The Educational Intelligent Economy – Lifelong Learning – A vision for the future

Almost every detail of our lives, where we go, what we do, and with whom is captured as digital data. Technological advancements in cloud computing, artificial intelligence, and data analytics offer the education sector new ways not only to improve policy and processes but also to personalize learning and teaching practice. However, these changes raise fundamental questions around who owns the data, how it might be used, and the consequences of use. The application of Big Data in education can be directed toward a wide range of stakeholders, such as educators, students, policy-makers, institutions, or researchers. It may also have different objectives, such as monitoring, student support, prediction, assessment, feedback, and personalization. This chapter presents the nuances and recent research trends spurred by technological advancements that ave influenced the education sector and highlights the need to look beyond the technical boundaries using a socio-semiotic lens. With the explosion of available information and digital technologies pervading cultural, social, political as well as economic spaces, being a lifelong learner is pivotal for success. However, technology on its own is not sufficient to drive this change. For technology to be successful, it should complement individual learning cultures and education systems. This chapter is broadly divided into two main sections. In the first section, we contemplate a vision for the future, which is deemed possible based on ongoing digital and computing advancements. The second section elaborates the technological, pedagogical, cultural, and political requirements to attain that vision

Eastern partnership migrants in Germany: outcomes, potentials and challenges

Despite the ongoing dialogue on facilitating mobility between the European Union and the Eastern Partnership (EaP) countries, very little is known about the magnitude and characteristics of migration from these countries. We find that EaP migrants experience worse labor market outcomes than other migrant groups, but current and potential migrants hold qualifications in those areas were skill shortages are expected. Therefore, the monitoring and supervision of EaP integration will be consequential in order to understand how much of the current brain waste is driven by poor assessment of foreign qualifications, and to unleash the potential of migration for the German economy

The rise and change of the competence strategy: reflections on twenty-five years of skills policies in the EU

The principal aim of this article is to provide a historical overview of 25 years of competence policy in the European Union, highlighting connections between past and current initiatives and outlining possible scenarios for the decade to come. The article presents the social investment turn in social policy as the critical political background against which the emergence of a competence strategy in European Union education policy should be analysed and understood. The competence strategy, it is argued, finds its roots in a renewed attention at the European Union level for harmonising educational outputs and labour market demands. While trying to produce a schematic history of the emergence and change of the competence strategy, the article does not seek to offer strict definitions of competence itself; instead, it conveys the nebulous and context-dependent nature of the concept

Discretional policies and transparency of qualifications: changing Europe without money and without States?

The paper aims to contribute to the European education policy literature through an analysis of what I refer to as ‘discretional policies’, which are now instrumentally used by the EU but that have so far been largely overlooked by this literature, and to the literature on transparency of qualifications. The paper argues, first, that the education policy literature—as other policy literatures—has overlooked individual ‘discretional policies’, to which greater attention should now be paid as they are employed by EU institutions to bypass Member States in particularly difficult policy areas and to try to address their often alleged detachment from citizens. Second, the paper looks at the crucial aspect of the effectiveness of discretionary policies and their consequences for individuals and Member States, with reference to a case study of the Europass framework in education and training

The role of innovation and agglomeration for employment growth in the environmental sector

The environmental sector is supposed to yield a dual benefit: its goods and services are intended to help to tackle environmental challenges and its establishments should create new jobs. However, it is still unclear in empirical terms whether that really is the case. This paper investigates whether employment growth in 'green' establishments with 'green' products and services is higher compared to other establishments. Furthermore, the main factors determining labor demand in this field are analyzed. We use linked employment and regional data for Germany. The descriptive results show that the environmental sector is characterized by disproportionately high employment growth. The application of both a generalized linear mixed model and an instrumental variables regression reveals that especially innovation and industry agglomeration foster employment growth in establishments in the environmental sector. Establishments without green products and services show a smaller increase in employment, even if they are also innovative.Der Umweltschutzsektor verspricht einen doppelten Nutzen: seine Güter und Dienstleistungen sollen dazu beitragen, die ökologischen Herausforderungen zu bewältigen und gleichzeitig sollen dadurch neue Arbeitsplätze geschaffen werden. Ob dies wirklich der Fall ist, ist bislang jedoch nicht nachgewiesen. In unserem Artikel untersuchen wir zum einen, ob das Beschäftigungswachstum in "grünen" Betrieben tatsächlich höher ist als in anderen Betrieben. Zum anderen analysieren wir die Determinanten der Arbeitskräftenachfrage im Umweltschutzsektor. Wir verwenden verknüpfte Beschäftigten- und Regionaldaten für Deutschland. Unsere deskriptiven Ergebnisse zeigen, dass der Umweltschutzsektor durch ein überproportionales Beschäftigungswachstum gekennzeichnet ist. Unsere ökonometrische Analyse auf der Basis eines verallgemeinerten linearen gemischten Modells und einer Instrumentenschätzung zeigt, dass insbesondere Innovationen und Agglomerationseffekte das Beschäftigungswachstum in Umweltschutzbetrieben fördern. Betriebe ohne Umweltprodukte oder -dienstleistungen weisen dagegen ein geringeres Beschäftigungswachstum auf, selbst wenn es sich um innovative Betriebe handelt