Newsletter: English version October 2009

Dear Sirs,

Among unemployed people in Poland there is a high percentage of young people. This trend is visible in all European Union as well. Professional activity of this group of people is low which unfortunately for the most part is caused by gaining inappropriate qualifications during their studies. Because of the low quality of education and first of all its poor adjustment to the job market needs, young people have problems in appearing at the job market. Lack of qualification, needed on the job market limits development and innovation on company level and scale down the competitive advantage of European firms.

Foundation “Institute for Private Enterprise and Democracy” together with its partners from Portugal (Gestão Total e Inovação Empresarial - GTIE Consultores S.A.), Italy (E.Ri.Fo.) and Turkey (AHİ EVRAN ÜNİVERSİTESİ) has started the project “Skills for the Future”. The project is being executed with the financial support of the European Commission in the framework of the European Union Lifelong Learning Program. The project will remarkably contribute to improving the quality of education in the universities in order to better meet the job market needs. We will inform you via newsletter about the activities undertaken in the framework of the project concerned and about its results.

“Skills for the Future” – science and business need each other!

The job market and university education system need to exchange information. Unfortunately the education offer of most universities does not satisfy the job market needs. Such a situation undoubtedly needs establishing a tight cooperation between universities and businesses. The process of creating the future personnel should begin before the recruitment, i.e. already at the stage of studies. Such a model will contribute to creating the high quality personnel which will be able to cope with the employers expectations. In order to achieve it the employers should be involved in creating and changing the education system. However such a practice is still a rarity in Europe.

In the framework of the project “Skills for the Future” four institutions: from Portugal (Gestão Total e Inovação Empresarial - GTIE Consultores S.A.), Italy (E.Ri.Fo.), Turkey (AHİ EVRAN ÜNİVERSİTESİ) and Poland (Instytut Badań nad Demokracją i Przedsiębiorstwem Prywatnym) will work on such a model of university learning programs, which will not only fit the job market needs but also will reflect the real employers’ needs.

The project will support the cooperation between the university education institutions and businesses by employing the best cooperation practices as well as designing and implementing the appropriate strategies for this cooperation.

The research among entrepreneurs – what do you expect from university education?

Soon we will begin a research among entrepreneurs regarding their expectations towards university education. Through the research we will describe not only basic entrepreneurs’ expectations from the university education system but also we will indicate essential activities which will help to satisfy these needs. The research will also help to show which skills are most needed by the entrepreneurs and which their potential workers should have. If you are interested in taking part in the research please contact Ms Ariadna Bednarz, tel. 0048 22 630 98 35, e-mail: iped@kig.pl.

The Contest

Following element of the project will be an announcement of a contest entitled: “Test for the Best. European Skills Achievement Contest” for universities regarding their programs’ adjustment to business needs. The contest will be conducted in four partner countries considering the graduates and last years’ students. Thanks to the contest not only identification of entrepreneurs needs but also support for these institutions which will meet the expectations of business environment in the best way will be possible.

Business needs science and science needs new solutions!

Better cooperation between university education institutions and entrepreneurs needs an appropriate strategy which will support new ideas of management and will form an education offer. The strategy will consider the choice of the best practices in Europe and in the World, establishing frameworks for an efficient cooperation of business and science as well as designing and using software packages supporting cooperation management.

Whether in economy or in education process more and more frequently modern information-communication technologies are used. It is crucial to use these modern technologies in cooperation of business with science as well. Definitely such a solution will facilitate and thus encourage cooperation. It will cause a situation where businesses easily get an effective impact on the learning programs and thus the university education will generate the workers which they mostly need.

Therefore the team of Institute for Private Enterprise and Democracy together with the partners will prepare the software package – a tool kit supporting the strategic planning. It will significantly determine the facilitation of cooperation between business and universities. Management and monitoring of this system will take place in cooperation with universities as well as businesses. This innovative support system will allow for more efficient, faster and measurable management of cooperation process. The software will be implemented in selected universities, available for free in the Internet and disseminated over European education institutions.

For the detailed information about the project please contact the office of the Polish partner - Institute for Private Enterprise and Democracy, Ms Paulina Bednarz, tel. 0048 22 630 98 04, e-mail: iped@kig.pl

The „Skills for the Future“ Project has been funded with support from the European Commission within the Lifelong Learning Programme. This publication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.