As statistics show, concerted action is needed as digital illiteracy and the digital divide persist: 7% of the EU population has no computer skills whatsoever and more than 60% of people, not educated beyond lower secondary level, have no basic e-skills (Eurostat study: Individuals who have never used the Internet).
The European Commission’s Communication on eSkills emphasises “an important need to address ICT-related skills (e-skills) issues in order to respond to the growing demand for highly-skilled ICT practitioners and users, meet the fast-changing requirements of industry, and ensure that every citizen is digitally literate in a lifelong learning context requiring the mobilisation of all stakeholders”.

Thus, DIGITALEUROPE and European Schoolnet launched the eSkills Week 2010, funded by the European Commission’s DG Enterprise and Industry. The culmination of the campaign will be the European eSkills Week taking place on 2-5 March 2010. The aim is to raise awareness of e-Skills issues, identified through research activities in the field:

• Safe and secure use of the Internet and related technologies is a priority of DG Information Society and its Insafe network of national e-safety awareness nodes (coordinated by European Schoolnet). This awareness strategy although, focuses mainly on basic skills, risks and illegal content rather than on e-Skills in a wider perspective including careers and higher level technology skills.
  
• Young people with sufficient maths, science and technology skills and qualifications at secondary level are not going into tertiary IT education. Even those students who don’t perceive ICT as difficult are dissuaded by teachers and parents, particularly girls.
  
• In addition, ICT practitioners and professionals progress along a “leaky pipeline” with some groups dropping out of the profession despite taking tertiary studies in the field. This is related to lack of information for ICT practitioners on career progression as well as issues of work-life balance or stereotypes encountered by minority groups such as women.
  
• ICT professionals themselves lack certain skills, namely a shortage in 2008,
  across Europe, of up to half a million people with advanced networking technology skills and particularly in ICT strategy, security and new business solutions.
  
• On a systemic level, there are only fragmented activities to address the problem and parallel universes between formal education and industry-based training, with a lack of long term, clear coordination between the two to address problems, despite EU-level reports recommending large-scale multi-stakeholder approaches. In particular it is recommended that these challenges can only be effectively addressed by a real mobilisation of Member States and industry.
  

“Today, e-skills and computer literacy are a competitive advantage on the job market”, said Bridget Cosgrave, Director General of DIGITALEUROPE. “The technologies are developing very fast and it is essential to help SMEs and entrepreneurs to keep up with the technology development to remain competitive."

“Fewer and fewer young people decide to study technology at tertiary level in Europe, and the European e-Skills Week campaign will help to change this situation, by helping students to get realistic views of IT studies and careers, meet inspiring role models and get their hands on inspiring technology”, said Marc Durando, Executive Director of European Schoolnet.

The European e-Skills week is expected to bring 300,000 participants in more than 100 activities. The events will take place across Europe with more than 20 participating countries. Public authorities, ICT companies as well as schools and students are working together to organise a range of events, training sessions, school visits, competitions and more, to underline the importance of ICT skills in today's society, and to demonstrate the wide range of job opportunities in the field. The campaign ultimately aims to increase ICT skills among professionals and to encourage more young people to take up ICT studies and careers.

Pan-European events take place between November 2009 and March 2010. Organisations and companies interested in joining the e-Skills Week can already
register as e-Skills Week stakeholders.

For contact and media information please see the press release.

For further references please see:

-European Commission Enterprise and Industry website: e-Skills for the 21st Century

-EUN White Paper: "Woman and ICT - Why are girls still not attracted to ICT studies and careers?" by A. Gras-Velazquez, A. Joyce & M. Debry, June 2009 (pdf)

-Special Insight Report: "Women in IT. The European situation and the role of public-private partnerships in promoting greater participation of young women in technology” by M. Durando, P. Wastiau and A. Joyce (pdf)

- DIGITALEUROPE