European Commission selects e-Skills campaign partners
European Commission selects e-Skills campaign partners © sqback

European Commission selects e-Skills campaign partners

The European Commission has selected DIGITALEUROPE and European Schoolnet to deliver the e-Skills for Jobs 2014 campaign. It aims to raise awareness of the need for citizens to improve their command of ICT skills.

The campaign is a response to the growing demand for ICT-skilled professionals that is not currently being met in Europe, despite high levels of unemployment.

The campaign comes under the umbrella of the Commission’s Grand Coalition for Digital Jobs, an EU-wide multi-stakeholder partnership helping to address a shortfall in the number of European citizens with ICT professional skills, and to exploit the employment creation potential of ICT. The main focus of the campaign will be to raise awareness of the education, training, jobs, and other opportunities that are available to people with e-Skills.

Industry, education bodies and public authorities will together deliver a large and diverse programme of events and activities throughout the year for people at all levels of education and skills. The campaign is co-ordinated by DIGITALEUROPE and European Schoolnet in conjunction with hundreds of national and pan-European partners including European Centre for Women and Technology, JA-YE, Telecentre Europe and many major IT industry partners.

During the course of 2014, the e-Skills for jobs campaign will run in 30 EU countries. It will inform students, unemployed people, ICT professionals and SMEs about the vast range of opportunities that ICT-related jobs present. One of the first key activities is the ‘Get Online Week’, a pan-European event organised by Telecentre Europe during 24-30 March to get new users online and improve their digital skills for working life.