Global Corporate Leaders and Educators Address The Skills Gap
Posted on: 23 April 2015
Global leaders in education, corporate, and philanthropy sectors from the United States, Ireland, UK , and Finland gathered in Essex, New York this week to discuss the growing skills gap and the action steps needed to reverse the trend. The summit was organised by a US organisation, College For Every Student in conjunction with Trinity Access Programmes in Ireland.
According to McKinsey’s The World at Work report, The United States will be unable to fill an estimated 23 million high-paying jobs in the next decade due to a shortage of citizens with the appropriate postsecondary skills and training.
“Over this time, more than 20 million low-income American youth will be out of work or underemployed, not because they lack potential, but because they don’t have college degrees or appropriate skills and training,” said Rick Dalton, President and CEO of College For Every Student. “That’s why we need to support these students now to bolster our economy. We need to teach them the essential skills – such as leadership, grit, teamwork – skills that have proven to result in educational uplift, ensuring college and career success.”
The United States is not alone. Other nations face a similar crisis. In the Eurozone, an escalating number of high-paying jobs can’t be filled despite the fact that 24% of the citizens under the age 30 are either unemployed or underemployed.
Cliona Hannon, Director of the Trinity Access Programmes at Trinity College Dublin said, “In the interests of economic recovery, fairness and equity, employers, educational institutions and other key stakeholders need to work together to identify and address skills mismatches and gaps. We need to ensure young people have skills relevant to the New Economy and that once in employment, they are supported to up-skill so that they remain workforce-relevant. This will build their capacity to make a valuable contribution throughout their lifetimes to our economy and society.”
Long-term supporter of the Trinity Access Programmes, Patrick Burke, of Grant Thornton, commented “The structural inequitable access to education of the twentieth century has created a lose-lose bargain for the individual and society. Much like the early pioneering sailors who were surrounded by water but had nothing to drink, we are now surrounded by billions of people but haven't enough people. Access to education in the 21st century is the equivalent challenge for society and institutions as access to power and clean water has been over the last 150 years.”
Following The Skills Gap Summit, CFES and Trinity College Dublin will produce a solutions-driven white paper on strategic steps needed to close the skills gap, including strategies for getting low-income youth on a post-secondary track to workforce readiness, while increasing awareness and investment among key corporate and education leaders, and policy makers.
Speakers at the Forum included George Pataki, former three-term Governor of New York State Pasi Sahlberg, Finnish educator, author, professor at Harvard Graduate School of Education Kelli Wells, Executive Director for Education & Skills, GE Foundation,David Attis, Senior Director of Academic Research, Education Advisory Board and Dean Garfield, President & CEO, Information Technology Industry Council.
About College For Every Student (CFES) is a nonprofit organisation committed to raising the academic aspirations and performance of underserved youth so that they can gain access to and succeed in college. Over the last 22 years, CFES has helped more than 50,000 low-income students get on the path to college. CFES currently serves 20,000 students in 200 schools across 24 states and Ireland. (www.collegefes.org)