2nd European University – Business Forum
Brussels, 5 february 2009

Dear Minister Liska,
Distinguished professors,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

Good morning to everybody in the GASP room, dedicated to the memory of
Alcide de Gasperi; we are inspired by him, who was able to see the people and
spirit beyond steel and coal. Spirit is commitment. It is a great pleasure for me to
welcome you here in Brussels for the second European University–Business
Forum. This partnership is growing, I am happy to see so many of you. For me
this is the clearest sign of the interest our Forum continues to generate.

It is almost one year since we first met to discuss about university–business
cooperation. There are many reasons to be together. In the meantime, the
context has changed beyond recognition: seminars, the EIT, business summits
and meetings. There are sea changes in this field.

From the economy point of view, the latest Commission forecasts show that
growth dropped to about 1% in 2008 in both the EU and the euro area—down
from just below 3% in 2007. In 2009, real GDP is expected to fall by almost 2%
and there are very timid signs of recovery.

The employment and social consequences of the crisis are already visible across
the EU. Employment is expected to fall by 3.5 million jobs this year and the
unemployment rate will increase to over 8.75% in the EU and 9.25% in the euro
area, with a further increase in 2010.

It will be more difficult for young people to find a first job and we can see
clear signs of discontent among the people.
The current downturn brings two big temptations:
First, governments may be tempted to reduce spending for education or
research
and use the savings for their recovery plans;
Second, public and private actors alike may be tempted to retrench behind
national or sectoral boundaries and seek solutions by and for themselves.

I want to be very blunt here: these would be big mistakes.
Cutting investment on education or research would destroy capital and
knowledge and would compromise Europe’s growth and employment prospects
in the medium and longer term.

I can only hope Member States will follow the message in the Commission’s
recovery package of last December. Education, innovation and research play a
crucial role for Europe, in particular in these difficult times.

In fact, this is the time to invest more—not less—in education, research and
innovation. If we invest more, we can come more quickly out of the crisis.
As to going it alone, it is wrong because our unity and solidarity are precious
precisely in these difficult times. Working in partnership is more important than
ever.

Harnessing Member States’ and Community action will add up to a powerful
lever for change. It will allow us to shape our global response to this global
crisis.

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Ladies and Gentlemen,
Long before this crisis started we have known that Europe could not compete
on cost.

Only a well educated and well trained work–force will allow Europe to stay
competitive, create jobs, keep its prosperity and maintain its influence on the
world scene to give globalisation a human face.

This is true today, but will be the case even more in the future.
Let me give you some highlights from an analysis carried out by the European
Centre for the Development of Vocational Training (Cedefop). In the comings
years:

• Qualification requirements across most jobs will increase dramatically;
  Most additional jobs will be created at the highest qualification level;
  Our labour markets will have to cope with structural change. This means that
  our workforce will have to retrain to meet the new requirements.

Our New Skills for New Jobs initiative calls for upgrading the skills of the
population and better skills development policies. We need to better match skills
to address the impact of the crisis and long–term job prospects.
We need to come together—Member States, employers, social partners and
other stakeholders—to carry out a comprehensive assessment of future skills and
labour market needs. I am very happy that we started this political initiative with
a 2020 horizon and we will update it every year.

Here are the priorities we at the Commission propose:

Lifelong learning and learner mobility. As I said here last year, without
lifeling learning there will be less and less lifelong earning.

These are two key areas of cooperation in education and training, which have
proved their worth at national and European level in the past. At the Education
Council in November I was happy to get conclusions in favour of much more
mobility, to improve young people’s perspectives.

Improving the quality and efficiency of education and training.

Education and training systems can be both efficient and equitable. Everyone
should possess the key competences needed to succeed in the knowledge age.

Promoting equity and active citizenship.

We also have to make sure that no talent is wasted; that everyone in Europe has
access to the educational environment that best suits his or her abilities.
Promoting innovation and creativity, including entrepreneurship, at all levels
of education and training.

This is one of the reasons why we declared 2009 the European Year of
Creativity and Innovation. Innovation is number one in the Decalogue of the
Lisbon agenda.
Educational institutions and systems must do their best to give pupils and
students the means to develop their creative skills. It is interesting to know that
students’ enrolment rates went up in several EU countries since the crisis started.
I am aware that creativity is frequently associated with talent, spontaneity and
serendipity; that is, factors that cannot be influenced or determined but
ultimately are left to chance.
But although luck does play a role, creativity in education may be enhanced by
the right environment as well as cultural factors.
Above all, we must prevent that creativity is stifled in our schools, universities
and at the workplace—which is all too often the case.

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The final priority I will mention is also the most general one:

We need to keep modernising Europe’s universities.

We will have a great
opportunity, later this year, to take stock of the progress made in the
framework of the Bologna Process. Europe is now much more attractive that
10 years ago, and we can make even more progress.
European universities have a large untapped potential, especially in their ability
to establish links with the business community.

We cannot afford to have the worlds of education and business not speaking to
each other. Also, it is not in the best interest of either universities or companies.
Universities have to monitor what’s going on in the labour market, what skills
are needed, which new profiles are to be developed.

Employers report that many graduates do not have the right mix of knowledge
and skills for them. In particular, they ask for more cross–cutting and
transferable skills—so, this is a suggestion for academia.

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Ladies and Gentlemen:

These are the main reasons why we launched this Forum last year; and I’m
happy to note that it has lived up to its name.
Like the Roman forum—the meeting place for commerce and for political
discussion alike—our own forum has already proved to be the place for open
dialogue and exchange.
Almost regardless of the specific nature of the exchanges, what academia and
business need today is more and better cooperation.
I can see two communities that need to get to know each other much better and
build mutual trust. Thus everyone will realise that much present resistance was
due to prejudice and scant information.

When this environment of trust is in place, business representatives will
naturally be involved in curriculum development—for instance—to bring them
closer to the needs of the labour market.
And because this will happen from within universities, there is no doubt that the
interests of the students will prevail. More relevant curricula will prepare
students better for employment.
There can me more common projects and mobility with business, and this will
help students, researchers and professors become more enterprising.
And there is a great deal that universities can contribute to companies. For
instance, they can stimulate work in interdisciplinary teams, in which they excel.
Cooperation with companies can contribute to the development of universities as
actors of lifelong learning. Lifelong learning is not an invitation limited to
academia. Companies can identify their needs and communicate them to the
universities which will then adapt their strategies.
Here the tricky part is finding the right balance between traditional academic
values and the new demands.

However, I know that companies turn to universities not because they can
externalise training and research on the cheap, but because they are seeking
precisely those values: intellectual honesty, independence, the relentless pursuit
of excellence.

This is not wishful thinking. I can give you several examples to show that the
cooperation between universities and companies actually works.
For instance, some universities have set up specific boards to develop or change
curricula. Business representatives sit on these boards and make sure that
courses are relevant to the labour market.
Other examples are in lifelong learning.

Certain universities provide the possibility to people in employment to follow
“normal” BA or Masters’ courses, others are setting up specific structures to
widen access to their resources and services.
Other universities have mechanisms for the validation of non–formal and
informal learning.
A number of companies, in particular large multi–nationals, take the mobility of
students, researchers and professors very seriously.
Students can join internship programmes and often devote their Master or PhD
research to ideas they picked up in the companies.
These are very encouraging stories; I hope they become models and stories like
these become common practice in the near future.

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Ladies and Gentlemen,
Closer cooperation between universities and business is a cornerstone in the
modernisation higher education in Europe. We have made progress, but a lot
remains to be done.
The meetings we organised last year have demonstrated their value: the
exchanges have been useful and the debates open and constructive. We have
learned a lot and European policies will benefit from the experience. I can tell
you from my experience how much education moved to the front, not only in the
Commission but also in the European Parliament and in the Council.
Today and tomorrow are particularly important. I expect a lot from this Forum.
On the one hand, will take stock of what we have learnt over the past year. From
the presentations, discussions and debates we will draw a number of conclusions
that will feed into a Communication that we are preparing.

On the other hand, we will decide together how to organise the work of the
forum in the future.
What topics shall we address? How can we improve our dialogue? How can we
disseminate what we do here at the forum to the broader audiences?
And above all, how can we support the reforms undertaken by the different
stakeholders?
I know that many interesting and successful initiatives exist in the Member
States and in many regions, and that we all will live a valuable learning
experience.
I wish you creative and innovative years to come.

Thank you.