The Portuguese Minister of Education, Tiago Brandão Rodrigues, indicated on Friday 22 January that “€500 million” from the national recovery plan as part of the Next Generation EU Recovery Plan would be dedicated to the digitalisation of the education system (see EUROPE 12631/2).
Among the investments envisaged, Brandão Rodrigues mentioned the creation of digital infrastructures, such as very high-speed Internet, as well as the “continuous training” of educational personnel, in response to a question from EUROPE at the end of the Informal Meeting of European Education Ministers.
His counterpart in Science and Technology, Manuel Heitor, added that investments will also make it possible to improve digital skills in companies and to increase the number of students in science, engineering, arts and mathematics (STEAM) courses, particularly through the construction of student housing. He also stressed the importance of creating “synergies” between the financial windfall from Next Generation EU and other EU financial instruments such as the Horizon Europe and Digital Europe programmes.
The European Commissioner for Employment and Social Rights, Nicolas Schmit, considered that the Portuguese recovery plan is going “in the right direction”. National plans must devote 20% of their respective overall budgets to digital transformation, he noted. In his view, the investments to be made should not be limited to machinery or technology, but “first and foremost to the workers”, who will need to acquire sufficient skills to use these machines or technologies.
“44% of the working population in the EU lacks basic digital skills, while 90% of jobs require such skills”, the commissioner said.
It also underlines the importance of the ‘European Pact for Skills’ launched in November 2020 (see EUROPE 12518/1). (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)