Stakeholders agree that more Europeans should be given opportunities to learn about standards and standardization
Date
Sections
published by CEN - CENELEC on Monday 2 Jul 2012
There is broad agreement among business leaders, education professionals, governments and the EU institutions that more must be done to raise awareness and improve knowledge about standards and standardization. This is the main conclusion of a conference on education about standardization that was held in Brussels on 29 June, jointly organised by the European Standards Organisations – CEN, CENELEC and ETSI.
The First European Dialogue on Education about Standardization attracted the participation of more than 90 delegates including representatives of business and industry, the higher education sector, governments and the European Commission, as well as national and European standards organisations. There was a general consensus among the participants that Europe needs to catch up with other parts of the world – notably including many Asian countries – where there are more opportunities for students and professionals to learn about standardization during their formal education and/or professional training.
In particular, there is a need for materials that can be used in the context of further and higher education and professional training to explain the benefits of standardization for companies, industries and society as a whole. Fortunately, valuable work is already being done, and participants learned about positive examples of education and training activities that have been developed and implemented in various countries (in Europe and elsewhere).
CEN (European Committee for Standardization), CENELEC (European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization) and ETSI (European Telecommunications Standards Institute) are currently preparing a joint strategy on education about standardization. This will aim to build on existing practices, raise awareness of relevant issues, and provide a basis for developing new initiatives with relevant stakeholders in the coming years.
Elena SANTIAGO CID, Director General of CEN and CENELEC, explains the importance for Europe’s economy of including standardization in educational curricula: “In the context of the current economic crisis, Europe needs more than ever to remain competitive and innovative. Standardization contributes to competitiveness and innovation, and therefore it is crucial that we enable the current and future workforce to learn about standards. More needs to be done throughout Europe and this issue must be understood and addressed at all levels.“
- ENDS -
Notes
The three European Standards Organisations (ESOs) are: CEN (European Committee for Standardization), CENELEC (European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization) and ETSI (European Telecommunications Standards Institute).
CEN (European Committee for Standardization) and CENELEC (European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization) are officially recognised organisations responsible for developing and defining standards at European level. These standards set out specifications and procedures in relation to a wide range of products and services.
The members of CEN and CENELEC are the National Standards Bodies and National Electrotechnical Committees of 33 European countries including all of the EU member states plus 3 EFTA countries (Iceland, Norway and Switzerland) and 3 EU candidate countries (Croatia, Turkey and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia). European Standards (ENs) approved by CEN and CENELEC are accepted and recognised in all of these countries.
CEN and CENELEC also work to promote the international harmonisation of standards in the framework of technical cooperation agreements with ISO (International Organization for Standardization) and IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission).
For more information please see: www.cencenelec.eu
ETSI (European Telecommunications Standards Institute) produces globally-applicable standards for Information and Communications Technologies (ICT), including fixed, mobile, radio, converged, aeronautical, broadcast and internet technologies and is officially recognised by the European Union as a European Standards Organisation.
ETSI is an independent, not-for-profit association whose more than 700 member companies and organisations, drawn from 62 countries across 5 continents worldwide, determine its work programme and participate directly in its work.
For further information, please visit: www.etsi.org
Media contacts:
Ben Carlin
Communication Unit
CEN-CENELEC
T: +32 (0)2 550 08 32
Ultan Mulligan
Communications and Events
ETSI
T: +33 (0)4 92 94 43 88
html version: http://website.cencenelec.eu/news/press_releases/Pages/PR-2012-11.aspx
pdf version: ftp://ftp.cencenelec.eu/EN/News/PR/PR-2012-11.pdf