the previous ESF programmes found that across the then EU27, 7.1 million participants per annum had been registered in ESF human capital measures between 2007 and 2013, 3.6 million (almost 50%) of whom it is estimated had not completed upper secondary education. Offers in line with the Skills Guarantee would improve the quality and lasting outcomes of such measures during the current financial period.
In a number of Member States, the financial resources of the ESF are not as substantial as in other Member States. Therefore, the investment of national resources in implementing the reforms is crucial. These should be prioritised in national budgets.
Skills Guarantee
Digital Skills & Jobs Coalition
Anticipation of skills needs

10. Thank you