Androulla Vassiliou: Get your digital skills

EU Commissioner for Education, Culture, Multilingualism, and Youth Androulla Vassiliou has said that there will be a minimum requirement of digital skills for 90% of job vacancies by 2015, noting that in 2012 50% of Europe’s population had little or no such skills.
Addressing a conference on “New Technologies – prospects for the fields of education, training and employment” organised here by the Cyprus Federation of Business and Professional Women and the EU Representation in Cyprus, Vassiliou underlined the need to look into the numerous opportunities offered by technologies in the field of education, with a view to use their potential and increase the number of people who benefit from high standard education.
She said this is the aim of an initiative she has recently inaugurated with the Commissioner for Digital Agenda Neelie Kroes on “Opening up Education”.
Vassiliou said that “we are in cooperation with interested parties from the fields of education, employment and information and communications technologies (ICT) with a view to promote digital skills and support the filling of current and future job vacancies, which are estimated to reach 900,000 at the European level in 2015.”
Vassiliou said that according to a recent study by the Commission, if the number of women who will make a career in the digital sector increases, then the European economy will reap benefits estimated at 9 bln euros per year.
Energy Commerce, Industry and Tourism Ministry Permanent Secretary and Digital Champion of Cyprus Stelios Himonas said that Cyprus ranks third from the bottom of the list among EU countries as regards the number of persons who have basic digital skills, with the percentage rising up to 11% in 2012, compared to 16% which is the European average. The percentages of people with intermediate and advanced skills are higher.
“We have to use the technology to promote growth and modernization for the recovery of the economy,” he added.