Brussels, 12 April 2013 – A stronger emphasis on soft skills,  a greater role for mentorships and the addition of entrepreneurship education to the standard curriculum are needed for Europe’s youth to succeed in 21st century jobs. Bringing entrepreneurship education inside the vocational schools classroom was also in the spotlight during the ‘Skills for the Future’ panel debate that took place on Wednesday, April 10, at the European Parliament.

The ‘Skills for the Future’ panel debate included panellists Director General of DG Employment, Koos Richelle; Deputy Director General of DG Education, Xavier Prats Monne; Senior Vice President and COO of Hyundai Motor Europe, Allan Rushforth; Head of Enterprise and Entrepreneurship of ETF, Anthony Gribben and the Chairman of JA-YE Europe and Partner at Clifford Chance, Michael Bray. The debate was moderated by Madi Sharma, Entrepreneur, UK Member, European Economic and Social Committee Employer’s Group. Together with an audience of educators the following actionable solutions were identified:

1. Learning by doing – Mentorship schemes enable young people to learn practical skills needed in the workforce. These can be the answer to fighting youth unemployment; data shows that youth unemployment rates are lower in countries with a good system for apprenticeships.
2. Adaptation – Educational systems must adapt to the skills need. There is a clear need to rethink education and to create an entrepreneurial culture in schools where entrepreneurial learning is pervasive. For this to happen, the growth and jobs agenda needs to be linked to entrepreneurship education.
3. Closeness – The worlds of teachers, policy and business need to be brought together by creating communities and networks that interact and ensure that entrepreneurship education gets the attention it deserves. It means ensuring students have some real world experience with entrepreneurship at a young age so they know what it feels like. JA-YE Europe is building competence assessment tools into its programs to be able to track each student’s progress throughout the experience and build up a body of improved practices across the geography.
4. Mobility – Although 5.5 million young people are unemployed, 1 million vacancies have been outstanding for more than 6 months. Greater mobility is needed to get people to where the jobs are and mobility needs to be facilitated for those who are prepared to move.
5. Languages – Languages have become the new soft skill. Language education focused on conversation greatly improves young people’s ability to communicate and makes them more employable.

‘Skills for the Future’ – an initiative organised by Junior Achievement-Young Enterprise (JA-YE) Europe and Hyundai Motor Europe – saw two intense days of workshops where educators, policymakers and industry leaders exchanged ideas and shared best practices to bridge the skills gap.

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About Skills for the Future

Skills for the Future is organised by Junior Achievement-Young Enterprise (JA-YE) Europe in partnership with Hyundai Motor Europe. The event is a part of the broader Skills for the Future programme that aims to improve youth employability. During the 3-year initiative, 10,000 young people between the ages of 15 and 18 in 15 European countries will have the opportunity to try their hand at enterprise, learn valuable STEM skills and apply their knowledge in new ways.

About Junior Achievement-Young Enterprise Europe

JA-YE Europe (www.ja-ye.org) is Europe’s largest provider of entrepreneurship education programmes, reaching 3.1 million students in 37 countries in 2012. Funded by businesses, institutions, foundations and individuals, JA-YE brings the public and private sectors together to provide young people in primary and secondary schools and early university with experiences that promote the skills, understanding and perspective that they will need to succeed in a global economy. The JA-YE Company Programme is recognised by the European Commission Enterprise Directorate General as a ‘Best Practice in Entrepreneurship Education’. JA-YE Europe is the European Regional Operating Center for JA Worldwide®

For more information please contact

Elina Konstantinou

JA-YE Europe Communications Manager

elina.konstantinou@ja-ye.org

+32 2 735 9720

About Hyundai Motor Europe

The company designs, engineers and manufactures cars in Europe, specifically for European consumers.  In 2012, Hyundai achieved European sales of 444.000 units, taking a new-car market share of 3,5%.  Almost 95% of the vehicles Hyundai sells in the region are designed, engineered and tested in Europe.  And more than 70% are built at its two local factories (Czech Republic and Turkey), including New Generation i30, which is shortlisted for Europe’s 2013 Car of the Year award.  Hyundai sells cars in 28 European countries across 2.500 outlets.

Hyundai offers its unique, Europe-only, Five Year Triple Care warranty package with all new cars sold in the region, providing customers with a five-year warranty with no mileage limit, five years of roadside assistance and five years of vehicle health checks.

More information about Hyundai Motor Europe and its products is available at www.hyundai.com/eu