Blog

Getting Europe’s youth into STEM

Minna Melleri, Chief of Advocacy and Growth

Policy-makers have for decades set out goals to get more young people, and especially girls, to choose STEM education and STEM-related careers. A series of policy recommendations and objectives have been drafted and implemented to bridge the gap between the labour market’s needs and the numbers of STEM graduates entering the job market.

Boosting digital health and innovation through entrepreneurial hubs

Salvatore Nigro, CEO JA Europe & Milena Stoycheva, CEO JA Bulgaria

The COVID-19 crisis has demonstrated that it is not possible to have a successful #ECONOMY without good #HEALTHCARE. This is a wake-up call we all need to heed – it cannot be business as usual when the pandemic is over. In order to protect our people and economies against future public health threats it is crucial to improve the long-term #SUSTAINABILITY of our health systems. According to Mary Harney, we must promote #INNOVATION, and ensure that data and evidence are the basis of decision-making, to future proof our health systems and ensure their long-term sustainability.¹

Proud to promote vocational education as first choice

Caroline Jenner, CEO JA Europe

There are few people who have done as much to raise the profile of Vocational Education and Training (VET) as Marianne Thyssen, outgoing EU Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs, Skills and Labour Mobility. It was she who in 2014 launched the idea of a European Vocational Skills Week to heighten awareness of the value of VET and stimulate collaboration between stakeholders. Her mantra in speech after speech was that VET should not only be an equal choice, but a first choice. She is right.

Entrepreneurship education can help to deliver a stronger Europe

Diana Filip, Deputy CEO I VP for Marketing and Development, JA Europe

What young people expect from the EU
Tomorrow, on Europe Day, EU Heads of State will renew their commitment to an EU that delivers on the issues that really matter to its citizens. The EU and its Member States are facing challenging times with rising social unrest, paired with weak economic performances. Leaders will need to prioritise to make change happen quickly, visibly and sustainably.

I'm coming back to school as an Ambassador of the JA project

Martina Dlabajova, Member of European Parliament, Czech Republic

"Education is not the learning of facts, but the training of minds to think." -Albert Einstein

I must confess that I like my job at the European Parliament, although there are days when I would like to exchange my parliamentary bench with a school bench. Who doesn't like remembering those carefree school years?  However, we should be careful what we wish for because sometimes it might come true. That's how I ended up back at secondary school - even if from a slightly different position.