The European Commission called for the higher education sector to have greater interaction with the wider economy, proposing new initiatives to encourage this, including the development of European Industrial Doctorates and the creation of partnerships between universities and companies to design courses, in its plan for reforming the sector published on Tuesday (20 September).
The strategy, “Supporting growth and jobs – an agenda for the modernisation of Europe's higher education systems,” says reaching the EU’s target of investing 3 per cent of GDP in research is not just about putting more money into R&D, it will also need bodies with the skills to fill an estimated one million new research jobs.
Currently, the EU lags behind in the share of researchers in the total labour force at six per 100, compared to nine in the US and eleven in Japan. And while 35 per cent of all jobs in the EU will require high-level qualifications by 2020, only 26 per cent of the workforce currently has a higher education qualification.
To read the full, original article click on this link: Science|Business - The media network for research, industry and policy
Author: Anna Jenkinson
