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Building and Preserving e-skills
Knowledge Economy Conference
Sofia, 19-20 May 2004
Elissaveta GourovaSofia University ‘St. Kliment Ohridski’ - CIST
Main topics
• The e-skills issueFor the EU and the ‘New entrants’
• Building e-skillsMedium- and Longer-term prospective
• Preserving e-skillsThe problems of ageing and mobility
E-Skills in European Policy Agenda
• Rapid technological changes world-wide• Focus in the Lisbon process on new basic skills:
IT skills
Foreign languages
Technological culture
e-skills vital in implementing the vision for e-Europe
Entrepreneurship
Social Skills
ICT managers / leaders
ICT professionalsICT applied skillsICT users
E-skills in EU New Members: challenges of eEurope+ Action Plan
Building e-skills
Which are the prospects for middle- and longer-
term supply of ICT professionals?higher education
vocational education and training
ICT, mathematics and science in early education
Medium-term prospects: e-graduates
Hungarian case: Focus on interdisciplinary studies?
Students enrolled in ICT related subjects in Hungary
0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 3500 4000 4500 5000
Mathematics
Applied Mathematics
Informatics
Computertechnics
Technological and EconomicInformatics
Information-librarian
Computer and MathematicalProgramming
Telecommunication
Microelectronics
Control and System Engineering
1993/4 1995/6 1997/8 1999/0
Source: STAR Consortium
Vocational education and training: Polish and Estonian cases
Students in selected fields of VET as % of total
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
Secondary Post-secondary Secondary Post-secondary
Computing
EngineeringandengineeringtradesManufacturingandprocessing
Business andadministration
Estonia Poland
Source: ETF; Statistical Institute of Poland
11%
33%
Longer-term focus on early education
• ICT education - a global necessityComputerization of schools
Educational content and teachers needs
• Mathematics and science in schoolsGood results at wide international testsCompetitions in mathematics and informatics - a
tool for building excellence?
Ageing - still a bottleneck?
• National studies suggest that policy attention to attract young researchers has given results:Estonia: increase of doctoral degree holders, but too
slow to meet future demandsHungary: increase of PhD students: 44% of
engineering PhD students aim at university carrier (20% - industrial research)
Poland: increase of PhD degrees awarded during the period 1990-2000,but less increase in technical sciences than in medical or agricultural
The highly-skilled mobility problem
US immigrants w ith professional specialty and technical occupation
0
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
1400
1600
Denm
ark
Finlan
d
Franc
e
Ger
man
y
Gre
ece
Irelan
dIta
ly
Portu
gal
Spain
Unite
d Kin
gdom
Bulga
ria
Czech
Rep
ublic
Cypru
s
Eston
ia
Hunga
ry
Latv
ia
Lith
uani
aM
alta
Polan
d
Roman
ia
Slova
k Rep
ublic
Slove
nia
Turke
y
1998 1999 2000
Source: US immigration databases
Highly-skilled mobility impactsSENDING COUNTRIES: POSSIBLE POSITIVE EFFECTSScience and technology Knowledge flows and collaboration, return of natives with
foreign education and human capital, increased ties toforeign research institutions
Export opportunities for technology Remittances and venture capital from diaspora networks Successful overseas entrepreneurs bring valuable
management experience and access to global networksHuman capital effects Increased incentive for natives to seek higher skills Possibility of exporting skills reduces risk/raises expected
return from personal education investments May increase domestic economic return to skills
RECEIVING COUNTRIES: POSSIBLE POSITIVE EFFECTSScience and technology Increased R&D and economic activity due to availability of
additional highly skilled workers Entrepreneurship in high growth areas Knowledge flows and collaboration with sending countries Immigrants can foster diversity and creativity Export opportunities for technologyHigher education systems Increased enrolment in graduate programmes/ keeping smaller
programmes alive Offset ageing of university professors and researchersLabour market Wage moderation in high growth sectors with labour shortages Immigrant entrepreneurs foster firm and job creation Immigrants can act as magnets for accessing other immigrant
labour (network hiring effects)SENDING COUNTRIES: POSSIBLE NEGATIVE EFFECTSHuman capital effects “Brain drain” and lost productive capacity due to (at least
temporary) absence of higher skilled workers and students Lower returns from public investment in tertiary education
(waste of national public resources)
RECEIVING COUNTRIES: POSSIBLE NEGATIVE EFFECTSHigher education systems Decreased incentive of natives to seek higher skills in certain fields,
may crowd out native students from best schoolsScience and technology Technology transfers to foreign competitors and possible hostile
countriesPOSSIBLE GLOBAL EFFECTS Better international flows of knowledge, formation of international research/technology clusters (Silicon Valley, CERN). Better job matches, including: greater employment options for workers, researcher’s ability to seek the work most interesting to them
and greater ability of employers to find rare/unique skill sets. International competition for scarce human capital may have net positive effect on incentives for individual human capital investments.
Source: OECD (2002)
E-skills as a factor for success?
• How to make use of available skills and
traditions?
• Are NEs able to play a role as ICT producers?
• Is there a role for NEs as suppliers of highly-
skilled professionals? Who is paying the bill?
• How to turn mobility into advantage?
