1.2 STEM careers in the job market by EUN Partnership aisbl

I am not sure there is a lack of STEM skills in Europe (see the second article), but I am quite sure that in Italy there is such a lack of skills. We have to look for the reasons of that in many differetn socila contexts. Young people are not interested in scientific disciplines (are they too much difficult?) and people do not know how scientific studies are important in finding a job and for the development of our society and wellness.

enrico_pietropoli — 2017-04-03 11:07:57 UTC

Anita, Croatia

anita_simac — 2017-04-03 11:45:56 UTC

In general, children need to be motivated more towards STEM subjects. Technology interests them but they find it hard to understand why mathematics is so important for the future. They believe science in general is too hard and requires too much effort. I believe there is a shortage of STEM skills in Europe.

Despoina Amarantidou, Greece

2017-04-03 11:49:11 UTC

STEM is a rather ambiguous curriculum. Technology and science may be appealing to students but mathematics and engineering are more demanding and difficult areas.

Ezgi Ulutan,Turkey

2017-04-03 12:00:23 UTC

The main reason for lacking of STEM skills in my country is curriculum more focusing on the academic achievement. Pupils do not encourage to produce. We should prepare them to business life and pupils should be aware that what they learn in school is necessary for real life.

Şefika Girgin, Turkey

2017-04-03 12:01:32 UTC

I don't know the Europe, but in Turkey, there is an interest to educate students to have STEM knowledge and skills. But, It is argued at what level is enough, because there is a need for professional development. That is, more importance should be given that in what way teachers are effective to help learners accessing these skills.

Grindeanu Ramona, Romania

2017-04-03 12:24:28 UTC

I think that there is a STEM skills gap because of the poor collaboration between school system and labor market and organizations

Maria Boukorou, Gree

kmbouk — 2017-04-03 12:27:15 UTC

"Education and training are not a panacea for dealing with the skill shortage plaguing Britain and other European countries, since certain occupations suffer from being unpopular rather than a lack of skills", according to the European Union.
But, certainly the shift of interest to the wider academic knowledge deprives students a specialized training so that special knowledge needed are absent in our time, a time of multiple challenges and requirements.

Aušra, Lithuania

2017-04-03 12:27:28 UTC

In Lithuania STEM education is taking its first steps. It all starts with education. If we prepare good professionals, then is not shortage. Of course, it is important to reward earnings. But here begins with politics and economics.

ANTONELLA ANGELOZZI, Italy:

2017-04-03 12:50:12 UTC

I think that, at least in Italy, the problem is due to the fact that most of the students do not like science, consequently not in the future will study and therefore we will have fewer and fewer STEM workers.
The main problem concerns probably the wrong method of teaching, perhaps too much theory and little practice.

Vittorio-italy

vittorio_daquino — 2017-04-03 12:51:20 UTC

Students often perceive scienze as something very very challenging. As a result the number or youths enrolling in scientific studies at university is too low if compared to the numbers of other subjects. School education is crucial if we want to modify this trend.

Elisa-Italy

2017-04-03 12:58:59 UTC

In Italy we have a lack of STEM skills due to the wrong policies of our governments above all. They didn't promote a positive image of Science nor invest in log term projects wich raised awareness of the importance of scientific studies. Our bests scientists are around the world and have no intentions to come back. Another point is that scientific subjects are difficult and hard working. And a lot of tachers don't promote this kind of studies at all.

IvanaN, Croatia

nenadic_ivana007 — 2017-04-03 13:00:39 UTC

I believe that there is not such a big lack of STEM skills as it is presented, but I agree that it appears in areas where the job payment is not adequate for the skills the employer is looking for. It is very often that highly educated and skilled emigrate in search for better payment and life possibilities.
The other thing that causes this gap is the inability of education systems to adapt in the same speed as the job market evolves.

Marianthi Arvanitidou-Greece

2017-04-03 13:43:35 UTC

Ivana, Catania

2017-04-03 14:01:44 UTC

I think that there is a little lack of Stem skills in Europe, in particular in Italy, because the method of teaching is too much theory and little practice. I think also that our governments don't help young graduate, with higly educated and skilled, to remain in their country, conseguently many people emigrate in other countries for better opportunity of works and payment.

Fabiana, Italy

fabiana2 — 2017-04-03 14:07:23 UTC

I think there is a lack of STEM in Italy, becouse the method are teaching is more theoretical than practical.

There is mismatch between supply and demand

Luisa,ITaly

rluisa392 — 2017-04-03 14:11:33 UTC

STEM EDUCATION is for new generation a opportunity of work and is very important to leads the youngs to activities low science,tecnology,math.

Ivan, Italy

perlanio — 2017-04-03 14:17:14 UTC

The teaching method of science in Italy is too much theory in spite of workshop activities that would facilitate a meaningful learning, which is why I support the practical activities.

Vasiliki Psaridou/Greece

psaridou — 2017-04-03 14:30:45 UTC

I can only speak of my country. In Greece there a large amount of scientists. Doctors, engineers, mathematics and others are too many. The problem is that the amount is too high to be absorbed within the country. At the '80 or '90 or even '00 (before the crisis) not many of those scientists would have thought to leave the country and work abroad. Since the crisis not many of them think to stay in the country because of the lack of jobs.

Luisa,Italy

rluisa392 — 2017-04-03 14:30:56 UTC

In the UE many employers have difficulties finding job candidates with right skills

Andrea, Italy

Profsella — 2017-04-03 14:50:13 UTC

The teaching methods in Italy are geared to produce knowledge rather than competence; students are not passionate and STEM subjects are perceived as challenging. After completing his studies skills gained are often few and inadequate

Monica Boccoli, Italy

mobocco — 2017-04-03 14:59:38 UTC

I think that we need of more workshops than educational speeches.

2017-04-03 15:11:03 UTC

Maria Pia Settanni, Italy - I have the impression that Italian School System is making the first steps towards scientific education just now. Italians are still linked to an ancient culture of traditions and vain words. Italy should be more courageous and change radically school programs giving more time, space and equipment for scientific education.

James, Ireland

jthompsonscr — 2017-04-03 15:18:16 UTC

In Ireland we seem to have plenty of students picking STEM subjects in Third Level education. However there is a big gender gap to be overcome. Also, there is the high dropout rates in first year of college. Perhaps many of are students are not exposed to enough career development at second level. This would give them a better guide and to a more informed choice. This can be linked in with a promotion of stem courses.
From the data in the article, Ireland has a relatively low problem with hiring Stem workers. If anything, we have the opposite problem where many of our skilled graduates are emigrating to find work elsewhere.
On a positive note, I think the link between employers and colleges helps to make STEM careers more attractive. My own University had a huge emphasis on work placement as part of the course. Two whole semesters would be spent in industry. This makes the employment at the other end much higher.

Fulvia, Italy

2017-04-03 15:20:51 UTC

The lack of STEM in Italy, from my point of view, is due to wrong policies of our governament and a wrong teachers approach to the scientific disciplines caused by the classroom-taught lessons. As a teacher I think we have to change our methods and increase the inquiry based learning to keep alive the students curiosity, their interest and broaden their minds. Meanwhile the governament should invest in ressearch, provide incentives to the employers and give more opportunities to the young graduates.

Mara, Italy.

mara_mosca77 — 2017-04-03 15:21:12 UTC

Less students choose STEM qualifications because it's not easy to access to their courses. Also they don't seem to see immediate job opportunities after many years of studies or they are forced to move to other countries.

Francesca Barile

francesca_barile50 — 2017-04-03 15:31:07 UTC

We can see in Italy a lot of differences between North and South, about this field. We invest a little money in trying to better our school and prepare our students. Unfortunately technology is going on so fast, and school is always slow in making changes, with the result that students are far from their real needs in finding their jobs! The world of work doesn't wait for us.

Ger, Ireland

2017-04-03 15:35:11 UTC

From the first article it appears that Ireland is addressing any skills shortage effectively. This may mask the fact that at post primary level Technology and Engineering subjects are under subscribed. Third level education builds upon this foundation and produces many graduates that in the current climate may be forced to emigrate, unless the tech sector in Ireland can accommodate their skills. If post primary education were to be further developed within the STEM context, third level college courses would have a more sound foundation to build on.

Casian Marian, Romania

2017-04-03 15:38:12 UTC

The teaching method of science in Romania is too much theory in spite of workshop activities that would facilitate a meaningful learning, which is why I support the practical activities

Sónia Fonseca, Portugal

2017-04-03 15:40:51 UTC

I don't think there is a lack of STEM skills, they're just being misused due to the way the programs must be taught at school. It's all about theory, little practice and it doesn't appeal to the students as it should. Employers may be finding it difficult to employ workers because the financial crisis has left most companies, especially smaller ones, with hardly any budget at all and they don't want to employ "specialists" in this area because they are more expensive than an older worker with the experience! Then, it's a vicious cycle because younger people can't get experience because no one gives them that opportunity... it's a difficult situation but I think all students should be taught STEM skills from a very early age.

Melina, Spain

germelina_jatrey — 2017-04-03 15:44:15 UTC

Probably not in whole Europe, but referring to Spain I would say yes. Our educational system is not prepared for do, is prepared for listen and practise a particular point. There is no room for workshops or practical learning situations in which students feel motivated to investigate in these areas of knowledge.

Tina_Gr

tinamellos — 2017-04-03 15:44:47 UTC

Article no 2, is very enlightening! Whether there is a lack of STEM skills in Europe or not depends on the eyes of the beholder. As far as my country is concerned teachers try their upmost but 'a sole swallow cannot bring spring in the area'; the ministry of Education has to take seriously its duties and revise our curiculum so that it is STEM orientated, not only theoriticially speaking!

Rebeca, Spain

rbkvica — 2017-04-03 15:47:46 UTC

These skills are hardly worked in Spain because the Educative Law is quite strick, there are lots of concepts that must be worked so there is no time to develop these skills in a correct way

Gabriella, Italy

gabriellaricci — 2017-04-03 16:17:47 UTC

As Fulvia, Ivan, Fabiana and other my collegues from Italy, I think that the way to teach science in Italy is wrong. We should increase IBSE approach

gligomat

gligomat448 — 2017-04-03 16:17:54 UTC

As a teacher in Italy, I think we should invest more in education and scientific culture; ours is a work of involvement and passion to share with our students through the use of technology

Guillermo, Spain.

gbeleg — 2017-04-03 16:18:32 UTC

In my country there are motivated students with STEMs careers that go abroad in order to find a job and, if possible, with better conditions.

Alba, Spain

2017-04-03 16:18:49 UTC

First of all, I want to make clear that I am not aware of what happen with STEM careers in the rest of Europe, but I can ensure that in Spain there are a lot of students with high-potential skills who are unemployed. Some of my engineers friends, had to go abroad during the economic crisis. They were well remunerated in countries like Germany. On the contrary, in Spain, there is a lack of invest in I+D (Investigation and Development) on the part of the goverment, so our students find no future when they finish their degrees. This situation is a shame.

Konstantinos, Greece

kkarampelas — 2017-04-03 16:23:51 UTC

There is definetely emphasis on STEM in schools across Europe. The main question, I think is whether the labour market requests for the skills taught in schools or maybe different ones.
I think most comments from colleagues in this activity express similar opinions.

Maria D'Adamo, Italy

2017-04-03 16:29:06 UTC

I think the link between employers and colleges helps to make STEM careers more attractive.

Melissa Esposito, Italy

melissa_esposito — 2017-04-03 16:50:24 UTC

Yes, I think there is a lack of STEM skills in Europe because there is a strong culture of humanistic disciplines such as latin, literature, philosophy and so on.

Lana I believe that there is a lack of STEM skills in poorer so to say parts of Europe cause most of the STEM educated people are going away to better off European and worldwide countries. The reason behind this could be that Croatia doesn`t have an investment friendly environment which projects on STEM related possibilities of finding a work place within our country.

2017-04-03 16:55:37 UTC

Antonio J. Blasco, Spain

ajblasco — 2017-04-03 16:56:22 UTC

If we see the data offered in the articles, it is clear that there is a lack of STEM skills in Europe, at least in some of their countries.
One of the main reasons, in my opinion, is the fact that students tend to choose whatever grants them the most benefit with the least effort. STEM demands a lot of work and many people prefer earning their grades as easiest as possible.
Another reason might be the perception that the rewards do not match the investment (in work or time), as STEM careers might not provide a propotional income for those undertaking them.

Merit Luik, Estonia

merit_luik14 — 2017-04-03 17:03:32 UTC

I think that there is a lack of STEM skills. For example in Estonia it is very common, that third level students of IT are getting hired before the graduation. And sometimes it causes the dropping out of universities. I think that one reason of the skill gap is the very rapid technological development of the industries. Therefore it is very difficult for universities to fullfill the requirements of the industries. Positively the cooperation between universities and industries is getting better in Estonia. The curricula are more oriented not to pure science anymore - the balance between the needs of science and industries is much better than years ago

2017-04-03 17:04:21 UTC

Francesca, Italy

piersantifrancesca — 2017-04-03 17:17:00 UTC

I think that a good method should be lead by good political choices. Real world, real problems, real industries should be involved in the educational process .

Angela Jorro, España

ajorroh — 2017-04-03 17:47:03 UTC

I think there is a lack of STEM skills in Europe because the positions has changed a lot recently but the careers has not faced that change as quick as it would need to be change in order to train people to be able to work in new positions. At least in my country, there is a lot of people with a degree who are not working in their field.

Iuliana, Romania

iulyanaivan — 2017-04-03 18:09:11 UTC

In my opinion, i think at the moment there is a lack of STEM skills in Eurpope, but especially in my country. Reason for these is fear teachers for new. Another reason is lack of education in this area.

Héctor Gutiérrez, Spain

hegutierrez — 2017-04-03 18:14:23 UTC

These skills are not very hard worked in my country, and I think students are focused to other types of careers, because of the belief on getting better jobs. The ones that graduate on science or engeneering do not find easily a good job, at least in Spain, so they have to travel abroad, and this is not attractive for new students on STEM carreers

Gema Rollán, Spain

gema_rolgal — 2017-04-03 18:17:18 UTC

Obviously, there is a complete lack of Stem Skills as they are defined.
Maybe Stem Skills are not joined and we have plenty of just one of the skills or two, but not combined.
It is said that some of the researches are made by computers which find a word or two, so, if you have not a well defined resume, even if you are one of the most skilled professional, you will be ignored.
Had not noticed that, the research should be modified in order to match the perfect candidate.

Angela Rotaru, Romania

2017-04-03 18:21:14 UTC

I think it is a lack of STEM skills in Europe, because in recent years, there was no correlation between socio-economic needs and of the training needs of students. There is little practice and a lot of theory, at least here in Romania it is a reality

Jelena, Croatia

2017-04-03 18:22:59 UTC

I think there is a lack of STEM skills, and there is more then one reason for that. One of the reasons is scools adapt to slow. What we teach is not what they need to start working.

Azucena Sánchez

maazsasa — 2017-04-03 18:29:09 UTC

I can ser that oír educacional sustentable isn't prepares foro theses skills, bug they students are motivarse situ It.

Javier Manzano, Spain

1fjmanzano — 2017-04-03 18:39:21 UTC

I'll focus on my country. As we see in the picture attached (taken from the first document), there's no lack of skills in Spain. The main reason, in my opinion, is that our economy is not based on industry or innovation but on tourism.
As we can see in this article:
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-12359897
Spain is exporting "lowcost" engineers to Germany since the crisis began. :-(

Monica, Italy

2017-04-03 18:40:51 UTC

According to statistics, Europe risks falling behind its global competitors, because the lack of engineers and scientists, particularly engineers and scientists, it contributes to the reduction of productivity and loss of business opportunities at national and international level. I believe that already in school it should offer more opportunities in this regard.

Andrea

2017-04-03 18:42:49 UTC

In Italy, there are two different problems. The first one is that we have a low-tech production, not because our main products cannot be "technologized" but because of a lack of culture of science. Think about foods. Even if you produce biologic food, you can improve a lot using technology, for example in machine control, or in timing. But our firms are not so sensible to this problem. The second problem is about "no study" culture. We have more and more problems involving our students, which are no more interested in "difficult" skills. So, it is true that skilled people are going abroad, but also low-skilled people are going now, and most students do not foresee good results after the big effort of studying STEM...

Aneta Popiołek, Poland

2017-04-03 19:08:27 UTC

I think there is a gap in STEAM skilled workers. The main reason for that is the true that STEAM oriented subjects are demanding ones and it is really difficult to convince the students that these disciplines are worth studying.

Hasibe Avsar,Turkey

avsarhasibe — 2017-04-03 19:18:51 UTC

Is not that right?
Yes there are deficiencies.
In the European elaman procurement this creates a separate budget which plans citizenship rights and freedoms for man.
But with industry 4.0, the robotic world lacks health, insurance, working conditions, workload problems.

Michela Italy

2017-04-03 19:21:20 UTC

Yes, I think there is a lack of STEM skills, there is also a reason and there is a decline in interest and research to easy and paid work. Few excellence who dare to face the most challenging issues and are those who then flee from our country looking for more stimulation.

Cinzia Marrone Italy

stella130307 — 2017-04-03 19:24:14 UTC

I'm agree with my colleagues when they talk about a wrong way in learning and teaching science in Italy , we hope we can find an increasing interest in this discipline both in children and teachers. Maybe this course can do this,!

Monika.Sweden

wittander — 2017-04-03 19:42:41 UTC

I think that in order for Europe to compete with other parts of the world we need to "produce" more scientists and engineers .
I'm afraid that the school is not really adjusting its curriculum and practises to the needs of our society. Students are encouraged to focus on grades rather than knowledge. It is easier to get good grades in a course that is regarded as being easy rather than in science.

Hilmi Dogan, Turkey

hilmi_dogan — 2017-04-03 19:58:56 UTC

Europe needsmore STEM field workers to compate with the rivals.Unfortunately in many EU contries many students do not like learning math and science. Also they do not want to be carreer on STEM fields. Therefore we must find the easy and enjoyable way of teaching math and science for our pupils.

Y

tracychola — 2017-04-03 20:01:57 UTC

Maria.Spain

2017-04-03 20:32:05 UTC

I thinks in Spain STEM are important

Maria. Spain

2017-04-03 20:34:57 UTC

In Spain Stem subjects are important for students. More of them are learning science and they think their future will be better with Stem careres, but a lot of students look for a job in education. It is the most easy way to have a job in Stem in my country. The other one, it is goes abroad.

Gjergji , Albania

gjergjivangjeli — 2017-04-03 20:42:13 UTC

In my opinion there is a lack of STEM skills because school curricula is separate from the real problems of children. If school will create a learning environment for students, learning by doing, I think it will not have difficulties in employment.

denise, italy

denemi181 — 2017-04-03 20:52:51 UTC

Yes, I really think there is a lack of STEM skills and, in my opinion, one of the reason is the way how, for a long time, STEM subject, math, first of all, was taught. In the last years the approach to math teaching was changed but there is a long way to fill the gap

LOURDES, SPAIN

clramirez — 2017-04-03 20:58:14 UTC

The first question, I think yes,
because we don´t teach STEAM our school as such, but rather areas without a relationship between them. The reason, really I don´t know, perhaps we need teach a strict curriculum on time.

M.Consuelo, Spain

2017-04-03 21:03:19 UTC

From my point of view STEM skills in Europe needs much more support and our students should be much more valorated in order to remain in our country.

Elisabetta del Castillo, Italy

elisabettadelcastillo — 2017-04-03 21:15:26 UTC

LACK OF STEM SKILLS IN EUROPE
One reason for the lack to STEM skills in Europe can be that STEM studies are generally considered difficult by students who sometimes may prefer to pursue easier careers. Another reason certainly true in Italy is the brain drain effect, in the sense that talented, qualified people leave their country in search of places where their skills can be more appreciated.

Stanislao. Italy

2017-04-03 21:33:04 UTC

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51w9Z26zXYs

Clara Sousa

2017-04-03 21:48:59 UTC

I think that the difficulty in obtaining workforce in people with STEM capacities in Europe is due to the lack of investment and motivation on the part of the schools. Old-fashioned curricula, which do not contemplate a vision of interdisciplinarity. The non-valuation of work or the lack of conditions of the work leads people to look for other markets in other countries.

Luisa, Italy

luisaboato — 2017-04-03 22:57:49 UTC

In Italy we have a lack of culture of science: our politicians unwillingly give money for improve schools... our best scientists go abroad to work and earn a good salary. A lot of students moreover consider STEM subjects too difficult.

izs125 — 2017-04-04 03:46:23 UTC

Clarisse..Malta

clarisse_frendo — 2017-04-04 05:59:24 UTC

I believe that even though work is being done in order to link education to the world of work, we still have a long way to go. In certain countries, certain skills which are crucial for STEM careers are still not given enough importance. The general focus is on the transfer of knowledge from the teacher to the students in order for the latter to pass exams and get certificates. Even though getting academic qualifications is important, students are not developing skills which employers are looking for in potential employees. Despite the fact that a great improvement has been made, it is not easy to shift the general mentality and culture.

Antonio Paneduro, Sicily

profpaneduro — 2017-04-04 06:05:02 UTC

I think there are differences in different parts of Europa: in areas where there is not economic crisis (Northern Italy, Germany, Scandinavia, Poland ...) it is easier to find the skills required by the labor market because companies invest in research. In the rest of Europe, in my opinion, there is a big gap between required and available skills.
I think Countries should invest more in research and equip schools more efficient laboratories to support the teaching of STEM.

Marilena

2017-04-04 07:50:37 UTC

Increasing the number of student in STEM was one of the goals of Lisbona 2000 obtained by Italia.
This is thanks of Piano Lauree Scientifiche of MIUR.
With projects like this we can increase the number student in STEM

HULYA BAL -TURKEY

2017-04-04 08:19:01 UTC

The study of STEM disciplines aims to teach our changing technology to our students. It works not only in science and mathematics but also in all areas. Interdisciplinary projects help you develop a critical and flexible idea. STEM is very important for employment in Turkey. We have a report on STEM. In particular, we evaluated the work of employment in this report.

Slavica, Croatia

ps_slavica — 2017-04-04 08:40:41 UTC

I think that here in Croatia is not a problem to enter university from STEM fields, but to graduate it. Those who do manage to have secured a job. Question is where - in their place, country or overbroad. The bigger problem is the lack of professional occupations who are carriers of the industry. Because the industry is one that carries a profit and need work force, and those with diplomas certainly will not do the job for which they are overqualified.

M.R., Italy

2017-04-04 08:45:47 UTC

I think there is a lack of STEM skills in different parts of Europe but many countries should invest more to develop research areas, too. In Italy we have many good universities but many students aren't encouraged to STEM careers because of difficulties to find a job after degree. In my opinion some firms should work to create new opportunities to drive young people to active and proficient STEM studies.

Eva García, Spain

2017-04-04 08:57:36 UTC

I don't think there's a lack of STEM skills in Europe. The real problen is that it's difficult to get a job after a STEM degree.

Jose Luis García, Spain

JLGD — 2017-04-04 09:12:53 UTC

Each country has its own problem.
Southtern countries has to much STEM workers, fro example in Spain is difficult to get a job after STEM or any other degree.
Northern countries has not degree STEM workers.
I think is cultural environment and the economy of each country.

Ana, Croatia

2017-04-04 09:16:06 UTC

There is definitly a lack of STEM skills in our country. Teachers are not well educated. Students don't get the right skills in school because of old education plans and bad equipment.

Ksenija, Croatia

2017-04-04 09:20:37 UTC

I think that is not possible to generalize this problem for the whole region. In Croatia is a lack of STEM skills. The mainly reason is that schools don't have the needed equipment, and the teachers are not enough educated.

Benedetta, Italy

2017-04-04 09:46:13 UTC

Refering to the italian situation, I think that there's a general lack not in STEM skills workers, but in employ possibility, caused by a lack of investiment by the Govern in such way.

Bojana, Macedonia

2017-04-04 09:47:02 UTC

Each country has its own problem.In our country in most of schools dont have enough resources,some teachers follow trends in new learning methods,Ministry of education provides support through science fairs competitions etc.

C Portelli, Malta

pcport — 2017-04-04 09:54:05 UTC

There is a lack of STEM skills in Europe. The reason may be because not all the stakeholders are onboard. It is in the interest of the Education department and the Industry to work together in order to be able to generate future opportunities for more skilled workers.

Jose M, Spain

josem_vervel — 2017-04-04 10:12:12 UTC

The spanish situation is quite influenced by las decade economic crisis. Lower wages made STEAM studies not enough attractive for potential studies. Ten years later these shortage of students became in a shortage of STEM skill workers. This is aggravated by the influence of better work perspectives abroad.

António Gonçalves, Portugal

2017-04-04 10:51:25 UTC

The world of STEM

I teach ICT and I think that, our civilization in order to survive and evolve, need professionals with skills and knowledges in science and technology. In Portugal, the present paradigm is that students better chose areas such as literature and social sciences, so, that way they can run away from the mathematics. Fortunatly this paradigm is slowly changing, how ever, in order to have a future, we must continue the efforts to attract more students to STEM.

Mihaela, Slovenia

mihaela_susec — 2017-04-04 10:57:25 UTC

I think that there is not such a big lack of STEM. In Slovenia a highly educated and skilled people emigrate in other EU contries for better payment and life possibilities. The other thing that causes this gap is the inability of education systems to adapt as fast as the job market demands.

Sev, Greece

2017-04-04 11:14:12 UTC

For young people in my country it is easier to find jobs in Europe than in our country. Unfortunately, due to crisis scientists and engineers can not find jobs or can not find jobs on their domain and they have to leave our country. In Europe there is a lack of STEM skills, in Greece there is a lack of labour market.

António Gonçalves, Portugal

2017-04-04 11:33:25 UTC

STEM careers in the job market

As I said before, many studends choose social sciences and literature in order to run way from mathematics, other way, till now, schools and society in general are not entice students to VAT schools, witch are very good way to introduce and prepare to STEM skills jobs. So according with published data, the job needs in STEM area are forfilled with workers without proper skills, increasing subtancially the needs for STEM skills.

Krunoslav, Croatia

prof_stefanek — 2017-04-04 11:35:41 UTC

In our country, there is a talk that IT sector has problems finding skilled employees. Doctors are leaving because of pure conditions on work while we import them from foreign countries to replace them... Same is e.g. in shipbuilding industry. But, to tell the truth, there isn't much done to stop this people from leaving or to create a thought that STEM skills our important to us. But, EU has to make a step forward to the future and use this knowledge for better things. That said...yes, we do have a shortage of experts in this fields.

Marlon Psaila, Malta

2017-04-04 12:02:15 UTC

More that a lack of STEM skill workers I believe it is more the fact that technology and engineering is advancing in a manner that humanity cannot seem to cope with. Luckily we have become aware that there is a problem and we can start working on it. It is never too late.

Renata, Croatia

renata_pintar — 2017-04-04 12:29:24 UTC

Croatia is suffering from "brain drain", young educated people that government invested in are leaving the country and finding jobs all over EU.
They worked hard to earn degree and they want to be fairly payed. Better developed countries of EU offers them better conditions (sallary, social position) so young doctors and engineers feels that they are more appreciated elsewhere both financially and socially.

Cheryl-Ann Mamo

mamo_cherylann02 — 2017-04-04 12:44:07 UTC

I personally feel that though many students do study the STEM subjects, few decide to pursue a career in them. I think that at times it is the lack of awareness or the lack of feel of being appreciated which may drive such people away from the profession. Furthermore, I think that when people study for several years a particular subject/area, one would then expect a job which does not involve too much routine work for example. I think that via more awareness, the STEM careers can embrace more professions and thus strive for a better Europe.

Dhurata, Albania

albanianL — 2017-04-04 13:26:42 UTC

The main problem is the qualification of employees. Development of technology requires workers prepared for this new technological age.

Carlos, León (Saain)

biogeo1617 — 2017-04-04 13:44:19 UTC

Facts (reported in the 2 suggested files and EU documents) seem to show important differences between STEM jobs required by companies and job market but reduced to some regions and for a limited period of time. As STEM jobs category is so big, real examples are needed to asses this general trend. Reading national and international news, I can remember national and local lack of professionals who knew about internet security and genetics in private hospitals. Both seem to have been solved after three years. High unemployment rates in Spain and a high number of people with STEM degrees seem, from my point of view, to make it easy to solve these situations in few year periods of time. For the same reason (and some others, like absence of local convergence between different complementary industry and science research centers), the country seems not to be prepared for quick development of really new products.

Although given statistics suppose to refer to STEM skills, they really analyze academic degree and masters, what is not really the same: especially from a primary and secondary education perspective. Academic system may have its own divergences between expected skills and certified skills, which need to be considered when analyzing this statistics. This may also affect the type of demands from companies.

Paola, Italy

paolaida_bevilacqua — 2017-04-04 13:44:59 UTC

In my opinion the skills gap is caused by many different factors, and in each country the situation can be different. As a teacher I am interested in New methods in teaching maths and science, and those methods should encourage young people in undertaking research and project work. The outcome should be more students who continue in their studies in Stem.

Cristina Valverde, Spain

cristina_valdie — 2017-04-04 14:07:54 UTC

As a teacher I am interested in new methods in teaching maths and science.I think this way to get it. There are very positive aspects in teamworks.

1) Yes, there is a lack of STEM skills in Europe.

hoxhairma12 — 2017-04-04 14:23:47 UTC

2) Teachers mostlykeep teaching traditionally (books and homeworks and slassworks)

1)

hoxhairma12 — 2017-04-04 14:23:50 UTC

Loles, Spain

2017-04-04 14:35:42 UTC

I'm going to focus on my country.According to the graphic (that you can see in the first article about Spain) Spain hasn’t a lack of Stem Skills.
But to be honest, I do believe otherwise.
The main reason why Spain ( or other countries in Europe) hasn't sacks of Stem Skills maybe because the lack of knowledge about Stem in the different companies as well as the high schools. In addition to this,in general, comparies think that young graduates are not preparated for the skills currently on demand or require a lot of experience for employees.,

But if you do not get the opportunity to gain experience it is difficult to get it, isnt it?

. I wish in the near future things will change to improve our lives

STEM careers in the job market

viktorija_poposka — 2017-04-04 15:07:25 UTC

I think that there is a lack of STEM skills.
The reason for this is the difficulty of students with these items still in primary school and their inadequate access to students .

Viktorija, Macedonia

Marta, Spain

ikutram — 2017-04-04 15:12:00 UTC

1) It´s difficult to assess the real scope of the skills shortage, but I agree it exists, at least for some of them (http://www.abc.es/espana/madrid/abci-buscan-astronautas-colegios-madrid-201703040115_noticia.html). But at the same time: In Spain, for instance, in recent years and due to the economical crisis, a huge number of construction employees stayed unemployed.
2) The curricula does not agree with the requirements of the companies. The companies do not make the effort to train the new employees.

Mar

2017-04-04 15:26:44 UTC

Marina, Italy

2017-04-04 15:26:52 UTC

I think that in my country there is a lack of STEM skills. There are different reasons also in difficult for innovator teacher to activate STEM project in traditionally d i d a c t i c context .

Sophia, Greece

2017-04-04 15:27:33 UTC

1) I think there are countries with excess STEM graduates and others with deficient numbers. In Greece many have left and continue leaving the country to other European countries where there is need for them (braindrain).
2) if the skills are adequate is another question , Many higher education schools-Universities in Europe are not sufficiently innovative and research-oriented as in US

Judith Smith Mifsud, Malta

judith_smith — 2017-04-04 15:56:39 UTC

1) Am not sure if there is a substantial lack of STEM skills in Europe in general but when it comes to our country this surely seems the case. 2) Being a small island state, Malta tends to be limited in the variety of STEM career opportunities.....or at least this was the case some 20 years ago. Unfortunately this resulted in a 'brain drain' where many left the island to explore opportunities abroad....These past few years we are experiencing an opposite phenomenon where big pharmaceutical, engineering, gaming and other electronic firms are choosing Malta as their hub. 3) Unfortunately, these companies are not finding enough skilled individuals locally so proving that YES in Malta we have a STEM skills gap.

Angeliki Kougiourouki, Greece

akougiou — 2017-04-04 16:20:52 UTC

In my country, Greece, the problem is not the lack of STEM skills but the lack of well-pay organisations which could hire all those qualified with STEM skills scientists. In fact, we should talk here about an incrising problem in the STEM job market that forces young people to look for well-paid jobs in other countries.

Ivana Czech Republic

2017-04-04 16:27:20 UTC

I thing, that a lack of STEM sklills could be cause by many different factors and it is diferent in each country. I work as a teacher of chemisty and physics and I focused on practical education. This teaching motivate my students for next science education.

Andrea Checchetti I think so. In my country and in particular where I live (Calabria) the high rate of youth unemployment, low educational level, lack of skills, lack of services, criminality, are all factors that prevent the development of proper career perspectives at European level. At the same time young people with degrees are forced to emigrate overseas in order to find work.

dreache — 2017-04-04 16:50:26 UTC

Igor, Slovenia

2017-04-04 16:53:45 UTC

I ve read both of the articles and I agree roughly with facts from the first one.
Second article is just not convincing enough.

STEM skills are still not recognizable in my country. As I know (but I dont know much), companies look for a narrow knowledge profiles (we make lots of those...).
Of course, there is also a little of "braindrain".
You can finish as a master of chemistry, biochemistry, mashines engineer, biologist, etc..., but rarely as a STEM expert.

Şule Şenol , Turkey

2017-04-04 17:22:35 UTC

The problem in our country is the memorization based education system. In our country, TEOG exams are held as level-entry exams in order to study in high school. Because these exams are test-based, we provide students with on-the-job training. Even so, when it is necessary to experiment according to the science curriculum of the science teacher, it has to choose to solve the test. For this reason, I believe that as the importance given to STEM education in my country increases, it will become a society that produces from a consuming society.

Julián Garrido, España

jgarridomartin — 2017-04-04 17:37:59 UTC

I Will talk about Canary Islands where I think there is a lack of stem skills due to the fact that people focus all his energy on working on the Tourist Market rather than getting really prepared forn any other thing and whats more, they do not apply fluently even in this market. Teachers frecuently dont have the skills too end you can not teach what you don't Know. That's in my modest opinion the problem of the lack of stem skills.

Mihaela,Romania

mihaelacristinaciofalca — 2017-04-04 17:56:02 UTC

I think there is a lack of STEM skills, there is also a reason and there is a decline in interest and research to easy and paid work. The main problem concerns probably the wrong method of teaching, perhaps too much theory and little practice. As a teacher I think we have to change our methods and increase the inquiry based learning to keep alive the students curiosity, their interest and broaden their minds.

Elida. Lithuania

daile — 2017-04-04 18:21:33 UTC

„Surveys often indicate that many employers have difficulties finding job candidates to fill their vacancies. Specifically, it has been found that 4 out of 10 firms in the EU have had problems finding staff with the right skills. These skill shortages vary significantly across Member States. Over 60% of establishments in Lithuania have difficulties finding suitably skilled employees. “ !!! OMG!

Paola T. Italy

2017-04-04 18:31:40 UTC

I agree, generally there's a lack of Stem skills in almost all European State. I think even in Italy. The main reasons might be the difficulties that students have in subjects such as mathematics. Scientific disciplines are often taught theoretically.

Lana, Croatia

2017-04-04 18:40:51 UTC

In my opinion, there is a lack of STEM skills in my country and probably everywhere else. Reasons for this to be so are: 1. most of our students would like to earn great deal of money one dabut they do not want to work hard for it; 2. our educational system is in dire need of reformation: 3. most of the students think STEM is hard (just think, how many students like math?)

I think there is a lack of STEM skills because of the decline in interest and research to easy and paid work. The main problem concerns probably the wrong method of teaching, perhaps too much theory and little practice and lack of interess of the students.

2017-04-04 18:48:31 UTC

Julio Pérez, Spain

2017-04-04 18:49:52 UTC

1) I think there is a lack of scientific - technology literacy in the so-called developed countries, and not only in Europe. And it's getting worse, because of the high speed of the technological challenges we are facing every day.
2) The reasons for this situation are so diverse:
- few students in STEM studies.
- low-trained teachers in primary school in STEM areas
- secondary curricula disconnected from real life
- STEM studies are difficult, and Maths is considered a so hard subject since early ages.
- ...

Diana, Italy

2017-04-04 19:01:06 UTC

JjI think there is a lack of STEM skills in Italy due to the lack of interest in these subjects of students. Most of them think they don't have skills and are interested in other careers

Barbara M., Italy

barbara_flipped — 2017-04-04 19:06:21 UTC

I agree with the discussion of the first article.
I would add that the lack of skilled workers, in my opinion, is also due to less interest that young people shower on science and everything related to this.
There is a superficiality of many due to the increased interest in work activities that have less effort and greater income.
Already in primary school I highlight these trends and this lack of interest in the study that takes time, dedication and intellectual effort.
There is a real impoverishment, despite the effort of us teachers and society, the political class, the media are against us.

https://padlet.com/barbara_flipped/stem

Sertan BALLI ,Turkey

darknatres — 2017-04-04 19:34:56 UTC

There are lack of STEM skills in Europe. such as there aren't more engineers in Europe. And it is not wide spread. there are skill shortages in employers. So companies cannot get efficiency from employers.

Paola Italy

2017-04-04 19:45:15 UTC

I think there's a little lack of Stem skills in Italy. The main reason might be the difficulties that students have in scientific subjects since primary school and a few number of well trained and appassionate stem teacher.

Cristina Italy

cristina_ventur — 2017-04-04 19:49:50 UTC

The lack of STEM careers is due at many elements "Despite demand, some STEM occupations are not attractive. One reason why shortages arise is job insecurity, for example scientists working on contracts that are short-term or with relatively low-pay in higher education institutions," states the briefing.

"STEM occupations are also becoming more demanding. In addition to technical and practical knowledge, STEM professionals are also increasingly required to have highly developed ‘soft’ skills such as foreign languages, management, communication, problem-solving and project management. This situation is similar for ICT professionals,"

Barbara, Italy

2017-04-04 19:54:25 UTC

The method is wrong: there is too much theory and little practice.

Lidón, Spain

2017-04-04 20:13:36 UTC

One important problem is the diference between what employers need and what university teaches. Maybe the skills that university provides are too theorical and out of date.

Daniela, Italy

d_preda — 2017-04-04 20:14:06 UTC

1) I think yes, there's a lack of STEM skills in Europe. 2) The main reasons are: a) the students have no interest or few for STEM because they think that STEM are too difficult, they must study too much; b) STEM in the school are often boring, not interesting because of the style of teaching: we have different style of learning so we need different type of teaching. c) Too much teachers don't want to change or improve their knowledge about STEM or they think it's a "problem" of Maths and Science teacher d) We often find something new only on the web, the change is too slow.

Vladyslav, Ukraine

my_kwit — 2017-04-04 20:29:02 UTC

Realy difficult to say about all Europa. As for me, main reason for lack of STEM skills is unbalanced system of education and real job opportunity...

In my opinion, there is a lack of STEM skills in Spain because of studies are not in touch with real jobs.

2017-04-04 20:40:34 UTC

Ivana, Croatia

2017-04-04 20:50:12 UTC

I can say about Croatia that there is a lack of STEM skills, but from a heard from my friends and media, there is also lack of STEM skills in Europe. I believe that main reason for that is lack of experts because during their schooling they weren't enough encourage to follow that career and because some government don't follow growth of STEM industry.

Antonietta, Italy

aamore — 2017-04-04 20:52:58 UTC

I think there is a lack of STEM skills in Europe; infact the surveys indicate that many companies have difficulties finding job candidates to fill their vacancies(recruitment bottlenecks).
The reasons for these skill shortages could be the following:

1. the demand for new skills might be bigger than the existing supply

2. the demographic crisis in European population is likely to maximize the age dependency ratio of European population, which can result in high demand for particular professionals, such as in the health care sector (wich requires STEM skills).

Ana, Spain

2017-04-04 20:53:20 UTC

I am not sure about the lack of STEM skills in Europe. I think employers want to get candidates which have not to be trained and this is only possible if students were able to practice the knowledge they have acquire in a proper real context. I believe most candidates once trained properly coul develop succesfully the skills the employers demand.

Merve, Turkey

2017-04-04 20:57:29 UTC

I think there is a lack of STEM skills in Europe due to the fact that changing rates of technology and educational applications do not coincide each other. The first one progress very fast while the second needs time to reflect effects of change. That is why companies and schools should cooperate with each other at each level for developing STEM skills.

Amelia De Chiara, Italy

amelia_dechiara — 2017-04-04 22:27:58 UTC

I'm noticing a lack of interest in STEM especially in the last few years. Year by year, students become even more interested in what they can get soon and without any effort; they use technology but they don't need to know how it works, it doesn't matter: it's too difficult, it takes too much time and efforts. STEM jobs need years of studies that are not in touch with real jobs, moreover jobs is uncertain...it's not worth.

Maria Grazia Prestigiacomo

maryprestigiacomo — 2017-04-04 22:45:31 UTC

Palermo,Italy
I think there's a lack of STEM skills in Europe and I think the main reason for that is the fact that often the education they receive Is based only in the knowledge and no on the practice. I think that students need to do pratical activities to improve their skills .The best way to reach an effective learning is learning by doing. Today many students know every topics studied but only few students are able to apply their knowledge.

Nieves,Spain

nlopezalvarez — 2017-04-04 23:03:17 UTC

I think the coordination between employers and high education institutions aren't good enough.By other hand, it's true that the European society has changed last years and the requirements of employers have changed very fast because technology changes are faster and faster.Too much changes.It's very difficult to teachers to be prepared ourselves as fast as tecnology changes arrive.

2017-04-05 01:22:06 UTC

Yes,there is a luck of STEM skils .Most teachers taught by traditional methods because they do not have the required knowledge and skills

Elisa Tusini, Italy

etusini — 2017-04-05 06:33:58 UTC

The videos and the articles explain that there is a real lack of STEM skills in Europe. I think that it depends on the fact that many occupations need high technical competences and that the labour demand as the tasks performed in these occupations are complements to technology rather than substitutes (not only programming, technology design, operations analysis, systems analysis and evaluation, but also fluency of ideas, originality, written comprehension, deductive reasoning…..).

In my opinion there are two main reasons for that:

1- school is not working in this direction. In Italy, for example, our curricula are often running out of date and subsequently graduates leave with outdated skills impacting their employability.

2- there is a negative perception of STEM occupations (especially for women), that has resulted in insufficient numbers of STEM graduates.

I think that we, as teachers, need to involve students in STEM activities gaining practical experiences and hands-on exercises, learning about real-life applications that show what children can do with STEM subjects and feeling more confident that men and women were treated equally in STEM careers.

Maria, Romania

2017-04-05 06:40:22 UTC

I think that in the moment there is a lack of STEM skills in Eurpope.

I think there is a lack of STEM skills in Europe due to the fact that changing rates of technology and educational applications do not coincide each other

2017-04-05 06:40:50 UTC

SANİYE,TURKEY

Çelebi, TURKEY

muallim3858 — 2017-04-05 07:04:33 UTC

In the 20th century, while human expectation was careful study and intelligence; They are waiting for critical thinking, creative and enterprising in the 21st century.

Laura G. - Italy

laurega — 2017-04-05 07:47:11 UTC

I think that the situation about STEM is very different form one country to the other. In Itlay, we have a big lack of STEM skills.
Students are very interested in computer, they surf the net and IT devices play a big role in their life. But most of them don't know how these devices work and they are not even interested in knowing it.
Then only in the last few years, the Italian school system is trying to give a real preparation for the skills on demand. It's not easy to overtake the gap and it will take a long time.

Angela, Italy

2017-04-05 08:07:54 UTC

I'm a Chemistry teacher and I think that research and innovation is essential for our and future way of life. So STEM skills are really fondamental and STEM jobs are very interesting!

Marija, Serbia

marijamikic — 2017-04-05 09:00:10 UTC

I think there is a lack of STEM skills in two reasons: the students choose easier studies, and the second, the education system is very slow in adapting to diifferent market demand.

Zulmira, Portugal

zulmiramag — 2017-04-05 10:44:46 UTC

I think that at school, there is still no link between the subjects that are studied and their applicability in the “world of work”. Often students ask, "What's the use of this in my future?" From an early age, students should be able to visit companies, factories, ... and talk to the professionals in their workplaces to see the link between knowledge STEM they learn at school, and the professions they may choose. In any case, employers should also give the opportunity to the new ones, when they finish their studies, so that they can acquire the practical knowledge.

Antonello, Italy.

2017-04-05 10:47:50 UTC

I agree with lack of STEM and the main reason for that is the low interest of the new generations in STEM and the difficulties in the job market to match demand with offer.

Anna, Italy

2017-04-05 11:05:10 UTC

At this point I have a limited knowledge about the topic. However, as a teacher, I think that, besides the existence or not of STEM skills gap, we have to keep the study programms up-to -date to the requests of skills by institutions and firmas.

Eyili, Turkey/İstanbul

mehmeteyili — 2017-04-05 11:24:34 UTC

In this network where we live now people can access the information very easily, but the interpretation of knowledge has problems in implementation. At this stage it is necessary to fill in the gap of this application by entering STEM in the circuit

Alessia, Italy

2017-04-05 11:35:34 UTC

I agree with lack of STEM skills and the main reason could be that the markets develops very quickly but the schools are no so quickly to improve skills and technology update. Sometimes it is difficult to find the right person with STEM skills for a job because there is no good information about what the market is lookimg for and more over, the person is not prepared to present the right documention

Diego, Spain

dnavarro3 — 2017-04-05 11:44:00 UTC

Reading both articles, I find a feature that seems to underlie both opinions, the feeling that employers are having problems in recruiting people with STEM careers.

In the first article, Analyzing the evidence, they talk about the underlying problem, which as mentioned before is common in both articles, but they do not provide real data giving support to their main thesis, which is the STEM skill gap. On the other hand, in the second article, they challenge this thesis by suggesting some other reasons such as an unbalanced geographical concentration of jobs, or non-effective recruitment processes.

I think that the skill gap is, if not the only, the main reason for the skill shortage. But, as it is mentioned in the second article, it is also important to try to further understand the reasons for this.

Damla, Turkey

dml — 2017-04-05 11:52:54 UTC

In our country stem skills are weak because schools give more theorical introduction but less exercises. It isn't enough for applying.

Giuseppe, Italy

2017-04-05 12:42:51 UTC

If it was true, companies woud steal workers from each other and STEM workers would be reach. Enough said.

angela Italy

2017-04-05 12:56:10 UTC

I agree the there is a lack of STEM skills in Europe due to the fact that changing rates of technology is faster then chenges in education

Monika, CRO

monika_lukavecki — 2017-04-05 13:11:40 UTC

Of course, there is a lack of STEM skills in Europe. in CRO, the reason is people are not technologically educated and for example, computer science is still
elective course in primary school. and on our colleges, students learn everything theoretically, but no
practice and experience which results a lack of STEM skills... and we as a country still don't have a plan for next years how to stop leaving the workforce, how to incorporate STEM in all education fields...

Çağrışım, Turkey

cagrisim_helhel — 2017-04-05 13:17:21 UTC

There is a lack of STEM skills, because there is a quick cange in technology and knowledge. There is always new needs created for working areas.

Christina Papadopoulou

christi86_pap — 2017-04-05 13:17:51 UTC

Based on the latest research on the difficulty of companies to find people with STEM skills we find that the average of the European Union is 40%, while in some countries drops to 25%.This fact shows that in many countries there is a great shortage of staff with STEM skills while in other countries the figure exceeds 65%, which shows the large gap between countries in the STEM education and the future prospects.The main reasons according to research for this is the knowledge intensive sectors, demographic crisis in European population and a restructuring of specific sectors

Christina, Malta

2017-04-05 13:20:12 UTC

Yes, I believe that there is a lack of STEM skills in Europe. Every country's educational system is different so I cannot generalise but here in Malta the education system focuses more on theory rather than the practical skills (the skills needed on the workplace). This is resulting in graduates achieving good grades but failing to apply the skills in different situations. As one of the documents suggested, there should be a link between employees and higher education institutions so that students will be equipped with STEM skills needed on the workplace.

Aurora, Spain

aulofo — 2017-04-05 14:07:48 UTC

I am a VET teacher in the area of Business and Administration. We attempt to do our classes as practical as possible in order to increase the (few ) changes of our students to get a job after finishing education. However, there are skills that are missing and hard to foster at that age (16 plus), such as language, creativity, innovation and attitude. Working with STEAM methods through early ages is a way to acquire those at an earlier stage.

Cecilia, Italy

ceciliag — 2017-04-05 14:39:35 UTC

1) I think there is a lack of STEM skills in Italy.
2) One of the reasons could be found at school. I teach in a lower secondary school. I heard some non-STEM teachers say to students "Don't worry if you have bad marks in maths. I have had the same problems of you in STEM...". I think in my country we need a strong training for all the teachers (STEM and non-STEM, at any level) in order to create interdisciplinary activities that show students how fundamental STEM are and how STEM careers are possible for both men and women.
3) I think one of the most important problem is Burocracy , in Italy. If you are looking for a STEM job in an italian public institute, it's likely that your have to wait for a long time after knowing if you were selected for the job or not. What are you going to do during the waiting time? Maybe you'll send your CV to a British company (for example) and you'll start working out of Italy.

Katarzyna, Poland

2017-04-05 16:02:45 UTC

I ve been teaching STEM subjects for 15 years. In my opinion ten years ago my students were definitely more STEM than they are now. What does it mean?
I thinkthat the main problem is in our educational system. Unfortunately there eren't enough STEM skills in secondary school - lower and upper, where I teach, but I think that also in primary education. So if people don't get these skills during their education, they won't be able to be smart in them later. Our educational system need to be changed and it is now changing, but I am not sure if in the right way. There are still not enough hours for Science and Maths or IT , in my opinion.

Stefania Altieri, Italy

stefaniaaltieri73 — 2017-04-05 16:17:28 UTC

We need to innovate our education system, one of the reason of the current skill gap in Italy

Spyridoula Karanatsiou, Greece

karanats — 2017-04-05 16:24:16 UTC

I think there is a lack of STEM skills in Europe and moreover in Greece too. However, the latest years there are attempts to diverse this issue. In my opinion there has to be an organized training to all teachers in all educational levels, so they can teach the pupils working with STEM correctly. In Greece, there are competitions which are organized by a volunteering organization who tries to involve STEM in educational system but it has the state to do really big changes to enclose these skills in school classes.

Radu, Romania

raduprisacaru — 2017-04-05 17:02:36 UTC

Unfortunately, I have to agree with that: it's a shortage of STEM skills in Europe. It is our task, STEM teachers to make lessons more attractive, more interesting, to attract young people to this area.

Yalçın, Turkey

2017-04-05 17:36:22 UTC

There is a lack of STEM skills in Europe but not all Europe country. It is remarkable that European average is %40. This shows us that there is a problem that concerns the whole of Europe. So, How can we solve this problem? There are my two solution suggestions I have. First, effective STEM skills training: This skills traning need not only for student but also for teachers because Theachers are a lack of STEM skills don't give effective traning to pupils. Second, School and employers needing STEM skills should need work together.

Mihaela Gabor, Romania

mihaela_gab0r — 2017-04-05 17:40:22 UTC

Yes, I believe that there is a lack of STEM skills in Europe. In my country stem skills are weak because schools give more theorical exercises. One important problem is the diference between what employers need and what schools teaches.

Mariangela, Italy

marivallo78 — 2017-04-05 17:53:56 UTC

I think that there is a lack of STEM skills in Europe, and above all in Italy. The main reason could be found in the great demand for new skills and in our educational system focuses more on theory rather than the practical skills.

Juan Pablo, Spain

maciajuanpablo2017 — 2017-04-05 18:00:58 UTC

I think that there´s a lack of hard working among pupils, that´s what I can see everyday in my job. One of the causes of this problem is related to parents´ education. But there´s another important cause, education is focused only in getting good marks without thinking about the importance of being well prepared to face a STEM skills.

Silvia P. Ruggeri, Italy

silviap_ruggeri — 2017-04-05 18:14:06 UTC

1) Do you think there is a lack of STEM skills in Europe?
I think there is a lack of STEM skills in Europe.
2) If so, which is the main reason for that?
I'm not sure about the main reason for that. I suppose there are at least two reasons: as many people prefer easy way to get a certification, the government want teachers more qualified without pay them more than less qualified teachers.

Sonia.Romania

ssn_27 — 2017-04-05 18:30:49 UTC

I think the lack of experts in engineering professional guidance is due to wrong students.
A professional guidance has beneficial results when motivate.Student must understand that science helps them develop thinking and creativity

Rosario Sorriguieta, Spain

mrsorriguieta — 2017-04-05 18:33:12 UTC

It's very difficult make a generalisation. First of all, I think in Spain we have several problems:
1) Students find STEM topics very difficult specially maths.
2) STEM carees are long and they need to invest a lot of time studying that, so they are discouraged.
3) The best ones don't get a good job in Spain, so they go abroad.

Stefania Bertone, Italy

stefaniabertone — 2017-04-05 19:01:15 UTC

Yes, I think there is a lack of STEM skills in Europe, especially accoding to the readings provided. The main reasons are: the demand for new skills might be bigger than the existing supply; demographic changes, specifically the aging of the current population, can also be a cause.
However, in some situations it could be that employers find difficulties to employ workers because of information friction, geographical barriers and recruitment processes too much based on computer software.

Hilal, Turkey

a_hilal_cangul — 2017-04-05 19:24:18 UTC

As articles prove it, there is lack of STEM skills in Europe. I think its one of the reasons is because technology is always developing and changing, employers always increase their expectations from candidates and look for too competent and experienced workers so they cannot find appropriate one while people also look for job.

Passos,Helena, Portugal

helenamariapassos — 2017-04-05 20:42:59 UTC

There is definitely a lack of STEM skills in Portugal. Most companies when advertising for a job, just state a myriad of skills that are sometimes overwhelming. For example in programming, sometimes companies just place almost seven to eight programming languages, whereas former students might be good just at one, two maybe three. The second reason is the payment. The companies want high level skilled professionals at a basic wadge. Students that are fresh from the university want to start work and accept them. However, the contractual rotation is high. Companies are not helping by making short term contracts that do not motivate employees to do their best and they continue to look for a more permanent position. Companies that work closely with vocational training centers are much more successful and end up by keeping these professionals.

Iuliana, Romania

lili_ana_9 — 2017-04-05 21:10:34 UTC

Technology and science may be appealing to students .

Michaela, Czech Republic

dvaipajana — 2017-04-05 21:26:49 UTC

1) There is surely a lack of STEM skills in the Czech Republic
2) There is definitely more reasons, however one of the main ones is the combination of demografic changes along with the school system. Students opt for the easiest way and STEM career seems to be too demanding. Schools offer too theoretical education.

Gökhan, Turkey

gokanhoca — 2017-04-05 22:22:26 UTC

Studies are not in touch with real life and jobs. Main problem is how teachers going to be effective to help learners accessing these skills. So employers finding difficulties to employ workers.

Seyide, TURKEY

bugra512 — 2017-04-06 03:35:33 UTC

Professions known in the 21st century have been replaced by competences. Trainees should tell this to the students. And their students should also prepare real life according to these qualifications.

Alessandra, Italy

alessandrapulinas3 — 2017-04-06 06:08:40 UTC

2In my opinion the shortage of STEM skills in Italy is linked with the wrong methods and approaches to science. Too much theory and lack of practice. We should change totally our methods. Students need to learn by doing, experimenting, should be important to stay in touch with real life, to use a critical approach to situations. STEM careers are difficult, and take a long time and in many cases there aren't many opportunities for young people to be recruited as they have not sufficient work experience . Working abroad is a solution for most of them.

Isabel, Spain

misjih — 2017-04-06 06:50:58 UTC

As we can see in the graphs, there aren’t difficulties to fill jobs in Spain. At the contrary, there are more people with STEM skills than jobs, so many skilled graduated have to go abroad to find a job. It’s very disappointing to finish a demanding degree and then, to have to go away. Perhaps, the reason is the crisis.

Anyway, I think we must prepare our students to face a challenging world. We need to provide them with useful skills for the future; and now, we know that the future is STEM.

Robert, Croatia

2017-04-06 08:21:22 UTC

I think the whole economy was based mainly on trade, not on the STEM field.
The education system is to slow in adapting these rapid changes in the field of STEM.

Lora Italy

2017-04-06 08:26:25 UTC

I think the shortage of STEM skills , is a mix of reasons.

In Italy, in particular , teachers are aged , they are not confident with new technology or digital resources and they are not opened to new teaching methods or strategies.

They propose old approach based on a lesson where student is not an acive subject of the learnng process.

One of the result, of this situation is: too much theory and little practice.

Our educational system doesen’t stay in touch with real life.

Students are not well prepared to face new challenges because they don’t own that new skills

Required and requested.

niko,thessaloniki

manik1 — 2017-04-06 08:29:36 UTC

I dont think so. I believe the problem is in the education that is still the same way for the last centuries. It didnt catch up with the modernization of our time

Noeli, Spain

ngonzalezmartin12 — 2017-04-06 08:41:25 UTC

In Spain, I don't think so. There are more people with skills than jobs and they have had to go abroad to find a job. In my opinion the reason is the crisis. Many firms fired their expensive employees but now they are realizing that they need them to be competitive.

David, Spain

david_galiana — 2017-04-06 08:43:12 UTC

I don't think there is a lack of STEM skills in Spain. Moreover, there are more well-trained technicians than available jobs. The main problem for employers is that, more and more frequently, they don't want to pay a fair salary for STEM workers.
I'm a civil engineer and I'm not willing to design a bridge and take responsibility for anything that could happen for a 600€ salary. That's what employers demand in Spain now: highly prepared workers earning bargain salaries.

Sonia, Spain

2017-04-06 09:02:10 UTC

In Spain, I thing we have a huge amount of people whith skills who has to go abroad to find a job.
In think also that the educacion system must be more practical and related whith the job market.

Elísabet,Spain

2017-04-06 09:41:49 UTC

I don't think there is a lack of STEM skills. In my opinion, in Spain, employers search for less prepared workers in order to pay poor salaries. Working abroad becomes the final option for our young people.

Julio, Spain

2017-04-06 09:50:15 UTC

It seems that the educational system is not able to develop enough interest and motivation for science and technology. The problem is exacerbated in secondary education, especially in relation to mathematics, with a high level of school failure and students who are literally disconnected with insufficient knowledge base and loss of motivation.

In my opinion, the problem, like any educational problem, is multifactorial. It would emphasize as more important aspects: Teaching methodology that motivates the students, prioritize the motivation and the interest of the students in front of the complete development of the programs. Reduce teacher / student ratios to very favorable levels for students.

Susana, Spain

2017-04-06 10:26:11 UTC

1) Do you think there is a lack of STEM skills in Europe?

I think in Spain there is a lack of STEAM caused by the lack of resources. As a teacher I can see every day the shortage of human resources, the lack of equipment and training.

2) If so, which is the main reason for that?

I think that the main reason for that situation is money and the huge lack of awareness about the importance of education. We are in a huge crisis and it could be that our leaders are not interested on educate critical thinkers, firstly.

Sergio Sánchez, Spain

2017-04-06 10:47:21 UTC

1) Do you think there is a lack of STEM skills in Europe?
Yes, I do.
2) If so, wich is the main reason for that?
In my opinion, I think that university degree's must connect more with the companies. They have to agree the skills that student must learn to get a job at companies.

Gintare, LT

neries333 — 2017-04-06 11:08:04 UTC

I do think there is a lack of STEM skills in Europe and in my opinion main reason for that was sudden spread technologies and innovations in almost every part of our life. So most education systems failed of catching it up.

Serap, Turkey

2017-04-06 11:10:19 UTC

I think there is a lack of STEM skills in Europe because the lack of STEM proffessionals.

Iztok, Slovenia

2017-04-06 11:17:06 UTC

I think that in Slovenia is a lack of STEAM skills. The main reason for that is, that students do not have confidence in education and in the current society.

Anna, Italy

2017-04-06 12:19:57 UTC

I think that lack of STEM skills in Italy is due to the lack of dialogue between the educational system and the world of work, and because of the slow pace of upgrading educational systems than the speed at which our society progresses.

Panos Greece,

panos_10k — 2017-04-06 12:22:21 UTC

I think that there is a lack of STEM skills in Europe. In my opinion this happens due to the financial crisis . Most of the scientists (especially from Greece) immigrates to countries with bettter economy and research facilities. In addition to this, most of the STEM educational projects cant be accomplished.

Marco, Italy

2017-04-06 12:57:17 UTC

I think that in europe the real problem is the lack of clear economic and work policies. young people, due to economic crisis,

seems satisfied of the first available job, every year is more and more visible this attitude of "I'm lucky, at least I have a job, I can not pretend that I like as well!". employers Employers exploit this situation to provide exhausting and underpaid jobs. in Italy, in particular, STEAM skills are used mostly in an academic career. there are few companies in this sector. Academic career, however, is not desirable because it is long-term and the future is "unclear". so, in my opinion in Europe there are many brilliant people but 
their skills are not exploited.

Lara, Italy

2017-04-06 13:37:03 UTC

I think the gap between industries request and innovation versus educational system could be the main reason that may explain all the difficulties ( employer, employment).

Vlatko, Macedonia

krstevav8 — 2017-04-06 14:44:01 UTC

Communication between companies and education is very low. Substantial changes in the curricula of education and more practical learning.

Arantxa Oria Vidal, Spain

2017-04-06 15:31:59 UTC

I find it shocking that Spain, Greece, Croatia and Cyprus are the countries in which only 25% of the industries have problems finding employees. Perhaps because they are those in industries and less young people are trained in STEM studies.
I believe that in Spain the labor market is precarious and that our young people more prepared have to emigrate to other countries of Europe in order to find a job adequate to their preparation.
What happens in Spain is that we do not teach for the needs of industries and companies.
We urgently need to connect our studies with the world of work.

But on the other hand, we have very well-prepared young people, although few, in STEM studies.

I think in Italy the acquisition of skills is encouraged by the increasing mass of technologies in teaching. The employers find difficulties to employ workers because, in my opinion, there is no serious economic and working policy.

2017-04-06 15:56:44 UTC

Laura Poveda, Spain

2017-04-06 16:41:32 UTC

I think it isn't a skills gap. For me the main problem is that Industries look for experienced professionals, not for prepared people with skills but not experience.

Mª Cruz, Spain

2017-04-06 16:48:10 UTC

In my opinion there is no lack of STEM skills in my country. Indeed, the number of University students who are enrolled in scientific carrers are higher than those who are in the rest of studies. They are aware that scientific studies help to open the door of the labour market more easily and they try to effort to obtain those knowledges. Where I find the problem is, because of the economical crisis, in the hiring conditions which are so disastrous for job seekers that they don't want to take so high responsability for just 700€ and no labour rights.

Sevasti Milona, Greece

sev_asti — 2017-04-06 17:05:33 UTC

In my country there is a lack of Stem skills because of the economic situation and because of brain drain. There is no reliable future to enable young people to have an aim and be educated about it.

Pilar Miranda, Spain

pilar_miran — 2017-04-06 17:38:48 UTC

In general, recent graduates in STEM careers are required by large companies to offer their first paid work but are required a lot, availability to travel, languages, even experience in the sector. A period of training is imperative to be competitive.

Ana, Romania

ana_mihnea2006 — 2017-04-06 18:03:46 UTC

I think there is a lack of STEM skills in my country and the main reason is education and the labor market. First of all, our curriculum is full of information, there are too many subjects for our students to study and lack of practical activities is the worst of all. Then, when they have to get a job, it's very difficult to "anchor" in real life and most of them go abroad.

Gamze Siper/ Turkey

gamzesiper — 2017-04-06 18:04:21 UTC

“Specifically, it has been found that 4 out of 10 firms in the EU have had problems finding staff with the right skills.” That means there is a lack of STEM skills in Europe. Reasons are insufficient numbers of graduates, a lack of experienced STEM staff especially relevant for ICT professionals, local availability of the right specialist skills, national context and STEM fields.

Paqui,Spain

2017-04-06 18:06:09 UTC

From my point of view, there isn't a lack of STEM skills in Spain. In fact, some people with STEM skills have to go abroad in order to find a job. Maybe, the main reason is the crisis of our country or the lack of conversation between employers and educational system.

Monica, Italy

2017-04-06 18:59:27 UTC

I think that in Italy there isn't a lack of STEMS skills: we study a big number of excellents graduates but often they have to leave Italy beacuse we have a wrong policy. Unfortunately in this country frienships and intercessions are sometimes most important than meritocracy.

Jolanta, Lithuania

2017-04-06 20:15:54 UTC

I think is a lack of STEM skills in Europe. In Lithuania the main reasons for that are the curriculum and emigration.

2017-04-06 20:21:58 UTC

Simona, Italy

srifici — 2017-04-06 20:38:18 UTC

According to the survey here presented, it has been found that there is a lack of STEM skills in Europe. I think this is caused by two related situations: an always lower number of students decides to attend STEM studies, students that have suitable STEM skills are often obliged to leave Europe for economical reasons .

Teresa, Spain

2017-04-06 21:46:39 UTC

In my opinion there is a real lack of STEM skills in the whole Europe. The main reason can be the preference for other kind of studies that are not related to these disciplines.
.

José Luis. Spain

2017-04-07 05:30:18 UTC

To graduate in one of the STEM careers requires a lot of effort and work and many of the students are not willing to make the effort that this supposes neither in the school nor in the University. But our effort is to explain and clararless all the benefits that these careers imply so that their way of thinking changes and above all motivate them for it.

Anaely, Mexico.

anaelypb — 2017-04-07 06:11:04 UTC

As a former Science postgraduate student I must say that I don't think that there is a lack of STEM skills neither in Europe nor other places, like in Mexico. I think some of the problem is that as students we only focus on the academic path and we don't know how to transfer our skills into other sectors. In the case of Astronomy, there are a lot of young researchers looking for a job, vacancies are scarse, and the competition is very intense. For example: one post for almost hundreds of potential candidates, all with excellent curriculum. Another thing affecting is the budget cuts, increasing by year to education and research.

Ana C, Spain

2017-04-07 07:38:09 UTC

There is probably a lack of STEM skills in Europe. The main reasons for that can be: lack of jobs related to that studies or that getting a degree in that studies is difficult for pupils. In my country there are qualified workers for those jobs.

Antonella, Italy

2017-04-07 08:26:53 UTC

The people now prefer other kind of studies because are less hard and give more chance of a quality work. In the last years many students are highly skilled in these subjects , but the world of work did not garantee then an adeguate job. It' s necessary a greater connection between University and world of work so that high academic skills not sell lost.

Marta, Spain

2017-04-07 10:21:28 UTC

1. I agree there is a lack of STEM skills in Europe, but there are different reasons for that.
2.First the big effort during years for STEM studies, that mean students know they will need a long time perspective. In that way they have to have a great motivation and clear ideas. On the other hand, there are lack of proper remunerated jobs according to that previous effort, because I understand that most candidates, with a good level degree, would develop the skills the industries demand

Seda, Turkey

sedacerik — 2017-04-07 10:35:56 UTC

There is surely a lack of STEM skills in the Turkey. Although science, mathematics, and technology education have been educated since the early ages, these skills are not used in daily life because of education based on rote learning and examination system. But recently we have seen the effects of STEM Education and we realize that these skills have improved.

Zeynep Merve OSKAY,Turkie

oskayzmerve — 2017-04-07 13:33:10 UTC

STEM approach is a rather new approach in Turkey, researchers have very few studies on STEM skills. At the same time, practitioners do not see these skills as a priority. Teachers do not have sufficient knowledge, experience and competence in STEM skills.

Julia,Ukraine/

j_batura — 2017-04-07 15:05:53 UTC

STEM covers a wide range of scientific and technical specializations. The fact that different areas of STEM-situation may be different in terms of the economy.We must first find out how many specialists of different qualifications in various fields of science requires our economy. And how many specialists we will need in the short, medium and long term .We must make a decision to increase the number of graduates in certain of-STEM fields  which based on this decide .Now, despite the crisis and the reduction Ukraine has an extensive network of vocational education, providing its graduates trades in areas covering all options STEM. 28 In every region of Ukraine there are polytechnics, industrial or other engineering and technological institutions and universities with faculties of applied mathematics, mathematics and mechanics, physics, chemistry, biology, geology and geography.
So, Ukraine is quite secondary and higher education, providing its graduates technical and natural-mathematical education. Maybe quality of Ukrainian STEM education is very low.

Ana Taveira, Portugal

taveira_anna — 2017-04-07 15:08:47 UTC

Despite increasing numbers of unemployed people in Europe, employers find it difficult to find highly qualified STEM workers. The main reasons are: demographic crisis of europe; the restructuring of some sectors; the increased demand for high-level STEM qualifications and the low number of STEM-qualified workers.

Paqui Ruiz, Spain

paquiruizdes — 2017-04-07 15:33:57 UTC

I believe that there is a lack of STEM skills in Europe, although it occures more in some countries than in others. One of the main reasons could be the fact that our students are not motivated in STEAM. Furthermore, in many countries there is a low investment in science and technology, therefore the students of this countries think it is not worth studying a tough degree and after that to migrate to another country.

Judith, Spain

jvasco — 2017-04-07 15:55:14 UTC

From my point of view there is a lack of STEM skills in Europe is due to that education are reliant on the companies. In order to provide them with qualifies employes , who could face their requirements in some subjects with specific knowledges .

Education must improve national strategies promoting a positive image of science, raise awareness of science, make improvements in school based science teaching and learning, increase student’s interest in science and aim for gender balance. Transforming young people’s attitudes to science is a long-term but is necessary.

Besides to provide employers with required skills in , science, engineerand maths.We need to implement curriculum reforms, create partnerships between schools and companies as well as set up science centres

Although there is an increasing recognition of the importance of school-industry partnerships – there is little emphasis on the labour market and industry settings for these types of initiatives. Furthermore, there seems to be scope for developing active labour market policies in the field, providing further training to those unemployed to tackle STEM shortages.

Silvia, Spain

2017-04-07 16:22:31 UTC

I don't really think that the main problem is the lack of skills in STEM careers, almost in my country. I think that the employers offer post with too much requirements and a low salary. For this reason, sometimes people from my country have to work in other countries.

T Italy

2017-04-07 16:44:54 UTC

I think there is a lack of STEM skills in Europe and that the reason may be that employers should prepare to job and collaborate with school education.

Renata, Slovenia

rfilipic3 — 2017-04-07 16:48:04 UTC

Yes, I think so. Why? Because our world and
our children are changing very quickly, and we, teachers are not equipped enough to follow them.

Francesca Lauta, Italy.

francesca_lauta — 2017-04-07 16:50:46 UTC

As from the articles I read, there seems to be a gap between the demand of STEM workers and the number of people with the proper skills in this field, probably due to a lack of STEM abilities among students. I wouldn't say that the reason for that is a real LACK of skills, I would rather focus on the two following points.
- Economic changes, that naturally occur and that may cause the demand and supply not to match.
-Not a real LACK of STEM kills. I don't think we lack skills, we just haven't trained them enough.
Therefore, the role of the education system is important, in order to fill the gap and to increase the number of STEM graduations. Schools should strictly cooperate with the business sector and should provide an enhanced STEM education, using captivating resources to attract students and help them develop STEM skills.

Gordana / Croatia

gordana_divic1 — 2017-04-07 17:50:04 UTC

1) I don't know how is it in the rest of Europe, but in Croatia I believe that there is a lack of STEM skills.
2) Students don't like Math and Science because it expects of them continous work, so they rather pick social/humanistic colleges. And those who are brave enough maybe give up on STEM studies because of it's complexity.

Leo, Spain

2017-04-07 19:14:48 UTC

In my opinion, there isn´t a lack of STEM skills but there is a worrying disconnection between school studies and job market requeriments.

Marika Betts

2017-04-07 19:29:23 UTC

According to the articles provided, I think there is a lack of STEM skills in Europe although I do believe that the situation is not the same in every country. Perhaps one of the main reasons is that since an early age, students are finding barriers in opting to choose to continue their studies in scientific subjects. Exams of scientific subjects are getting harder and students are put off. Employers are finding it hard to find siutable people for particular jobs and thus some industries may face a crisis of lack of professionals with adequate scientific knowledge

Maia, Moldova

informatica_salcuta — 2017-04-07 19:29:51 UTC

Though industry experts can't come to a consensus on whether there's currently a shortage or surplus of STEM jobs.
STEM, which stands for science, technology, engineering and math, doesn't necessarily only involve working in a laboratory or having a fancy degree.
Employers seek out professionals with proven skills in science

Paula Madeira, Portugal

9c — 2017-04-07 22:22:07 UTC

I think there is a lack of STEM skills in Europe.

Particularly in Portugal there´s still a great lack of academic qualification in the majority of the population and many students find difficulties in the continuation of studies in scientific areas. Also the low wages practiced in this country make the option for more demanding professions unattractive, and thus the brain drain is evident and a reality, which naturally impoverishes this country.

Alessia, Italy

alessia_bartolucci75 — 2017-04-07 22:48:16 UTC

In Europe is difficult to find skilled workers because young graduates are not prepared for the skills currently on demand, The STEM skills gap is also caused by a demographic crisis, by information friction, by gegraphical barriers and by automatical
recruitment processes to select candidates.

Marilena, Romania

pusafai1 — 2017-04-08 05:30:35 UTC

According to the article, it has been found that 4 out of 10 firms in the EU have had problems finding staff with the right skills, so it’s clear that is a lack of STEM skills in Europe. Romania is one of the fastest-growing information technology (IT) markets in Central and Eastern Europe.

Elisa Zonca, Milan, Italy

elisa_zonca — 2017-04-08 06:25:30 UTC

Yes, there is a lack of STEM skills in Europe and one of the main reasons is cultural (not enough information to the students and low participation of women, conservative assumptions regarding traditional classic education) and structural (education too far from the work contest, not enough dual education implemented). As a consequence, employers are struggling to find the right skills because the education system is not able to create them, as effectively needed.

Óscar, Spain

2017-04-08 06:39:22 UTC

In my opinion there isn't a lack of STEM skills in Europe at present time. (In the near future, there will be, because the supply of STEM graduates from upper-secondary and higher education will be insufficient to meet demand).
However, there are mismatches and shortages in specific countries and regions of Europe.The picture varies across countries.
There are many reasons why firms find it difficult to employ skilled workers: their preference for employees with labour market experience, the " brain drain ", the fact that many STEM graduates do not work in STEM occupations, the unattractive and stressful working environments, ...

José María, Spain

josemaria_diazfuentes — 2017-04-08 08:00:55 UTC

I suppose that in all the European countries something similar happened, aging of the population and this crisis that never ends. I think, working conditions are becoming more and more temporary and young people, in general, are looking for jobs that give quick economic results without having to go into very difficult careers. I wish policies give support and provide - truly and unconditionally - STEM education

Bianca B, Romania

bbyancka — 2017-04-08 08:50:10 UTC

I think the cause for the lack of professionals is the discrepancy between what the students learn in school and the skills they actually need to work in a field.

Mugur, Romania

2017-04-08 09:58:04 UTC

1) Yes 2) There is a gap between curricula and labor market needs, especially for innovation field. Most of the schools don`t have the "scene" it is necessary to do STEM education - resources, teachers trained.

Dalibor Todorovic, Serbia

2017-04-08 11:15:40 UTC

1) It is the fact that there is a lack of STEM skills in all European countries.
2) The main reasons are exponentially grow of need for STEM experts, attrition by retirement on the one hand and insufficient number of graduate students in the field of STEM. The fact is that generally students are not interested for STEM, they think that it is difficult and it demands a lot of studying and dedication. The stereotype is that STEM subjects are boring, teachers often don't know how to motivate them and how to offer them different view on STEM.
3) Employers today are trying to find complete person with all necessary competences which is obviously necessary for STEM professions and it demands constantly and continuously professional development and sacrificing in some way and lot of employees are not ready to accept it.

Technological development

2017-04-08 13:24:07 UTC

Aldo, Naples, Italy
I think that there is a lack from individual skills and job requirements. But it is also partially caused by job environmental and society development. In fact the capitalistic system has change its mind about the relationship between profit and occupation, all to advantage the first. So, thirty years ago, a Company took care of workers: I attended different specialization courses of my companies, for example. There is a lot of kwnowledges and competencies to learn, due to current complexity of life. Then how one could follow everything? And how educational system could teach everything to students? Finally we have to handle with a well balanced evolution with human and nature considerations like core.

Ausra, Lithuania

rastdarbai — 2017-04-08 13:52:00 UTC

I think, there's a lack of STEM skills in Europe. The main reason for that, as looking from my country's position, is that school curriculum is not up to date. It doesn't have any connections with the real life and it's not getting our children ready for a future. That's why employers are finding difficulties to employ workers. They don't have necessary skills for the jobs. They only learn separate things. The integration of subjects in very small in my country.

Henar, Spain

henaroh — 2017-04-08 14:39:18 UTC

1) Do you think there is a lack of STEM skills in Europe?
Yes, I think that there is a lack of STEM skills in Europe.

Why? Technology requirements grow quickly in our world, and we have high expectations in new devices and apps.
On the other hand young people, in some cases, are not used to work hard in studies and want to reach the goals easy and fast.
And to specialize in STEM requires time, effort, motivation and the willing to do it

Claudia, Italy

2017-04-08 14:50:09 UTC

1) Yes, there is a lack of stem skills in Europe.
2) The main reason for this shortcoming, in my opinion, is cultural, but above all educational, in fact, many times the school doesn't take into account the demands of the working world, only to give an education purely theoretical hardly be spent in the workplace, consequently employers have difficulty in finding competent staff.

Nilüfer Lafcı,Turkey

2017-04-08 14:58:36 UTC

The Stem approach is not known among teachers in Turkey and is not widely used.Our curriculum in education is being tried to be integrated in science teaching next year.We need inventor workers to solve their problems.We need engineers to discover new technologies. I think that we should use the Stem approach in science education at a school.

Luigi, Italia

lferrari1 — 2017-04-08 15:08:46 UTC

1. Yes, I think so.
2. The reason is that our world and our teens are changing very quickly, and we, teachers, are not equipped enough to follow them. The demand for specialization and speed of evolution of the skills required leads to having less and less a vision of society as a whole. Consumerism also advances in occupations ..

Loredana, Italia

2017-04-08 15:30:13 UTC

1) Yes, I think that there is a lack of STEM skills in Europe.
2) I think that a lot of people underestimate the value that STEM skills have.

Pilar, Spain

2017-04-08 15:41:53 UTC

I am not sure about the current STEM skills shortage. At least the situation in my country is entirely different. Here there are a lot of highly skilled workers but sadly our economic situation force them to go abroad in order to find a proper job.
Companies offer just a little handful of posts and since the demand is so wide the labour conditions are nearly weird stories.

Christina L., Greece

crest_lou — 2017-04-08 15:56:38 UTC

I think that there is a lack of STEM skills in Europe (especially in south) because educational systems often do not offer the connection with real life requirements and markets. Therefore, people study for a long time and get skills that are not usefull.

Enrica, Italy

enrica_pipitone — 2017-04-08 16:40:25 UTC

I think there is a lack of STEM skills in Europe; the main reason is the big disconnection between school and job world. In Italy the Education Ministry tries to bridge the gap with specific projects, but there is still a long way to go

José Luis, Spain

jose_mart1617 — 2017-04-08 17:32:24 UTC

1) I suppose there is a lack of STEM skills in Europe, but I think there are some countries which bigger shortage than others. For example, I think that in my country, Spain, there are many formed STEM students applying for a job. They finally have to work out of Spain.
2) I suppose we are starting to have a demographic crisis and we can't find enough motivated STEM students to fit the market need.
3) Likely the jobs are too specific for the graduate student's skills.

Myriam, Spain

cienciesbenaguasil — 2017-04-08 17:55:50 UTC

I think there could be a lack of STEM skills because some educational programs contain more theory themes than practise, that makes students to find STEM subjects more difficult than others.

One of the main reasons is economy. These programs should have less students in each classroom and enough material to learn some themes practising theory. That means more teachers and more resources to schools.

The offer of professional formation should suit to demands in job market, and in University there should be more information that connects students with industries and the different types of job they could look for.

In my country there is also a lack of offers in job market that makes some STEM graduated students go to other countries to look for a job and a lot of them look for a job here, only a job, despite it is not related with their formation.

Eva, Spain

2017-04-08 18:09:17 UTC

In my country, the situation is quite different. As a consequence of economic crisis, our industry is weak and investigation projects have been limited. Because of that, among other reasons, our STEM workers have to go abroad to get a job.

Vita, Italy

ciullavita — 2017-04-08 19:45:33 UTC

I think that a big problem in Italy is the lack of dialogue between universities and companies.
Moreover, the university courses are often too theoretical and do not prepare for the real requests of companies.

Sofía, Spain

2017-04-08 21:15:36 UTC

I recognise there are areas with shortages as STEM professions, but it depends on the country and the type of job and, although a lack of skills is to blame in many cases, sometimes factors such as "poor terms and conditions of employment" are responsible. Moreover, some people will still not be attracted to those jobs, sometimes insecure, low pay and stressful works.

Özlem, Turkey

ozlemtalip — 2017-04-08 21:40:40 UTC

I don't really think that the main problem is the lack of skills in STEM careers, almost in my country.

Giulia Italy

2017-04-09 06:18:31 UTC

Italy is almost far from the other European countries from STEM skills and experiences in Stem at school. I SUPPOSE it's due to our traditional culture. School activities and competition are directed more on,letterature, art,music.

Lucia, Italy

2017-04-09 06:28:47 UTC

I think that in Italy there is a lack of STEM skills. Science and tecnology are not considered so important for our students (too mich difficult and far from their everyday life). Moreover, science is introduced to students in a theoretical way and students are not engaged in learning it.

Nacho, Spain

2017-04-09 09:44:32 UTC

In my country the biggest problem is the lack of support from research and development institutions. The researchers are better qualified than the average, but not their leaders.

Nicole, Italy

2017-04-09 10:45:27 UTC

I think there are lack of STEM skills in Italy because the curriculum is too focused on teaching theory and there isn't enough time and space dedicated to applying ones knowledge and problem-solving, which are fundamental skills that students will need once they enter the job market.

Domenico, Italy

d_dicarolo — 2017-04-09 10:48:36 UTC

I think the gap in STEM skills in Italy is caused by the educational sistem very backward with the most school workshops not updated to the modern technologies.

Teresa Capano, Italy

2017-04-09 11:32:29 UTC

In a constantly changing society such as ours, the skills required will always be more specific, high-profile, so it would be appropriate to address students toward Stem. But Italy still lags behind the rest of Europe for two reasons: lack of appropriate policies and disparities between education and the world of work

Veronica, Romania

2017-04-09 12:42:21 UTC

I think here in Romania, so in Europe, is a lack of STEM skills. In our programs for mathematics, physics, chemistry are very thick, we teachers actually running through matter without being able to make good feed - back of the concepts taught. put still based on theory and not practice, as it should.
The faculty does not serve nothing matters graduate, so he must commit without having made contact with what his job entails. On the other hand, most employers want workers with minimal experience, which is not a graduate. But the company no longer wants or those older so that engineers, foremen with experience are hired not because they have more than 45 years.
Too bad we have the best mathematicians and computer scientists with outstanding results in international Olympiads and competitions, including NASA. We do not know how to appreciate them, so they decide to leave Romania in other countries where they pay much better and recognized their merits.

Helena, Portugal

2017-04-09 13:37:11 UTC

I consider that there are enough STEM skills in Europe. However, one of the major issues that lead to the thought of lacking skills is how they are spread and the emigration rates among European countries. Particularly in my country (Portugal), most STEM professional’s can´t find good job opportunities (despite their skills) and they have to search other jobs, many times not related to their field of studies.

Giovanna, Italy

g_maloccu — 2017-04-09 15:15:38 UTC

I believe that science was not as important as it should have in our school programs until a few years ago. In our schools there was a preponderance of the humanistic culture. In recent years the scientific importance of education is coming out, but our school was not ready to deal with change. In addition, the school does not speak to university and school and universities do not speak to the world of work.

Iwona, Poland

iwona_inka — 2017-04-09 15:42:30 UTC

In my opinion there is a lack of STEM skills in Europe. Our educational systems are not keeping pace with development of the world. I think it is not enough computer classes or classes developing critical thinking skill in school curriculum.

Susana HC

sugusclagui — 2017-04-09 15:56:53 UTC

The main reasons why there is a lack of STEM skills in Spain are education and recruitment processes.

Education here is far from the actual skills needed at STEM jobs all over Europe. By and large, STEM education is taught from a mainly theoretical point of view. Students don’t get the opportunity to put into practice their subjects.

Afterwards, most companies look for experienced workers and freshly graduates are not taken into account. Thus, their first jobs are usually in a different field from their degrees. That is not the best way to gain experience in specific areas.

Diana Šoltić, Croatia

diana_bosnjak — 2017-04-09 16:05:22 UTC

Yes, there is a lack of STEM skills. Students like to follow the path of least resistance, and for STEM career you need hard working. Why would they choose STEM, when they can, with less effort graduates. They don't think what would be.
On the other side, ours schools aren't enough equipped, also there are not enough communications between schools and job market.

Paolo, Italy

2017-04-09 17:46:39 UTC

If it's true that in Europe there is a gap about the stem, I think there is a gap also between the different states. In general, there is a gap between supply and demand, probably because the increase of the economi 4.0 in europe is late and also the teaching inside the school of the new skills. In Italy the Furthermore if we consider the different inside the states I think we can try other different. For example in Italy the increase of economia 4.0 is in particular in North, and late. In the South there isn't a demand, because the state doesn't invest, and then there isn't sensibility among the school and the teacher.

Grażyna, Poland

sp171wesola — 2017-04-09 17:53:13 UTC

It is possible that there is a lack of STEM skills in Europe but the situation may not be dramatic. Employers have difficulties to employ workers because their systems of recruitment may not work properly. They want to hire people with particular knowledge and skills but they do not stay in touch with training institutions like universities to precise their demands according to graduates. Some potential employees may recruit from disappearing industries and after a short training they would fit to new jobs.

Paolo Italy

2017-04-09 18:11:25 UTC

The gap exist also between the states. For example in Italy the investment in economia 4.0 is late and also the interest inside the school. There is also a different between the north and the south Italy, because the state invest in particular in the north. In the south there isn't demand and then there isn't sypply and sometimes interest.

Paolo Italy

2017-04-09 18:12:10 UTC

Fran, Spain

2017-04-09 18:15:18 UTC

It's possible that there is a lack of STEM skills in Europe. But, to be honest, the survey shows important contrasts between different countries of EU. Moreover, this gap of skills might be cover with population of other countries with this
skills. It is the spirit of EU, free movement of people owned to Europe, isn't it
?. Answering 3rth question, it is possible employers don't see in the correct way to found workers in this globalised world. Our market is the whole EU, but not Spain or a single region.

Paolo, Italy

paolodamanti — 2017-04-09 18:17:45 UTC

If it's true that in Europe there is a gap about the stem, I think there is a gap also between the different states. In general, there is a gap between supply and demand, probably because the increase of the economi 4.0 in europe is late and also the teaching inside the school of the new skills.
The gap exist also between the states. For example in Italy the investment in economia 4.0 is late and also the interest inside the school. There is also a different between the north and the south Italy, because the state invest in particular in the north. In the south there isn't demand and then there isn't sypply and sometimes interest.

Ana María, Spain

2017-04-09 21:16:06 UTC

I really think that the lack of STEM skills in Europe is real, and I am convinced that this lack began to grow some decades ago.

In my opinion the current problem is that the educational systems have lost the necessary academic level in sciences as well as the effort has became something to be avoided. I mean, the critical and open-mind thinking and the basics knowledge required for science learning imply necessarily an intellectual effort made by the students, and this factor has been seen as evil in the last 10 years.

Other problem , at least in my country , is that during the last 20 years, the science and technology graduates choices have been emigrating or working in very poor conditions, if they are able to find a qualified work .

It is difficult to convince pupils to follow STEM careers when they know some life stories.

So I think that certainly there has been a decrease in STEM skills quality, but also that there are well STEM qualified people lost by the recruitments systems and the employers labour conditions offers.

MARINA,ITALY

marinademma — 2017-04-09 21:26:38 UTC

WHEN YOU TALK ABOUT STEM YOU CAN READ FROM EVERYBODY EYES THE DIFFICULTY TO UNDERSTAND IT,THAT IS THE REASON WHY IT IS SO HARD TO GET UP OF IT

Silvia, Italy

2017-04-09 22:47:30 UTC

I think that in Italy discipline programs are too focused on teaching theory and students have no possibility to put on practice their knowledge

Bea, Spain

2017-04-10 06:47:37 UTC

I don't think that there is a lack of STEM students in my country (Spain), moreover lot of young students of science degrees didn't find a job according with his qualification.
I think that the real problem, at least in Spain, is the disconnection betewen the university and the real work in a company. Our students don't learn at the university the real practical skills that companys and industry are demanding, what it's very frustanting for our students.

Vita, Lithuania

2017-04-10 09:07:02 UTC

Teachers don't have enough STEM skills. Many of them don't know about STEM anything. Educational system is outdated, curriculum in education is quite far away of real life.

Andrius, Lithuania

andriusstorta — 2017-04-10 10:57:29 UTC

The biggest problem in Lithuania I think so is, what we still don't have a strategy how to combine knowledges with business. Also to if we want to learn students on STEM skills, we as teachers also must learn how to work an this direction, need material, need practice, bus material ant practice must be not like a course, or webinar it must be real practice, with real people, real problem, real solution of it. The employers have a problem with staff, because university's and also schools (it's only my opinion) giving mostly a academic knowledge's, but forgetting give to students a creativity. Firstly we must prepare a teachers who will be creative, because we have a lot of information, but we don't know exactly how to use it.

David González, Spain.

2017-04-10 11:38:52 UTC

I think that we have a big problem in my country since there is a disconnection between the university and the real work in a company.
Universities should offer students real practical skills in a company or factory they want to know.
I must admit that students are very frustrate because they need practice their knowledges in a real work.

Rosella, Italy.

2017-04-10 12:35:08 UTC

I think there are shortages of STEM skills in Italy because teaching is too theoretical.

There isn’t space and there isn’t time for real experiences that will be fundamental for students ‘s future.

We must find ways to apply the knowledge to the real world so that one day it will be spent in the workplace.

Carmela F. , Lamezia Terme, Italy

2017-04-10 12:43:19 UTC

In Europe, youth unemployment has now reached high levels (with some differences between State and State); many working areas are now saturated, it is therefore necessary that young people invest on training, which specialize in areas where there is a strong demand for labor.
They are "knowledge-intensive sectors", which require specific skills and a highly qualified training.
For this reason, many young people do not choose them and employers find it difficult to hire workers.
I think there is another problem, an unbalanced concentration of jobs and skills in the European economy and the unwillingness of people to move to another state.

CARMEN LOURDES RAMÍREZ RAMÍREZ

clramirez — 2017-04-10 13:56:28 UTC

The first question, I think yes, because we don´t teach STEAM our school as such, but rather areas without a relationship between them. The reason, really I don´t know, perhaps we need teach a strict curriculum on time.

Marianna, Italy

mariannafebbi — 2017-04-10 14:21:06 UTC

I read with interest the statistics provided. But... talking about my experience, the problem of unemployment, with regard to knowledge intensive sectors, it can be attributed almost exclusively to low pay (at least in Italy!). Here families and students invest a lot of money in their education and training, but unfortunately in the job market a professional is paid with small research grants or vouchers. At 30/40 years is impossible and unacceptable work with a salary from internships of about 400 euro per month.

Bilgen Tas, Turkey

bilgenoca — 2017-04-10 14:57:13 UTC

I think there's a lack of STEM skills in Turkey and I think the main reason for that is the fact that often the educatıon they receive is based only in the knowledge and no on the practice. I think that students need to do practical activities to improve their skills. The best way to reach an effective learning is learning by doing. Today many students know every topics studied but only few students are able to apply their knowladge

Casian Marian, Romania

2017-04-10 15:23:34 UTC

I think here in Romania, so in Europe, is a lack of STEM skills.

Sandra, Portugal

ferrao_sandra — 2017-04-10 15:24:15 UTC

In my view, the lack of competence of the STEM in Portugal is due to the way in which the school itself, teaching and learning continue to be equal to the last century. Most classrooms are rows of students, quietly listening to the teacher. The main and only goal is to fulfill the curriculum that is too academic and impractical. It is always a challenge for the teacher (secondary level) to find time to develop classroom activities where students can be creative, problem solvers, critical thinkers, and work collaboratively in the development of projects involving multiple areas.

Maria Daniela, Italy

mariadaniela_renna — 2017-04-10 15:25:47 UTC

I think there is a lack of STEM skills in Europe, and especially in Italy, because we teach STEM but not a STEM education. At school,we teach maths, science but we don't teach to solve problems. The formation of our scientists is often far from the demands of the current markets.

Oksana Buturlina, Ukraine

buturlin71 — 2017-04-10 16:01:55 UTC

In my opinion, there is a lack of skills in Europe and in my country, Ukraine. But the reasons for Europe and Ukraine are different. About Europe, I see three key reasons: 1/ the deterioration of fundamental education quality , 2/ the difficulty of acquiring STEM-professions, because they need high of intellectual development, deep knowledge in mathematics, the sciences, creative thinking. 3/ the existing stereotypes and public opinion significant impact on students choice, "successfull" professions traditionally associated with such of feelds as legal practice,
medicine, IT, accounting, economic sciences... Ukrainian problems connect with low level of salary and the collapse of the industry and the lack of jobs.

Esra Onuk, Turkey

esraonuk314 — 2017-04-10 16:03:56 UTC

I think the biggest problem for my country is the inability of teacher about STEM. The most of the teachers don't know even the meaning of STEM. Since teachers have significant role for education, they should be trained first.

Erki, Estonia

2017-04-10 16:34:34 UTC

1) I was surprised, that the lack in Estonia is 70%. 2) The reason is the salary, in resent years the brains go to England and US. The demand of IT speicalists, especially software writers is enormous. Sadly I must admit that in the past the ratio was 20:80, now it's hardy 10:90 who can do good at sciences.

Cigdem Alvan, Turkey

2017-04-10 16:56:34 UTC

1) Yes, there is lack of STEM skills
2) The main reason for that the schools and universities don't give practice for STEM, students can not experience out of the things that they have learned

Antonio, Spain

2017-04-10 17:01:32 UTC

I think there is this lack in Europe, but is different for individuals countries, especially in Spain. I think Spain will be the skills supply for the north countries, here turisme and there, at north, technology.

Ramutė Bytautė, Lithuania 1). Yes, there is lack of STEM skills. Lithuania precision, technology and natural sciences do not attract a sufficient number of individuals: 46.4% Lithuanian universities prefer students of social science professions, and vocational schools leading services to individuals studios. 2). One of the reasons is too theoretical precision and natural things in training, lack of usability and understanding how things precision can be applied in our daily life.

2017-04-10 17:05:05 UTC

Ana P., Spain

2017-04-10 17:49:57 UTC

I am a technology teacher in secondary school.
On one hand, careers in Spain, in general but especially those related to STEM, require very deep theoretician knowlede which is not normally used in professional situations and many times is forgotten. Not enough time is devoted to practical content and
there is a rapprochement between students and institutions or companies of the sector, even when this is good for both.

On the other hand, my high school students, often, let me know that the scientific-technical grades are too difficult and that the effort required is not worth it because they are not going to be rewarded with a good job nor they will be valued professionally. Unfortunately, in Spain, society admires other professionals, whether they have merits to be praised or not.

Iris Ayelo, Spain.

2017-04-10 18:01:37 UTC

I think that is not a lack of STEM skills, I think there are several reasons why we perceive that.
In one hand, STEM professions are not enough valued for the society, so not much people choose them.
Also, many people think that studies related to science are difficult, and this is our fault, as science teachers.
For these reasons, a lot of good science students do not choose STEM careers.

Jorge J. Bañón, Spain

2017-04-10 18:24:45 UTC

Do you think there is a lack of STEM skills in Europe?

Yes, there is a lack of STEM skills in Spain, because we teach subjects without a relationship between them.

I think that the main reason for that is that curriculums between the different science subjects aren’t coordinated.

Anastasia, Italy

2017-04-10 18:31:50 UTC

I think there is a lack of STEM skills in Italy because is given more focus a superficial knowledge that pratical skills.

Lotte, Denmark

tingsager68 — 2017-04-10 19:17:22 UTC

Do you think there is a lack of STEM skills in EU? Yes there is. In Denmark there are not enough students in the STEM educations, but this year the application for education in these areas at the universities has improved. I don´t think the government and the businesses has been good enough at explaining the need of staff in these areas.

In the schools until now, there has´nt been any collaboration between the three science subjects geography, biology and physics and chemistry. But from this year the educators have to collaborate because the curriculum has been changed and the students have to be assessed in all 3 subjects together.

Sergi Meseguer, Spain

smesegue — 2017-04-10 19:23:55 UTC

Firstly, and regarding the facts, it certainly seems that there is a real lack of STEM skills in Europe, it is an evidence, since the global and financial crisis that had led to a loss of competitiveness and lower productivity in some industrial fields. Secondly, this situation could be related with a declining of the European population and with a demand with new STEM skills together to a restructuring of some specific sectors.

M Rosario, Spain

2017-04-10 19:33:55 UTC

In my opinion in Europe there is a lack of STEM
skills. But in Spain is different because of economical crisis and a very high unemployment rate. And many graduated in STEM careers must go abroad to find a qualifiyed job.

Mariano, Spain

mariano_medgom — 2017-04-10 19:35:45 UTC

I think there is lack of STEM skills in Europe. In my opinion, and in my country, STEM studies get a very bad press among the students. Only IT options are named among the favorites by a certain number of students, mainly boys (very few girls) who like videogames. But other studies, such as Physics or Mathematics are often perceived as difficult and theoretical. Students has no clear picture about which professional opportunities comes after but instead they strongly believe that any future job is going to be underpaid, so their effort may not be worth.

I would also say that in our education system, Math is one of the main barriers that discourage students from choosing STEM options. It is often the hardest subject with low pass rates, not only in Secondary, but also in Primary School, where aversion to Math often starts.

Adriana Laze Albania

adrianalaze — 2017-04-10 19:52:47 UTC

I don't think that in Europe there is a lack of skills. The STEM skills are existing but at my point of view , these skills are not motivated, not evaluated regarding to the salary. .So I have been one of the Math Teachers that do not have recommend to my best students to be a Math Teacher. And why to be? The salary is the same for every teacher meanwhile that Math is so important , because if the student is good in Math then he would be and in Physic and Chemistry. And the Math Teachers are working so much they are not evaluated.If the science proffesions would be payed good the students will try so much.

Esra, Turkey

esraduyguu — 2017-04-10 20:53:17 UTC

The real problem in the countries is the lack of STEM awareness.

Ana Franco, Barcelos, Portugal

ana_lufranco — 2017-04-10 22:04:16 UTC

In my view and judging by what is happening in Portugal, there is first a huge dismantling between companies and schools / universities. It is enough to see the investment that has been made in Europe in qualifying offers at the level of secondary education and how a large part of the companies receive them. It is clear that both secondary school students and students leaving universities have to be integrated with companies with specific training for the tools they will be dealing with. And in Portugal we obviously had a critical mass flight given the whole economic crisis that the country is going through and our licentiates emigrated, the search for better lives and countries where wages corresponded to their level of education. The whole crisis they refer to is, in my view, structural between governments, schools and the labor market.

Nuria, Spain

padillamarcos_nuria — 2017-04-10 22:08:25 UTC

As everybody knows, STEM jobs are occupations that require an education in science, technology, engineering, or mathematics disciplines.
In my opinion, and after I had read and follow some studies from prestigious universities around the world, if we look at the STEM labor market, for every two students graduating with a STEM degree, only one is employed in a STEM one. I think we can attribute this situation to a lack of available jobs, but
I think too, that, what really are happening is that there is a dramatic situation created by the labor market itself: the shift back to remote work and jobs that explicitly allow work from home.

Aleksandra Blazevska, Skopje,Macedonia

prof_acka — 2017-04-10 22:20:54 UTC

In my point of view there is lack of STEM skills in Europe. The main reasons of that on my opinion is old curriculum and and unwillingness of teachers.

Giusy, Italy

gy_ponticiello — 2017-04-11 00:02:29 UTC

I think there is a lack of skills Stem in my country. Infact It is more given focus a superficial knwledge that pratical activities unlike in the past

Iraklis Markelis, Thessaloniki, Macedonia, Greece

2017-04-11 04:53:08 UTC

I think there is a lack of STEM mostly in developed countries where the need to find a job is less than it is in the ones with smaller economies. I also believe that taxing policies and economy measures that strangle investments are a great problem in those countries (with the small economies) that drive away potential investors. This is the main reason that leads young people to leave their country and offer their productivity skills in healthier economic environments.

Lavinia, Romania

2017-04-11 05:30:56 UTC

I" ve read a lot of opinions on this paddlet and
I found that my opinion is similar with almost everything was already said.
Yes I think there is a lack of STEM skills in Europe nowdays :
*economical crisis and a very high unemployment rate do not motivate students to choose STEM cariers
* outdated school curricula and educational policy
are the main reasons in my opinion .

Galip BERK / Turkhia

2017-04-11 07:57:41 UTC

I think the gap in STEM skills in Turkey is caused by the educational sistem very backward with the most school workshops not updated to the modern technologies.

Ana, Spain

annargarcia — 2017-04-11 08:15:55 UTC

After reading both articles, I think that it is possible that there will be a lack of STEM skills in Europe considering the future great demand and the demographic crisis in European population. However, from my point of view, greographical barriers and information friction are essential for the future. I live in a small town in Murcia adn students and even most teachers are far away from thinking in living and working outside their country.

Miriam, Spain

miriam_gutort — 2017-04-11 08:21:55 UTC

I think there is a lack of STEM skills in Europe for different reasons. On the one hand, Educational Systems do not prepare students for the real world. On the other hand, the world is changing extremely fast so students have to study and improve their knowledge all time to be ready for a job.

REUBEN, Spain

RUBS — 2017-04-11 12:26:31 UTC

Statistics don’t lie. There Statistics don’t lie. There are many countries within the EU where employers have many difficulties trying to find suitable STEM skilled employees, so the lack of STEM skills exists. At the same time countries like Spain, where the crisis devastated the industrial fabric, cannot absorb their own fresh university STEM graduates who can only go abroad to start their careers. The reason for this lack of STEM skills within the EU is just a matter of preferences when the students pick up their own future and we –as teachers- should inspire them so choose STEM studies in order to get this situation balanced.

Vanda Serpa, Azores

2017-04-11 12:34:37 UTC

After reading both articles and analyze my region my opinion is the biggest problema is caused by the educational sistem very backward with the most school don´t have the modern technologies. The students only use the computador to play at home, because in school, they can´t use for research or develop a project because they are not available.If we teachers don´t have tools, your discipline programs are too focused on teaching theory and students have no possibility to put on practice their knowledge.
And in the last years, in Portugal because the economic crisis our licentiates emigrated to search for better lives.

A

ahmetsahin80 — 2017-04-11 16:34:12 UTC

Ahmet ŞAHİN Türkiye Adana

ahmetsahin80 — 2017-04-11 16:34:12 UTC

STEM education in Europe is inadequate. These graphics also appear. The goal of the training is to educate people who are producing useful, collecting.

Fatih TOY / Turkey

mrtoy — 2017-04-11 16:36:35 UTC

I think there is a shortage of STEM skills in Europe according to the given statistics in the articles. Despite the generalization drawback in the articles, the statistics don't mislead us in order to reach an accurate solution. To talk about my own country, there is also lack of STEM awareness because not most of the students have any information about it. It is not very simple to change the current curriculum and integrate STEM into curriculum but there are some innovative teachers who are mostly into innovation technologies. The disparity between education institutions and association of employers leads to a STEM lack. For this reason, firstly education policy makers are accountable for such a shortage.

Adil Tugyan

2017-04-11 17:03:17 UTC

The reason for the lack of stem studies in Europe may be testing and outcome based Learning not the process. Change can take time.

José Spain. In my opinion there is no lack of skills in Europe. In Spain, we have the problem of low salaries for STEM skills.

2017-04-11 17:46:42 UTC

Iva G., Croatia

iva_golec — 2017-04-11 18:38:19 UTC

I think there is a lack of STEM skills in Europe and if some things don't change in near future this problem will just grow. By my opinion the main problem is current school system (in Croatia for sure, but I also believe situation is very similar in other countries of EU). Our school system is old and it didn't change for decades (in most of primary and high schools). Schools did start to use new technologies (computers, laptops, internet etc.) but school system remain the same. Mostly, classes are still front-end classes. There is a huge lack of project based learning and inquiry based learning and new teaching and learning methods like flipped classrom for example. I believe that changes in school system and in teaching methods and approaches are the key to minimizing STEM skills gap.

Toñi, Spain

antoniamaria_sanchez — 2017-04-11 19:23:18 UTC

I have been thinking about the supposed lack of STEM skills in Europe and the difficulties that STEM graduates find when they are looking for job.
By the first article, Spain hasn't any lack ok STEM skill, we are a exporter source.
Reading the second one, it may seem that employers don't have nothing to do with the difficulties to find skilled people . From my point of view, STEM workers usually are underpaid for these employers, therefore they have to migrate .
Furthermore, good STEM workers are a product of a good educational system: educational institutions should be aware of analysing the social and technological changes and being able to update curricula .
To sum up, I have drawn a big sketch. In red, you can read the strong ideas.

Arzu, Turkey

2017-04-11 20:40:18 UTC

STEM eduction is inadequate in Europe because citizens do not realize the sustainable need for development.

Elisa, Portugal

elisasaraiva6 — 2017-04-11 21:03:53 UTC

The lack of STEM skills in Portugal is due to the way science is teached and learned in Portugal.

Sonia, Spain

sturrion — 2017-04-11 23:18:46 UTC

I don't think so.
There isn't a lack of STEM skills, at least in Spain.
On the one hand, there is not a connection between education and real life. so students have STEM skills but they are probably unfit for work.
On the other hand, the talent shortages are related with brain drain because of economical crisis. On my view, people with STEM careers are usually underpaid, so they have to move to foreing countries.

Ernesto, Spain

2017-04-12 10:05:12 UTC

I do not consider that there is a lack of STEM skills in Spain, but there should be a more multidisciplinary methodology and a better approach and participation with the business world. Many times the students have the knowledge, but do not know how to apply it in the world of work.

Fabiola, Italy

ciottifab — 2017-04-12 11:37:57 UTC

There is a lack of STEM skills. In fact students prefer to study Humanities because for STEM skills they have to study hard. They don't want sacrifice himself to the study of mathematics, for example, because they say they don't need it. So it's very important that our students are able to apply their knowlwdge. In this way they can have skills that they can use when they enter in the job market.

Maria , Spain

2017-04-12 13:23:39 UTC

In my opinion, it´s an evidence that there's a lack of STEM skills in our students. Most of the time our students have the theoretical knowledge but they find difficulties to apply it to the real world.

Snežana, Serbia

zanahajlovic — 2017-04-12 14:29:01 UTC

In Serbia, STEM approach is not enough known among teachers. Because of that we need more information and inventor workers which can include STEM in our school

Loli, Spain

2017-04-12 15:34:45 UTC

I think that there is not a lack of Stem skills. the problem is that we need more connection between the theoretical knowledge and practical, skills and real life. Besides , our students think : what am I going to do when I finish my degree, " I will not be able to develope my career " because there is not a good job market. They have to work very hard when they are studying and then nothing to do.

Agustín, Spain

2017-04-12 16:31:16 UTC

From my point of view, there is not a lack of STEM skills in my country. In fact a lot of engineers have to emigrate to other countries to find a job. In my opinion, the main problem, apart from the economical crisis, is that subjects in the spanish universities are very theorical and they are not focused on real life.

Ana, Spain

2017-04-12 17:40:43 UTC

In my opinion, there is not a lack of STEM skills in my country because there are a lot of new engineers every year but less qualified workers. I think that in the last years students were only interested in a university degree as solution for finding a job and they should have noticed that there were other ways as Vocational Education.

Josefa G., Spain

jguarner — 2017-04-12 18:13:07 UTC

I' ve read a lot of opinions in this padlet and I think that my opinion is similar. There is a lack of STEAM in Europe. We teach maths, science, physics, technology in our schools and universities but the curriculum is far from the real world.
It's a challenge for the teacher to find time to develope activities where students can be creative, solve problems, collaborate and open their minds.

Rosa Medeiros, Portugal

rosa_medeiros1 — 2017-04-12 18:31:11 UTC

I do not understand why Portugal did not enter this study. We know that Portugal is one of the most country they are graduate young in the different areas. We know that more than 30,000 graduates in recent years have been absorbed by European countries. In our country I think that the problem is not no graduate STEM, but in the young find the job market that admits them.
young

Mª José, Spain I consider there is not a lack of STEM skills in my country. On the one hand the problem is the way we teach students. They have to learn too much theory about math, physical, chemistry, biology or technology, and usually without a relation between different areas. On the other hand, I think that we teach at school knowledges that are far away from the real science or technology advances.

mrodriguezba — 2017-04-12 18:53:11 UTC

Aycan,Turkey

2017-04-12 21:31:35 UTC

In my country there is a lack of STEM skills. Our education system is not structured to meet the needs of the developing STEM fields. We should teach them not just to use and consume but also to create, to produce. They don't know how to integrate their knowledge to the real world.

Michelle, Australia

miche1 — 2017-04-13 06:49:43 UTC

I'm not convinced with either sets of evidence to make a judgement here. What I do know is that there is most definitely a STEM skills shortage in Australia, especially in engineering, medicine and health services. Pay rates within Australia's mining industry has skewed the figures and young people over the last 10-15 years have scrambled for jobs on mines hoping to get a cut of the big money. This in turn has lead to a shortage in the labour market of STEM skilled persons and thus, Australia is bringing in skilled professionals from around the globe. For Australia, we need to encourage our children to take up more STEM subjects at school and sustain growth in these sectors.

Eva, Italy

eva_genesio — 2017-04-13 08:56:39 UTC

In Italy the problem is less significative than other EU countries because the investment in R&D is lower than in other countries and in the last ten years we face a decreasing in STEM job opportunities. I think in my country is a problem of perspective and long time investment due to shortsight government and industry. Moreover the University system does not prepare to the professional figures requested by the market and the job agency are not specialized to select these specific profiles.

Anabela Neves, Portugal

2017-04-13 10:47:52 UTC

I agree with what Rosa Madeiros, from Portugal, says.

Jasenka, Croatia

2017-04-13 12:43:02 UTC

I think there is a lack of STEM skills in Europe, especially in Croatia. There are a lot of reasons: low funding of education from the goverment, our educational system is mainly based on theory, only schools and colleges in big cities have enough funds to organize parctical classes, a lot of people are informaticaly illiterate and really passive when it comes to individual researching and taking additional courses.

Cristina, Italy

cristina_spinucci — 2017-04-13 14:22:36 UTC

I think the cause is contagious and causes laziness. It's “mathsphobia” and is a psychological disease. A study, conducted by a group of American psychologists, has unveiled the inheritance of hatred towards mathematics. And the transition is very easy: from father to son. But what is transmitted is just anxious to deal with the matter. So the first cause of the problem is therefore the same presentation of the material from mom and dad. The second reason is rather the teaching method. In fact, instead of teaching a reasoned approach tends to explain to the kids the math with memory.

Ceyda Basmacı, Turkey

2017-04-13 14:36:39 UTC

I agree with the fact that there's a lack of stem skills around Europe. Stem skills should be integrated into each level of educational system. To set an example, in our school multidisciplinary ESL lessons and D.I. clubs serve for a system which fosters students' creativity, courage and curiosity within the fields of Science , technology, engineering and maths. In order to fill the gap, schools should accept the change and train the teachers with such methodology. Unfortunately state schools lack such opportunities that cater for the necessary abilities. For this reason, currently more than half of the graduates have skill shortages which lead to the existence of the skill gaps in job fields.

Maria Pia, Italy

marandolamariapia — 2017-04-13 15:40:04 UTC

One important problem is the diference between what employers need and what schools teaches.
In my opinion there is a lack of STEM skills in Europe. Our educational systems are not keeping pace with development of the world.

As a result of non-compliance knowledge and skills that students receive upon graduation and skills required by the employer, there is the problem of unemployment. Some students fill their STEM skills gap through the many courses and professional trainings .But most of them stay at home and wait for job. On the other hand employers have to train new workers to improve their skills.

vesnica_hem — 2017-04-13 18:22:20 UTC

Teuta, Albania

gazidedet — 2017-04-13 19:19:00 UTC

In Albania many students get graduated every year, and there are no chances to get a job in public institutions. They prefer to be employed in public institutions instead of private ones because there is lack of STEAM's skills.
Private companies require professional ones.

Can SÜZER, TURKEY

2017-04-13 19:27:37 UTC

STEM is very new in Turkey. I am not sure whether there is any statics about it. Companies expectations are notimportant for me. I don't about it. If we educate students truly, we can reach our goal

Natasa Miljanovic, Serbia

natasamiljanovic — 2017-04-13 20:15:13 UTC

1) Do you think there is a lack of STEM skills in Europe? No. There are enough people with STEM skills in Europe. 2) Why do people think there is a lack of STEM skills in Europe? Maybe the reason is because they are not given the evidence of either lack or abundance. If you look at the internet, you will see a vast "library" of materials created by very intelligent and able abundance of STEM scientists and teachers in Europe. BUT, they are not movie stars, they are not famous, nobody makes them shine in front of our eyes. We should be doing just that. 3) Why employers find problems to employ workers? I will answer with another question, and it would be retorical: DO THEY PAY THEM AS MUCH AS THEY DESERVE. Maybe thay should offer a bigger salary?

Gavin Ireland

2017-04-13 21:45:04 UTC

1) Do you think there is a lack of STEM skills in Europe?
No
3) If not, why are employers finding difficulties to employ worke
From 2003 to 2013, the number of people working in occupations related to STEM grew by 12%, three times faster than total employment in the EU. Occupations in these fields now account for 7% of all jobs and demand for skills linked to these disciplines is anticipated to increase, particularly in the area of information and communications technology (ICT).
However, although many pockets of excellence exist, Europe as a whole is not keeping pace with demand for STEM skills. Employers in many regions of the EU report difficulties in finding people with the right skills, particularly ICT professionals, or, conversely, that graduates from STEM fields lack the problem-solving and communication skills necessary in modern business environments. While the number of people choosing to study STEM subjects in higher education continues to rise, patterns vary across the Union. These subjects are still often seen as “difficult” or unappealing, and a significant number of STEM graduates choose to work in other areas after they graduate.

Miguel Ángel, Burgos

kapy83 — 2017-04-13 22:29:29 UTC

1) Do you think there is a lack of STEM skills in Europe?
I think there are very good STEM professionals in Europe and young people are very well trained and even more, with the capacity and willingness to learn and demonstrate their value. On the other hand, there are many people without a qualified technical education. Training in "flexibility of mind" may be lacking.
2) If so, which is the main reason for that?
Training in problem solving is required. A STEM training.
3) If not, why are employers finding difficulties to employ workers?
If I had an answer to this question, I could be a government advisor ...
The world of work may move faster than the academic world. It is impossible for the school to train people for very specific tasks. The training has to be in problem solving skills and the student has to understand the need for such learning. On the other hand, companies would have to give specific training to workers.

In short: it is a very complex problem to deal with in a few lines, there are too many factors involved.

Luis E. González, Valladolid

luisgf — 2017-04-14 00:12:06 UTC

1) Do you think there is a lack of STEM skills in Europe?
I think the world is running faster than the education and for this we have to do an effort to evolve quickly. Our problem (Spain) is that never have an unique law that allows freedom to embrace these changes more quickly.

2) If so, which is the main reason for that?
Precisely we can not cover all the changes that occur today. We also have no means.

3) If not, why are employers finding difficulties to employ workers?
We also have the problem of comfort. Why learn if I have everything I need?

Patrizia Italy

p_bongiovi — 2017-04-14 05:51:46 UTC

I consider there is a lack of STEM skills in my country. Probably, it is related to the methods of teaching in high school and university. Our students learn a lot of theory about STEM and without a relation between different areas. Moreover, these knowledges are not connected with real life or tecnological innovations

Judita Bojić, Croatia

2017-04-14 09:43:17 UTC

1) Do you think there is a lack of STEM skills in Europe? I don't know for Europe, but in my country for sure there is a lack of STEM skills.
2) If so, which is the main reason for that? School programs are left in past, like 20 or more years ago, and reform is failed, so we are on the beginning again. So our kids don't even consider STEM carees because they are strange to them.

Irena, Lithuania

2017-04-14 10:51:08 UTC

I believe that there is a lack of STEM skills in Europe. The main reason is that it is difficult to study these subjects and students must be capable of abstract thinking.

Donatella, Rome

scuolaprimariade — 2017-04-14 11:36:16 UTC

Yes, there is a lack of Stem skills in Europe. In fact sources have provided evidence that european industries face difficulties in finding skilled workers.
The main reason for that is young graduate are not prepared for the skills currenty on demand.
In my opinion there is difference between what workers need and what schools teaches.

Jan, Czech Republic

preclik — 2017-04-14 12:21:52 UTC

1) definitely yes
2) STEM subjects are not very popular among students, especially maths. Learning these subjects is not quite easy, students need to think about things, not only memorize them...

Nuria, Spain

2017-04-14 14:32:50 UTC

1) My answer is yes, as well as the people that think that there is a lack of STEM skills in Europe.
2) From my point of view this happen because students find them more difficult.

Laura, Italy

2017-04-14 14:57:05 UTC

There is a lack of STEM skills. And the reason seems to be the not so good cooperation between employers and education institutions. As outlined in the second article, when there is a strong cooperation, the shortage of skills is less intense.

Cristina, Italy

2017-04-14 16:24:14 UTC

I think that one of the reasons for lack of STEM skills is that Scientific Universities are more expensive

María, Spain

isasama10 — 2017-04-14 17:20:01 UTC

I mainly agree with my colleagues in this padlet, especially with the opinions of my Spanish colleagues talking about the situation in Spain and about how the economic crisis forced highly qualified engineers to leave the country. If we want to address our students to STEM careers, we have to ensure that their long term effort will be rewarded by an equal effort on the part of governments and businesses to ensure their employment and welfare.

Marija, Serbia

marijadikic73 — 2017-04-14 18:14:01 UTC

1) I don't know for Europe, but I know that in my country there is not good education system who links needs of economy whit school.Trough pilot projects, our education system introduce dual education. We are at the beginning of the STEM story. 2) The main reason is our undeveloped economy, industy is broken etc.

CONCETTINA

titti71_2005 — 2017-04-14 20:39:48 UTC

Barbara, Italy

barbaradipa — 2017-04-14 20:51:30 UTC

I can speak about the situation in my country: there isn't a lack of STEM skills in Europe.
Employers find difficulties to employ workers because they want to pay them less than they deserve and not enough in relation to their real work timetable, which I suppose is a common problem nowadays, not only for STEM careers. That's why many youngs with STEM graduations, masters and experiences in reasearch prefer to go abroad. There they have a good salary and an important social role.

Elisabetta

classedieli — 2017-04-14 21:08:41 UTC

io penso che ci sia una mancanza di competenze STEM in Europa e soprattutto in Italia perchè la nostra tradizione scolastica è soprattutto umanistica. I datori di lavoro? E dove sono?In Italia non c'è crescita.

Ariana-Stanca Vacaretu, Romania

ariana_vacaretu — 2017-04-14 22:03:42 UTC

1) Do you think there is a lack of STEM skills in Europe?
No.
3) If not, why are employers finding difficulties to employ workers?
An explanation to this situation is given in the publication EU skills panorama: Analytical highlight - Focus on Science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) skills. The authors consider that:
From 2003 to 2013, the number of people working in STEM occupations grew by 12%, three times as much as total EU-28 employment. STEM occupations now account for 7% of all jobs.
Much of this growth occurred from 2003 to 2008. However, there are signs of a recent upturn, which is creating recruitment difficulties in most EU-28 countries.
Demand for STEM skills is anticipated to increase in the short and medium term. Whilst the numbers of STEM students and graduates are both increasing, some employers report that they are not ‘job ready’ and do not possess the ‘right’ skills, especially soft skills.

Fani Boudouroglou,Thessaloniki, Greece

bfani47 — 2017-04-15 06:34:53 UTC

1) Yes, i think there is a lack of STEM skills in Europe
2) Because there are not so well established educational methods in STEM and STEAM (A- for ART) and educators are not well informed and trained to launch them into their class.

Maureen Wade UK

2017-04-15 10:49:40 UTC

1) I am unconvinced that the shortage of STEM skills is as obvious or simple as reported. The first article 'Analysing the Evidence' suggests that the majority of countries are having recruitment problems but figure 2 doesn't uphold this conclusion as less than 50% of the countries analysed had sustained recruitment problems in the time period cited. In addition the data is flawed in that only 12 of the 20 countries analysed were used to form the mean figure and of these 12 only 2 had substantiative problems. I think my answer should be that yes there is a 'percieved ' lack of STEM skills europe wide and difficulties in specific geographical areas.
2) The perception of a Europe wide skills shortage is caused by a: employers stating that they cannot recruit suitable candidates without an understanding of why. There has been a shift in skills required with the advancement in and the ever-changing nature of the knowledge base for all sciences and b: those countries having difficulties show a substantial and sustained shortage over several years not just a fluctuation. Indeed some countries, such as Ireland, the UK and the Netherlands indicated a skills supply equal to requirement or a sustained surplus btween 2010-2014 indicating an improvement.
3) Employers may be having difficulty with recruitment for a number of reasons all compounding each other. Employers may not be attracting the right candidates due to poor advertising and selection procedures (eg.electronic selection based on unsuitable criteria). Employers may not be casting their net wide enough in a geographical sense (i.e. if there is a surplus of suitable people in Ireland then should Switzerland have a recruitment drive in Ireland?) It could be that employers are not offering an attractive enough career package thus causing a brain drain to countries outside of Europe. Could factors other than career opportunity which affect family life such as education and healthcare be causing bottlenecks.
Employers shoul be working with schools, colleges and universities to explain what their needs are and the best way to equip new recruits for the jobs in the marketplace. If employers are saying there is a lack of skills then perhaps more employers should provide training for existing and potential employees in the skills required.

Raquel, Spain

granjaraquel — 2017-04-15 12:35:54 UTC

In my opinion, it is not the lack of talents or skills, but lack of coordination

The main reason is the lack of coordination between the needs of companies and university education. The bad communication between both entities, make that the future workers can not be hired by the companies, since, they do not give the necessary profiles for their job.

Paola, Italy

2017-04-15 15:00:29 UTC

Yes, I think there is a lack of STEM skills in Europe. I don't know if it's the same thing in the other countries. But it seems from all the opinions in these padlets that there are the same problems in many countries, especially the lack of coordination between the world of education and the world of companies.
In my opinion, one of the main reasons employers find difficulties to employ workers, it's because of the undevelopped economy and its crisis.

Veronica, Italy

2017-04-15 16:09:26 UTC

I guess in Europe there is a lack of STEM skills. The main reason, for me, is related with the hight abstraction of the way that this subject are thought during the school. At the same time if you are not studying something you can use in a practical contest this may be critical for a future job.

Francesca R.-Italy

2017-04-16 07:40:36 UTC

Something is not clear to me: “Employers might be struggling to locate the right skills because of incomplete information”. In which sense?

I really can’t assume a position. I knew only the reasons told in the first article, I had never heard about the ones told in the second. They are very interesting.
For example, I never thought about "hiring systems based on computer software that automatically selects candidates". So the human factor is still necessary to reread computer's output!

Wojciech, Poland

2017-04-16 11:40:44 UTC

I do not think so. In Europe is a lot of young people who are looking for a job. The problem is a lack of work experience! How can new graduate student gain the work experience during study time? It is not very common among students to participate in professional practice during the study time. And finally only few companies want to give a chance for freshly graduates. This is a big problem - lack of good experience! And this is why employers have difficulties to employ workers – they expect too long period of work experience.

Cristina,Spain

cristinaleoncastro — 2017-04-16 17:52:06 UTC

1) Do you think there is a lack of STEM skills in Europe?
No, I think there is a lack of coordination between curricula and real academic needs.
3) If not, why are employers finding difficulties to employ workers.
- It should be need a period of compulsory and paid work in entreprises for young graduates.
- Better labour conditions for STEM graduates. In Spain we have had a brain drain.
- Teachers should be also provided with up-to-date knowledge and skills.
- And finally but not less important : we need better resources in our schools. We don't allways have WIFI connection. The access to computers that function properly is not possible in many situations. We are suppossed to evaluate digital competence but many of our students in public education can't use a computer.
Laboratory work is not appreciate by our education management.

Teresa, Spain

cotu09 — 2017-04-16 22:11:45 UTC

I think there is a lack of STEM skills in Europe but less than in other continents. For example, in USA, this problem is bigger.

I agree with the reason of my peers in some argues but not in all of them.

Reading the articles I observe that certain European countries (Spain, Croatia, Ireland..) have a good percentage of engineers or scientists in relation to other countries; against this, the better stem talents are spain brain drain. Perhaps if the education in this fields will be with higher quality could have more spanish companies created by themselves.

Rodianne A., MaltaI agree with the statement: "if cooperation between employers and higher education institutions is strengthened (designing curricula and study programmes or recruiting recent graduates), companies will likely to be more satisfied with the skills of the new employees". In Malta, there is already such a positive initiative between the two entities. However, sometimes not all employers are keen to be on board and this eventually effects their own area of expertise i.e. not finding the required skilled labour. I'll also add soft skills which most employers are looking for, besides the STEM skills themselves.

rxue007 — 2017-04-17 06:47:26 UTC

Miguel Angel, SPAIN.

mimatosan — 2017-04-17 08:27:01 UTC

1.Absolutely not!
There are many young people and very well prepared.
3. If there are many and well prepared, companies can choose and pay less.
When the companies pay well, they find quickly skilled labor without problems.

AngySCA, Italy.

2017-04-17 09:04:50 UTC

Entrepreneurs have great difficulty in finding skills tailored to their needs, programmers, analysts, and specialized technical personnel. Current training courses do not meet the the market needs.and so We must prepare new generations for more structured and profiled jobs

Gabriela, Romania

2017-04-17 09:24:17 UTC

I think not . Many young men and women are highly trained for technical careers.
Employers find hard employees to accept wage improper theirpreparation.

Irma, Italy

2017-04-17 09:57:59 UTC

I believe that there is a greater gap between Italy and other countries. Italians students are very prepared, but fail to get value their skills.

Vítor Silva, Portugal

vitorlousilva — 2017-04-17 12:05:32 UTC

1) Yes, I agree that there is a shortage STEM skills in Europe; It is not just the research institutes that are looking for new, well-qualified employees. The industry, too, is finding it increasingly difficult to get graduates with a bachelor's degree in STEM disciplines. In addition to engineers, there is also substantial demand by scientists, mathematicians and computer specialists. Today the demand for STEM workers is surpassing supply.

2) In view of the growing importance of Science and Technology in our society and the increasing demand for professionals in these areas, countries have to create educational programs in the STEM areas, so that students can compete in the same championship, it is urgent to give them Opportunities to deepen knowledge and learning experiences aimed at the development of specific competences in the STEM areas, which enhance their present success in school and future professional success.

Ozrenka, Croatia

ozrenka_mestrovic — 2017-04-17 13:19:11 UTC

I think there is a lack of STEM skilled people in Europe but not because of the lack of talent. STEM is a hard field and people give up during their education if they can’t see good connections between the theory (education) and practice (work trade).

Sometimes there is a great gap between the educational system and the real sector – companies want people with specific skills but schools equip students with huge theoretical knowledge and (some) general skills. We need a better cooperation between education institutions and employers while designing curricula.

Federica, ITALY

federicachiodo — 2017-04-17 13:43:49 UTC

Yes, I think then in Europe there is a gap about the stem. The STEM disciplines in Italy are more focused on teaching theory and less on practical activities. In this way, students lose their motivation gradually to study because they don't see in a practical realized their solutions to the problems presented to them by teachers. Furthermore, the lack of dialogue between the universities and the world of work is the worst thing.

Felicia, Romania

2017-04-17 13:50:31 UTC

yes, I think in Romania there is a gap about STEM education. The reason? I don't know exactly: maybe because the STEM disciplines are focused on theory more than practical activities, or maybe the reason is the lack of coordination between the needs of companies and of university education.

Julija, Lithuania

julijapm — 2017-04-17 16:05:11 UTC

Yes, I think that there is lack of STEAM skilled specialists in Lithuania. I think this is because school children are taught of only to memorize theory; our final exams are based mostly on how good you can memorize; universities are far removed from the practice, professionals emigrating to other countries, because of low salaries. The main problem is lack of cooperation between schools, universities and real companies.

Vesna, Croatia

2017-04-17 16:12:11 UTC

Yes, I think there is a lack of STEM skills and the main reason for that is disconnection between educational system and practice.

Beatriz, Spain

2017-04-17 16:29:01 UTC

I consider there isn't a lack of STEM skills in Europe,and more concretely in my country, Spain.
Nowadays although Spanish education is changing, our students learn a lot of theory about STEM, but not in a global and integrated way. Another problem is that brillant people without economic resources get low funding of education from the goverment.

Rosa Ana, Spain

2017-04-17 17:32:52 UTC

I don´t think that there is a lack of STEM skills in Europe. I think that there is an unbalanced concentration of jobs and skills in the different countries. For example in Spain there are many engineers that cannot find a job in Spain because companies don´t demand these skills and they have to look for a job in other countries.

On the other hand, I think that employers find diffilcuties to employ a worker because they are looking for "Knowledge intensive sectors" The employment structures of these sectors require workers with a high level of scientific and technological knowledge.

Aslınur, Turkey

2017-04-17 19:01:37 UTC

In my country STEM based education is popular but many school districts don't know how to develop STEM skills of students. There is also a lack of understanding STEM benefits of life so many schools commonly care about performance based approaches because of our system of education based on test scores.

Mary, Italy

mariapia_borghesan — 2017-04-18 06:08:05 UTC

Yes there is a lack of STEM skills, in some European country. The reasons are: -the society is changing really fast and the need of STEM skills is increasing, - the are geographical barriers, - school systems are not always prepared to teach STEM skills.

Ivanka. Croatia

2017-04-18 08:50:37 UTC

Yes, in Europe there is a lack of STEM skills, and the main reason for this is the lack of knowledge and skills that workers have not been met in primary and secondary schools. General state of the labor market is that these professions are not attractive and recognized, poorly paid and the like.

Ramón, España.

2017-04-18 09:33:44 UTC

I think that STEM careers were, aer annd will be the foundations of our culture and civilization, at the same level of Arts, Humanities, and so on. But STEEM careers are not considerated foundations or the basis of our culture. The reason for that is the lack of knoweledge about them amongst politicians and economists. The difficulties for employ workers from STEEM careers is causeb by the unknowledge from employers

Mar Martn, Spain

2017-04-18 10:48:41 UTC

I think there is a lack of STEM skills in Europe, especially boosted by politicians and their curricula. There is more to see to what level have remained the studies of Industrial Technology and Technology, based on STEM skills. Currently many students do not study STEM subjects because of their academic difficulty and little social and economic recognition.

Michalis, Hellas

2017-04-18 11:25:30 UTC

It seems that as anything new, STEM has a disadvantage on acceptance from the educational community. I think this disadvantage will be eliminated in the near future. We, STEM related teachers, should help on this by trying to show positive results and good practices on this field.

Florentina, Romania

2017-04-18 11:45:35 UTC

STEM skills are not quite recognized socialy and economicaly. Employers have also a role in this situation. The society is developing really fast and students need to be prepared for all these changes.

Monia, Italy

2017-04-18 14:42:56 UTC

I don't know why the STEM are not diffuse in all countries of Europe. I think that STEM skills are not easy to learn and many guys prefer learn other.

Wimme, Belgium

wimvanrymenant — 2017-04-18 15:03:09 UTC

I think there is a shortage in coaching teachers. STEM scares a lot of traditional teachers. Nowerdays a lot of schools are creating new possibilities and modern schools try to change the common traditions. Talents and passion from teachers areimportant. Don't expect you can teach every teacher in this isseu. You need passion and talent

Verónica, Spain

2017-04-18 15:43:45 UTC

I Think that the STEM skills gap is also caused by the high speed of the tecnology changes. Is dificult for the profesional, update their knowledge

Raquel, Spain

2017-04-18 17:07:38 UTC

I do not have enough information for expressing an opinion about it.

On the one hand here in Spain, a lot of employees were given the sack from STEM posts when the economic crisis started. They had the skills but they cannot get a job. Many of them looked for new opportunities in other European countries, or indeed in America or Asia.

On the other hand, employers find difficulties to hire skilled people. Maybe technology changes too fast and people do not update. For a specific task there is high supply, but for others is just the opposite. It is really difficult for educational institutions offer the new knowledge. Companies should make more efforts in order to update their employees.

Angela de vito

2017-04-18 17:48:09 UTC

in my opinion STEM is a bit unknown in Europe, because tecnologies are faster than the knowledge of people. some teachers have difficolties to approach TIC

Elaine UK

emanton — 2017-04-18 18:10:01 UTC

There is well documented evidence from both academics and from industry showing that there is a huge lack of STEM Skills. The many apprenticeships for these subject areas show that companies are reaching out to get the specific skills they need require for their own companies rather than a generic set of skills. Getting companies and the workforce out speaking to students is a valuable way to get the message across to them

Laura Gasque, Spain

laugasal — 2017-04-18 18:21:28 UTC

This is a very complex subject and I am not qualified to analyse it properly but thinking of the Spanish case, we can see on figure 2 (first article) that before 2008 it was really difficult for the employers to fill jobs, compared to European average.
From the year 2010 until now, filling jobs is getting easier and easier (comparing Spanish curve with the one for Europe).
What I have observed is that during the prosperity years lots of students quit studying because they would make more money as labourers in construction so they could not see the point in staying at school.
When the crisis started, everyone begun to realise they needed higher qualifications, so in the last seven years is getting easier for the employers finding skilled employees.

Certainly in Italy there is a lack of training skills and only for a short time it is giving value to the training of teachers of all schools, enhancing the computational thinking and coding, for example.

patrizialampisf5 — 2017-04-18 19:48:01 UTC

Lidia, Italy

2017-04-18 20:02:41 UTC

1) Do you think there is a lack of STEM skills in Europe? 2) If so, which is the main reason for that? 3) If not, why are employers finding difficulties to employ workers?
I think there is no real great lack of STEM skills in Europe. Although there are countries in Europe much more prepared for work related to STEM. And there are countries where STEM are less advanced.

The two articles explain that certain data may also be little correspondents.
Some data are sure others are not accurate.

There may be precision sampling or there may be some variables not considered.

I think it is true that employers no longer find competent students in certain subjects.

I think the reasons are different:

- shortages, skill gaps, poor preparation of teachers starting from primary schools.

- for a child who is passionate about STEM as a young it is easier to study STEM.

- little, very little attention to the merit for recruiting people in competitions.

- Possibility to find a job without wasting time.

- social and demographic changes.

- crisis period in general and lack of orientation and values.

Finally, in school it is considered much easier to teach Italian (especially if a teacher is a mother tongue) than STEM.
http://www.repubblica.it/economia/miojob/lavoro/2016/11/02/news/scarse_competenze_e_titoli_vuoti_cosi_non_funziona_il_salto_tra_scuola_e_lavoro-150709204/

Ivana T, Croatia

itunjic2 — 2017-04-18 20:38:22 UTC

Of course, in Europe there is a lack of STEM skills. Main reason for that; it is difficult to study, poorly paid (in Croatia) and poor connection between education and practice.

Camelia, Romania

2017-04-19 08:24:12 UTC

I think in Romania is a lack of STEM skills because our system is focused on thoretical knowledge not on practice skills.

F

2017-04-19 09:49:10 UTC

I think in Spain there is a lack of STEM skills. I think students aren´t ready to incorporate all the changes that society require

Federico, Spain

2017-04-19 09:49:41 UTC

I think in Spain there is a lack of STEM skills. I think students aren´t ready to incorporate all the changes that society require

Ljiljana, Croatia

2017-04-19 10:37:29 UTC

I think that generally there is no shortage in STEM employees in European Countries. It seems like that because in Eastern Europe they are severally underpaid so they migrate to Western Europe where the big corporative capitalism creates the policy of unemployment in order to lower the price of work.

Rossella, Italy

2017-04-19 12:07:41 UTC

Approches in the school,for me, aren't satisfying. Often teachers watch the new technologies with skepticism e don't assign in STEM skills

Vedran, Croatia

lederv — 2017-04-19 12:26:39 UTC

1) Yes.
2) Our education systems are not well organised to teach children STEM fields. Most of today's work demands (especially in technology fields) are very specific and, in my opinion, there is no good education (at least in Croatia) that can give you those skills.

Iva, Croatia

i_erceg_1 — 2017-04-19 12:26:48 UTC

I believe there is a lack of STEM skills in Europe, of course dependng on country/region that is more or less pronounced. The main reason for that I believe is rapid technological advancement that schools don't keep up with. Curriculum is still same as 20 years ago and demands of market changed a lot and they keep changing daily.

Manuela, Portugal

mortigao — 2017-04-19 13:31:41 UTC

1) Yes.
2) I think there is a lack of STEM skills in Portugal due to the gap between the market skiils nedded and the skills that students develop in Science classes at schools. The curricula are not student centered and practical aproach, critical thinking and collaboration aren't well worked.

Elena, Spain

luzelena_guzman — 2017-04-19 14:49:18 UTC

· Is there a STEM skills shortage in Europe? Analysing the evidence.

It is difficult to answer this question by only analizing one set of evidence .

There are too many variables which give false evidence . what we can see from the evidence we have looked at is that there is a definite shortage in some countries as opposed to others .

· Is there a STEM skills shortage in Europe? Challenging the evidence.

I agree with the document and I agree with the reason given for evidence being unsafe . one of the problems in Europe is supply and demand . because people are able to move about freely the labour market is volatile.

Lagle, Estonia

lagle_sangernebo — 2017-04-19 15:14:50 UTC

I think that in Europe has not lack of STEM skills, but lack motivations use in every day life and a lack motivation work in STEM occupations. yes, they are problem geographical barriers and demographic changes ... but a mostly is problem motivation- how and when young pupils want STEM occupations learn and work them.

Diana Szasz, Romania

dianaszasz — 2017-04-19 15:24:17 UTC

1. Yes, I think it's a lack of STEM skills.
2. In Romania, the education system isn't based on teaching practical skills. We are talking about using technology in teaching, but we have problems with resources. In our community, it isn't a connection between the school and the local companies.

Juan Pablo, Spain

jpabloteba — 2017-04-19 15:32:46 UTC

1. Yes, there is.
2. In my opinion, different STEM skills are not combined in job candidates in the way the companies would like to be.

Tonia, Italy

tonianardella78 — 2017-04-19 16:16:15 UTC

1. Yes, I think there is.
2. I think that the Italian educational system, starting from the primary school, have to be renewed and university has to be better focused on the real and relevant needs of the companies.

Caterina R, Italia

2017-04-19 16:38:41 UTC

Yes, I think so. I think that while the younger generation can not find work, companies that offer a job can not find workers. It takes a different preparation for our students, so that they can be adapted to the requirements of the labor market.

Luigi, Italy

parlato_cds — 2017-04-19 17:21:02 UTC

I don't think that both reasons are equally true. I think the skill gap, altough present today, is not so large but it's gonna be in the future. Anyway in my country today many stem graduates are unable to find a suitable job, also due to geographycal reasons, so there must also be difficulties for employers to meet the right stem skills they are looking for

Tullia, Italy

2017-04-19 17:39:36 UTC

1. Yes, I think there is.
2. There is a lack of collaboration between the educational system, the research system and industries.
There is the need to change teaching approaches in order to give more flexible skills, less contents and more ways to face to "shift that happen" in the world

2017-04-19 18:18:18 UTC

I consider that we teach children in STEM skills but not as well as we should, so there is a big lack of them in Europe as we can see when young people try to get an employ and they are not able to do because what they have learned it isn't the same as companies

Mariangela Fabiana Gramegna, Italy

facararolina — 2017-04-19 19:40:45 UTC

I think the main problem is connected with the lack of a common direction of both education and employers' world. They should establish study programmes together taking into account only the concrete needs of the professional world and trying to get the same aims involving students from the beginning up to the end of their study career.

coldra, Spain

rebecapeso — 2017-04-19 20:35:55 UTC

1. I don't think there is a lack o Stem skills in Europe. In some countries we have the opportunity of studying a Stem carreer but sometimes the situation around us, for example family, house, etc is something that stops our professional development. We want better conditions and we are not able to accept all the requeriments of the employer for working everywhere.

Agnieszka Polska

2017-04-19 20:53:34 UTC

I’m not sure. In Poland lots of young people start studying technical subjects, but sometimes they are very weak in math, physics or chemistry. Many pupils love computers, but they don’t want to understand that, if they think about study computer science in future, they should learn math seriously. Because of that not too many students finish technical studies.

The problem is also, not all universities cooperate with industries.

Laura Serban

lauraaurelias — 2017-04-20 10:35:34 UTC

I think that there is a weak connection between school and industry. Through education we need to fulfill the industry needs and the industry needs to be connected to school more than before.

Esther, Spain

garciaesther44 — 2017-04-20 17:02:58 UTC

Well, I don´t think that there is a lack of STEM skills in Europe. It´s true that the skills are not as good as it were in the past.
In my country, they have changed the curriculo of my subject, Maths, and they have reduced it. Now, they want more students to pass their examns, so we teach Maths as if it was a cooking recipe, students don´t think to much, so they don´t improve their skills.
But, usually, the students, who study STEM careers, are the best, so they have good skills.

Maria, Italy

2017-04-20 18:44:01 UTC

I don't think there is a lack of STEM skills in Europe. The problem is that is very important the cooperation between universities and industries. This cooperation there is not in all countries so, sometimes there is a gap between school (theory) and work (practice)

Ruzlena, Malaysia

ruzlena — 2017-04-21 04:18:16 UTC

1) Do you think there is a lack of STEM skills in Europe?
Yes, there is a lack of STEM skills not only in Europe, but all over the world.
2) If so, which is the main reason for that?
Most countries are not applying STEM education in classes.

Gina Dumitrache, Romania

gina_st_06 — 2017-04-21 05:34:57 UTC

I think there is a lack of STEM skills in Europe, but in Romania, in a particular way. I think that the main reason for this is the educational system, the fact that the lessons take place in class, without practice, that could help the students to see the relevanceof their studies on mathematics. We can build partnerships with centers where scientists in mathematics and science could provide information realted to career and can act as positive models. Students can also benefit from the opportunity to apply the knowledge they have acquired in school in real woek situations or in research activities.

Cristina .Romania

cristina_zlate — 2017-04-21 11:04:33 UTC

Yes , I think there .In Romania, the education system isn't based on teaching practical skills. We are talking about using technology in teaching, but we have problems with resources. Countries have to create educational programs in the STEM areas, so that students can compete in the same championship, it is urgent to give them Opportunities to deepen knowledge and learning experiences aimed at the development of specific competences in the STEM areasl and future professional success.

Annalisa, Italy

2017-04-21 15:25:30 UTC

1) Yes, I think there is.
2) I think while the younger generation can not find a job, companies that offer a job can not find workers that meet their needs.
In Italy, the educational system that starts from primary school needs to be renewed.
There is a need for more practices and less theories, or rather finding ways to meet the real needs of businesses and the knowledge and skills acquired by young people.

Maria, Bulgaria

brauchle21 — 2017-04-21 17:11:06 UTC

There is definitely a lack of STEM skills in Europe and especially in my country.

The main reason is the old education system. Nowadays our world changes very quickly. For the education systems is not possible to follow this changes with the same tempo. The result is that theway of teaching is boring for the students, and they lose their interest to continue their education in STEM areas.

Jesús María, Spain

jmariaprieto — 2017-04-21 17:41:38 UTC

1) It seems it would be, but not in my country where we have a high level of unemployment.
2)
3) The main problem is the salary. Usually it is low for the expected skills they demand.

Laura (Italy)

2017-04-21 18:31:02 UTC

Todays employers demand more skills than they did in the past. Too many apprenticeships not meeting the needs of young people and employers. Creating more apprenticeships has diluted their quality.

Fernando, Spain

2017-04-22 07:36:10 UTC

Maybe there's a lack of STEM skills in Europe althought there's a lot of people with science studies that don't seem to fit with what industries need. Demanded skills are changing constantly for that reason the main goal should be to prepare that students to adapt themselves to those changes.

Jimena, Spain.

2017-04-22 12:02:14 UTC

Well, in my opinion there might be a lack for industries otherwhise we woul not be discussing it. The thing is that they need people who are prepared not only in one but many related fields taht treaditionally have been separated when enrolling into university. However, with Bolonia system I think it was expected there were more common contents in the early years so that the students would have shared ideas (no matter if the were from Maths, Science, etc..)
Now the problem is not for Europe but for specific countries,( certainly not in Spain where most of our scientists have to leave Spain because there is no investment in those fields while other countries benefit from their preparation), where the lack of well prepared students is a fact . The demands on those students is very high and where there were 3 or 4 workers now the industries pretend to fulfill those vacancies with only one person.

Hello!

2017-04-22 12:27:02 UTC

My name is Mihaela, I am from Romania and I believe there is a lack of STEM skills in Europe, because students are not prepared in the educational field for real life issues concerning the corresponding areas and even if they acquire some theoretical and practical knowledge they still lack enough practice for acquiring the STEM skills.

Sara, Spain

sarabarbapenas — 2017-04-22 15:43:04 UTC

I think there may be a lack of STEM skills in Europe, mainly caused by the gap existing between higher education studies and employing companies. Many times there isn't a direct connection between the level of speciality companies need and that the educational institutions provide. In addition, there is little collaboration and compromise in bilateral relations, which is a shame, as many times really skilled graduates don't get the chance to be hired by local companies and so the brain drain is produced. Workers may also find the problem of not being able to find graduates with a particular level of experience but are at the same time reluctant to give opportunities to unexperienced people.

Aggeliki, Greece

2017-04-22 18:45:20 UTC

1) I do not think that there is lack of STEM but studntsconsider those as difficult and they avoid them.
3) Most of the students are choosing theoretical studies so there is a lack of people that are STEM educated

I think there are no scientific skills because in Spain dominates the world of titles. It prepares the youth to obtain a title acquiring many theoretical knowledge but it is not formed in practice at all and as there is no money to investigate we are running out of future researchers. Raquel , Spain

2017-04-23 06:12:23 UTC

Isabel, Spain

2017-04-23 10:44:57 UTC

1) I think don't there is a lack of STEM skills in Europe.
3) Employers are finding difficulties to employ workers for structural economic shifts. Our society has changed and the business too.

María, Spain

2017-04-23 11:12:50 UTC

1) I don´t think that there is a lack of STEM skills, but the government doesn´t give enough support to those who want to specialise in those fields.
3) As I have just said, the government doesn´t give aids. Besides, people need a high mark to get into these careers

Melita, Croatia

melita_brodar — 2017-04-23 13:52:43 UTC

Yes, in Europe there is a lack of STEM skills. Main reasons for that is difficut study, these people are poorly paid (in Croatia) and weak connection between education and practice.

Giuliana , Italia

juxylla73 — 2017-04-23 18:09:26 UTC

Many students think that after STEM studies there is a greater chance of finding work but sometimes they are discouraged by the difficulty and length of the study path.
I don't think there's a real lack of STEM skills but surely there is the need to create a serious project of school-state collaboration to better help the students in their education and the firms to find staff with the right skills

L

2017-04-23 20:40:31 UTC

Laura, Italy

2017-04-23 20:40:32 UTC

I think there is a lack of STEM skills in Europe.
In particular, I believe that in Italy, scientific training, especially in higher education, is neglected with respect to humanistic training.

Iva, Croatia

2017-04-23 21:11:20 UTC

I think there might be lack of STEM skills  in Europe  because  students  considered that STEM  fields are difficult  to study and salary is not as big as in other fields (economy, law..)And in my country (Croatia) there is lack of jobs  which need STEM skills.

Iggie, Spain

ijortega — 2017-04-24 07:48:52 UTC

1. I don't think that there is a lack of stem profesionals- if we take a look on the chart that you have provided, the 40% of the european population have problems to find a suitable job.
3. What I think is that there is a HUGE gap between the university and the current labour market. Universities are not fulfulling their role in providing the students with the right tools to find their appropiate job.
STEM system is not even known in the state universities...

María, Spain

safa_cntec — 2017-04-24 07:58:55 UTC

I think that ther is a lack of STEM skill in Europe because the students think that they have to work too hard to get the degree.

Tiziana, Italy

parisitiziana6 — 2017-04-24 14:02:49 UTC

I think that there is a skill shortages and a skill gaps In the European Union (EU). The main reasons are:
- A shortage of skills may appear in knowledge intensive sectors*, given that the demand for new skills might be bigger than the existing supply.
- Demographic changes can also be a cause of (current and/or anticipated) skill shortages. For example, an expected demographic crisis in European population* is likely to maximize the age dependency ratio of European population, which can result in high demand for particular professionals, such as in the health care sector. A restructuring of specific sectors (accentuated by the economic crisis) might also lead to simultaneous existence of unemployment and skill shortages for specific skills in an economy.

Inma, Spain

2017-04-24 15:35:01 UTC

1. In my opinion, there is not a lack of STEM skills in Europe. For instance, in Spain, there are many engineers who are forced to emigrate to the rest of Europe.
3. I think that graduates have difficulties to find a job in Spain because there is a lack of investment in the companies and in innovation in industries.

Carmela, Italia

2017-04-24 17:31:05 UTC

I think there is enough scientific ability in Italy, but the studies are mostly theoretical, so the universities must be connected with industries to meet their real needs and to know the demands of the labor market.

Jeane de Fatima, Rio de Janeiro - Brasil

2017-04-24 17:33:01 UTC

Nowadays we use the internet a lot since watching movies, using for bank payments, shopping and this use is increasing.
Unfortunately not everyone has access to the knowledge and the handling of this tool.
The big concern is privacy on internet purchases, concern about password secrecy, making experts look for new alternatives.
The apps have been a breakthrough, they help in the studies and the mobile games need new demands.
What professional are we looking for?
A professional who knows how to use applications, knows how to use the internet as a way of communicating, selling and buying things and every day people are more dependent on this technology.
I believe that this course enables us to enable young people to start at an early age to use and think in new ways, because in the future this will be the way.

Maria Grazia, Italy

galati90 — 2017-04-24 18:23:30 UTC

i think there is lack of STEM skills in Italy because the young people don't study science. They think these studies are too hard

Spain

2017-04-25 09:06:26 UTC

1. Yes, I think there is.
2. I think that exists a lack of STEM skills between the education and companies

Esther, Spain

2017-04-25 11:24:16 UTC

In my opinion, if there are people qualified in science but the problem is that they must migrate to other countries to be able to develop their work in their studies. We all know that there have always been fewer students who decide to graduate in science but times are changing and as teachers that is in our hands.

Alan

2017-04-25 11:31:13 UTC

1) Yes
2) The link between the educational systems and companies/employers is not strong enough

Alexandre Costa, Portugal

alexandrejcosta — 2017-04-25 14:00:05 UTC

1) Yes.
2) The lack of STEM skills known as the STEM skills gap is the result of education policies that are mostly based on learning contents instead of developing competencies based on contents. Teachers can make a difference, but in many countries, like my own, national exams based on traditional school learning do not provide the drive for teachers to work on problem solving and innovation that require time and cannot be looked as time limited tasks.

Mercè, Spain

marfusterpu — 2017-04-25 15:12:02 UTC

Yes. I'm sure there is a lack of STEM skills in Spain because students do not choose science for their studies. Thirty years ago, most students chose science, but now the opposite happens.
I think the main reason for that is that students perceive STEM as difficult and they do not see the advantages for the greater effort.

Onur Bektaş, Turkey

bektas_onurr — 2017-04-25 15:25:32 UTC

https://padlet.com/bektas_onurr/64bxjtlys9xy

Anna La Montagna, Ital

2017-04-25 17:21:14 UTC

I do not think there is a lack of STEM skills at least in Italy because of the brain drain we have in these areas, I think rather than abroad, especially in the United States, Japan, Israel, or Scandinavian countries young graduates have more chances of doing a career and doing research.

They are also well paid and gratified.

However, I also think that there is a need a stronger union between high school and training industries. In Italy, in principle this could be possible with the new law on school that provides for the alternation of school-work from the third year high school at age 16, in practice is not having the expected results.

Agnieszka

2017-04-25 20:26:37 UTC

1.yes
2. The main reason for that it's too difficult subjects and only theoretical knowlage, we need a practice!

Elena, Greece

l_1_doug32_ed — 2017-04-26 10:05:27 UTC

I believe that yes there is a lack of STEM skills in Greece (where I live and I can speak for), mostly because there is no production here, students turn to different study directions and if some study STEM go abroad to work

Alberto Brochado, Portugal

2017-04-26 14:08:12 UTC

1) Yes
2) I think there is a lack of STEM skills in Portugal due to the gap between the market skills nedded and the skills that students devolop in the school

Vicente Martínez, Spain

vicenteprofe — 2017-04-26 14:15:41 UTC

1) I agree, there is a lack of STEM skills.
2) The main reason is not how we manage the STEM skills in education, but how we manage the education itself. Nowadays it's based on the knowledge and not on the critical thinking and the error-testing learning.
3) Employees are requesting more skilled workers, and they know there is a lack. So there must be an effort in two ways, workers must be trained to do the new skilled jobs, but employees must take care, in all aspects, for these workers. It's the law of supply and demand.

Irene, Cyprus

eirini_drymioto — 2017-04-26 14:31:18 UTC

Statistics show that STEM graduates represent a greater share in other fields than STEM fields. According to the demographic change there will be a mismatch between supply and demand of STEM-skilled workforce because of the possible shortage of STEM professionals. STEM job growth is expected to exceed growth in Non-STEM job between 2015 - 2025.

Ana Belén, Spain

anabelenfisicayquimica — 2017-04-26 14:45:15 UTC

1) Yes there is.
2) From my point of view the main reason is that there is a lack in between studies and work. It has been teach a lot of theory but this has not been applied to the practice.These could be solved putting in connection the both worlds , studies and work.

Jamilya, Italy

ilabgenova — 2017-04-26 16:18:17 UTC

1) yes there is a lack of STEM skills in Europe
2) on my opinion the lack is due to the educational system that is not changing quick enough to be competitive with the market requirements, that is also due to the education of the teachers itself. You may not expect the person that is well above 50 teaching the science that may be not have changed much, but the approach is not stimulating, so we it is possible that lots of genius minds were lost during such classes

Tamara Rabuzin, Croatia

2017-04-26 21:21:18 UTC

1) I can only answer for the situation in Croaatia, and yes, I think there is a lack of STEM skills
2) The main reason is educational system, which do not follow the trends in "real life", and also the way people are raised (not to be proactive at all)

Cansu, Turkey

ececakili — 2017-04-27 05:28:30 UTC

1.Yes, There is.
2. Its reason is apparently science education in schools. We do not think to integrate practicals and labs with theory in our science lessons as teachers. But, practicals and theory are not be thought separately.

Maja, Macedonia

maja_informatik — 2017-04-27 07:46:09 UTC

I think that it is a huge problem missing STEM skills nowadays. Students are more attractive by other subject or professions that do not included STEM. Maybe the problem is in the way that teaching is performed. Educational system in Macedonia is more concentrated in learning facts not developing sills. Our external exams are in that direction too. That's the reason why students and teachers do not pay much attention on developing skills and attitudes.

Júlia Ferreira

julia_ferreira1 — 2017-04-27 18:11:56 UTC

Yes.I think the current school is quite out of touch with the students' reality. Both the programs and the ongoing methodologies are alienating STEM students, at least in my country.

Teuta, Albania

teutadimo — 2017-04-27 19:49:30 UTC

1. Yes
2. I think that exists a lack of STEM skills between the education and companies.

Vicky, Spain

victoria_zotes — 2017-04-27 21:24:21 UTC

I don´t really think there is a problem with STEM skills, at least in Spain. Employers want to hire experience workers and not to pay them a fair salary and young people don´t have opportunities to achieve experience in a proper way. Currently, not paid work-experience in educational program or grants replace, in many cases, well-paid workers. Perhaps, it is not only an educational problem.

Mercedes, Spain

mmorenoeoi — 2017-04-27 22:04:15 UTC

1.- I don't think there is a lack of STEM skills in Europe.
3.- I think that the problem, at least in Spain, is the opposite: there are young people who have finished their STEM career but there aren't enough STEM jobs because of the lack of the promotion of I+D by Government and employers.

Vicky, Spain

2017-04-27 22:32:26 UTC

Companies should invest themselves in staff training for more specific skills

Montse T. Barcelona

2017-04-28 17:46:47 UTC

According to the graphs there is a lack of the STEM skills demanded by companies in most EU countries. The main reason is that there is not enough communication and agreements between schools and universities and companies. They should talk and see what points in common could benefit both sectors and would benefit society and individuals.It should be analyzed carefully what is happening in some countries (Spain, Ireland, the Netherlands) so that very good STEM skilled young can find a suitable job and suitable salary.

Angel Juan, Spain

sothis2005 — 2017-04-29 11:12:41 UTC

I did not have a clear idea about the problem before reading the articles, and after I have the impression nobody knows exactly what is the answer. I think is a complex issue. I only know some aspects the la reality of my country. One one hand statistics show that companies have problems to cover STEM jobs and on the other young STEM graduates have to move aboard to pursuit their carriers. Then, perhaps, it is not only one thing what is nor working. I highlight one idea from the articles: organizations should make of talent management procedures a priority and employers should cooperate with Universities.

Keith

2017-04-29 12:41:21 UTC

I had heard hat there is a STEM skill shortage prior to starting this MOOC. In Scotland the number of students selecting STEM subjects in Senior Phase has been in steady decline for a few years now and this must lead to knock on gaps in STEM careers. I know a few engineers, computer technicians and surveyors and they're all from other European countries or further afield. Certainly in Scotland the opportunities are not being taken by the local population. Are STEM careers seen to be too challenging by young people?

Uğur TÜRK, TURKEY

2017-04-29 14:49:47 UTC

Marta, Spain

2017-04-29 17:48:29 UTC

In the current economic crisis situation, featured by high unemployment, data proving skills shortage and recruitment bottleneck become serious concerns. In my opinion, the causes underlying this reality reamin still unclear and even the world economic, politic and social evolution. As a result, proposing useful solution is difficult as well, but necessary. I believe it's urgent to improve communication between companies and education institutions to adapt young skills to the real job market necessities. More public and private investment in I+D are also required. Finally, to me, at schools the main challenge is to make STEM attrative to our students, reinforcing their self-confidence to enroll a STEM career. Moreover, a motivating STEM eduction is crucial for all the students, independently the career they decide to develop, because as citizens all the will need science knowledge and analytical thinking to make responsible decisions to improve the world standards of livings.

Angela, ITALY

angela_brunello — 2017-04-29 18:53:34 UTC

I think that STEM skills
shortages is a fact in Europe, according to study and survey.
Nowadays students have the feeling that STEM skills are not so easy to built up. At the beginning (in primary school career) subjects, as Math and Science, are exiting for children: they are happy when they are able to solve problems and when they find information about nature and animal. Later on they change their enthusiasm on STEM exactly when they discover that the subjects are more difficult than they though.
School action can modify this process and help students to face the job market.

Hasime Xhaferi, Macedonia

hasime — 2017-04-29 19:50:30 UTC

Yes, I think there is lack of STEM skills in Europe. This is the result of the belief that education in the field of STEM is difficult and the students often choose studies which didn’t include STEM skills. In Macedonia, the learning is focused on memorizing facts and not on developing students' creativity and critical thinking.

Monica, Italy

19sessantotto — 2017-04-29 20:17:18 UTC

I think there is a lack of STEM skills in Europe (but also many excellence) because the schooling is often too theoretical or far from the needs of companies. In Italy, the salary of a researcher is not adequate, the time to make a career is very long and this does not involve and motivate students.

Pietro, Italy

2017-05-01 09:51:05 UTC

Yes, I think there is a STEM skills shortage in Europe, as can be seen from scientific collected data. Also some geographical barriers can be considered at least in Italy where I teach. The main reason is probably a lack of interest in scientific matters during secondary school due to the difficulty of theoretical arguments and the uninteresting perception of scientific fact as they are presented. The ratio between scientific-oriented students at the beginning of secondary school and the number of students who choose a scientific career is drastic; that’s why I think more attention is needed to encourage and sustain young students.

Gabriella, Italy

gabriella — 2017-05-01 19:43:23 UTC

I think there is a STEM skills shortage in Europe and it is due to the dichotomous approach to STEM disciplines, meaning that what you study is completely disconnected from reality. That's why I started using for my teaching with special education students a cartoon about STEM disciplines, Blaze and the Monster Machines, in order to give an idea of the concept and then adding formulas and mechanisms.

Gisela, México

2017-05-02 18:12:13 UTC

The economy is based in the develop of solutions for our life, STEM have been introducing in the school program to promove this skills in order to improve that from childhood, the kids could notice the importance to create solutions in their enviroment. With Projects since Kindergarden they could have bases and they could found funny and interesting this areas.

Charles , UK .

2017-05-03 13:53:56 UTC

Yes , there is a lack of STEM skills as schools are target driven towards entering grades that push children into university that most of the time the degrees of study are not realistic and dont pertain to the outside world of work . Leaving employers facing not being able to employ or find skilled people for the vacancies .

Zeliha ,TURKEY

2017-05-03 14:46:04 UTC

Yes there is .Because there is lack of triggering the students to think critically.Most of the lessons are exam based which leads the ss not learn sometihng to use it in real life but in exams only and never use it again.The problem is we cannot properly teach the students teach how to use an information in real life.They just want to learn sth just if it is asked in an exam.Wheter they will use it or not is not important.
Actually this is not their fault because we direct them what to learn but is that thing something they can use in other situations ?The contexts shouldn't be so compicated

Joanna, Greece

joanf10 — 2017-05-03 16:54:30 UTC

According to the surveys there is a lack of STEM skills in Europe. The main reason is that there is not substancial communication between schools and firms in regard of the needs of the market. The demographic changes make the matter worse, as a high demand for particular professionals may appear when the educational system has not made steps to provide such eployees.

Iván, Spain

2017-05-03 17:22:41 UTC

According to the results of the surveys, we can asumen that there is a lack of STEM skills in Europe. Nevertheless, this fact has not the same incidency in every countries. Depending on the country, this lack of STEM skills is much more important. As far as I am concerned, the main reason for this fact, and the main reason why employers find difficulties to employ some determined workers is the lack of communication between goverments and companies to build the education programmes. Today´s world and society are changing daily, and school programmes should be prepared for this challenge, and, in my opinion, the only way to achieve this is a good communication and teamwork between goverments, companies and teachers, to define the educational real needs of our society.

Merce, Spain

2017-05-03 17:26:45 UTC

In my opinion, there is an important lack of STEM skills in Eurepo, even according to the surveys, it is not the same in the different countries.
It is very important for students to get the contents they study closer making them real, and it is not what usually happens.

I believe overall in Europe there is a lack of STEM skills but this is not true for individual countries. The main cause for the STEM skills gap is lack of interest and/or lack of the ability to study in the STEM areas. STEM subjects are very difficult to access due to high entry requirements and incredible challenging workloads. Also many students decide not to study at university or the equivalent as they are uneducated about about the help and support provided with paying for university, which is one of their main concerns, I have found.

2017-05-03 20:01:50 UTC

Fernando Coelho

fernando_coelho — 2017-05-04 10:57:06 UTC

For me the lack exist. Like i read in some post, students are not really interested in topics related to science. But i also believe that there should be a huge work done with the teachers and the methodology applied. We have to motivate and enhanced the STEM teaching approach

LUIS Saez, spain

2017-05-04 13:23:35 UTC

Yes, there is a big lack of STEM skills, at least in Spain.
Pupils see STEM as hard and not economically profitables, and they and their parents prefer more "common" carreers such as economics and laws.

Daniela,Italy

2017-05-04 16:57:49 UTC

I think there is a big lack of STEM skills especially in Italy and among women.
Probably it is due to curricula and study programmes not apt to stimulate and increase interest in STEM

Jaime, Spain

jaime_viaalv — 2017-05-05 20:48:01 UTC

From my point of view, there isn´t a lack of STEM skills, at least in Spain. Students are concerned about the importance of these careers. They have a high level of technological and scientific skills. The problem is unemployment and that the Government is not interested on this. Young people have to emigrate to develop their work.

Valentina, Italy

valenta — 2017-05-06 09:04:39 UTC

I think there is a lack of STEM skills in Italy. Young students are very interested in science but schools have to collaborate with employers to design new curricula.

Emel, TURKEY

mlaydn — 2017-05-06 13:04:21 UTC

Yes, I think there is a lack of STEM skills in Europe. Because science, technology and the world change every passing day. And, the human skills needed are also changing.

Luisa Spain

2017-05-06 17:27:56 UTC

Skilled workers are needed to digitization that threaten to destroy many of the existing jobs and, thankfully, announce the creation of new ones.
In my country Employeers have problems to find workers with STEM skills because only 7% of Spanish students are studying science and technology,

Arianna, Italy

2017-05-07 16:55:13 UTC

Yes! In Italy, I'm sure.
Here, in my country, because Science and Tecnology are less "popular" at school, expecially in Primary. In this way, students become familiar with this kind of subjects only when they arrive at high school.
I think it's important create a list for workers where they can share their knowledge and abilities; so it should be easier to find employees for the companies.

2017-05-08 13:36:55 UTC

I think that in Italian school there is a lack of STEM skills, not only because curricula are inadequate but also because many teachers use "old methods", like a frontal lesson, and not stimulate students to critical thinking or to be curious about knowledge. But in Italy there is also a big problem in creating jobs.

Maria del Mar, Spain

2017-05-08 15:03:40 UTC

Yes, probably there is a lack of Stem skills in Europe.
The students of today, in general, are not prepared for thinkinng in a critical and individual way.
They are still memorizing everything without investigating. We as teacher from infant education should promote active methodologies in our clasrooms.

Andrew UK

andrew_welch1 — 2017-05-08 17:46:12 UTC

1- I feel there is probably a lack of STEM skills in the general population.
2- I feel that in the past teaching STEM would have been a lot easier when technology was simpler and more open. A teacher could pull something apart to show how it worked. Today, most technology students will be familiar with is a "black box" with no possible way to investigate how it works. Plus with it being more complicated, teachers also struggle to understand and explain how technology works. As a result, one of the main ways to ignite a passion in STEM has dried up.

Maja, Croatia

2017-05-08 18:23:54 UTC

I think that there is a lack of STEM skills in Europe. The main reason is that we are making "instant" generations who aren't allowed to think freely.

Eduardo Spain

2017-05-08 19:00:54 UTC

There is a lack of stem profiles in europe because these profiles are not valued

Roberto, Spain

rsilvavet — 2017-05-09 20:32:34 UTC

It seems clear that there is a lack of STEM skills in Europe. I think that the job market is changing too fast and maybe the society cannot cope with these changes. There is not enough peolple prepared to cover those posts that require STEM skills

Luis, Spain.

2017-05-10 21:03:50 UTC

I think that one reason why there is a lack of STEM skills could be the difficulties that students have in middle school with maths and physics what provokes them not to study science grades.

Voicu-Popescu Corina, Romania

2017-05-11 10:16:49 UTC

There is a STEM skills in all arround the world

Maria, Spain

2017-05-11 18:35:02 UTC

In my opinion, the lack exist. Students are not interested in STEM careers. They often choose that don`t include STEM skills. The main reasons are that scientific matters during secondary school are very theorical and that there is not enough communication between schools and Universities, and companies. If European industries face difficulties in finding skilled workers, the union between school and training industries should be stronger.

mbacita — 2017-05-12 07:53:00 UTC

I really think that there's a lack of STEM skills in Europe because there's often a lack of communication between companies/employers and the educational system/schools so it's difficult for students, future workers, to understand the importance of STEM skills.

I think there is a STEM career crisis because students do not always fully understand what kind of jobs STEM education can lead them to. STEM subjects are often perceived as harder by students

gillianjms — 2017-05-13 16:37:20 UTC

Soraya, Spain

2017-05-13 19:39:19 UTC

In my opinion there is a lack of STEM skills in schools. Methodology and training teachers must be adapted to motivate the students.

Yessica, Spain

2017-05-14 07:46:14 UTC

I truly think that there is a lack of STEM skills in Europe because there is not any kind of connection or communication between the educational and the employment world, what causes this enormous gap when joining the working field.

Jennifer, Argentina

2017-05-14 09:00:38 UTC

I think there is a lack of STEM skills worldwide. Mainly because these are new skills that are not integrated in our teaching degrees.

Oleksandra, Ukraine

kostiuklesia75 — 2017-05-16 19:57:13 UTC

I think that the problem of STEM skills shortage exists, especially in my country. We have a huge gap in education and employment. I observed that the way my son is taught at school or even at the university is almost the same I was taught 25 years ago. But all is rapidly changing. Many graduates have to take extra courses before getting the job in the field they got university degree.

Luciano

lucianocarlotti — 2017-05-17 08:13:09 UTC

I think the lack of STEM skills reduces the capability to find work. This, is in part, due to the way in which scientific subjects are passed on to students at schools.

jose molto , Spain

2017-05-17 11:39:29 UTC

1- In my opinion, it depends on the country we are refering to
. For instance, Spain and Ireland seem that they are not having problems filling STEM vacancies, on the other hand, northen countries such Germany seems to have more dificulties for it.
2- I think that countries with more problems to fill the job offer in STEM careers are the most technological prepared and with better industries, consecuently, they have bigger need for this kind of workers.

Mirela-Emilia Pop, Romania

mirelaemiliapop — 2017-05-17 19:14:37 UTC

1. In my opinion there is a lack of STEM skills in schools.
2. This, is in part, due to the way in wich scientific subjects are passed on the students at schools.

1)Yes, is a lake in STEM, because more people want to have many at the young age, and don't have interest for they training and competences

popescudoinamaria — 2017-05-18 19:49:42 UTC

2)The main reason are the mass media presentacion of models that have many without tu much learning.
Also the main reason is the lack of STEM in schools.
3) The way for recruiting the employers are sometimes online, and some employers have not the knowledge to apply online at the job

Vasiliki

vasiakrom2 — 2017-05-19 00:19:57 UTC

1. In my opinion, there is a lack of STEM skills in Europe.
2. n some countries students are not properly educated in scientific subjects. Furthermore, they aren't taught the importance of science, maths, engineering and technology in their lives.

Betül OLUK, İstanbul/Turkey

olukbetul34 — 2017-05-20 13:39:52 UTC

If I speak for Turkey because I do not have the capability to speak for all Europe, unfortunately there is a lack of stem skills. In my opinion the reasons could be the attitudes towards to some diciplines and the disconnection among shareholders- knowledge and experience. In our general education system, we have all the information in our mind but it comes to use them we fail sometimes. Unclear definitions of some jobs cause the candidates get confused about their capacities.

2017-05-21 21:33:30 UTC

Mila,SPAIN
As a teacher,I think it is essential for new opportunities in todays´s society. Teachers and learners have to change their minds

in order to improve their own process

Haluk Karatas Turk

shkaratas — 2017-05-23 13:06:57 UTC

I have visited many schools across the EU and found out that most of the students choosing STEM subjects as major are migrant students. Since they find STEM subjects are tough and consider it takes much more time to get a STEM career than other soft subjects. That is why the doctors and engineers working in EU countries are the nationals of other countries.

I think there is a lack of STEM skills in Europe. In my opinion, a reason for that coul be the distance between all the things that students must know in school and things that they need out of the classroom

2017-05-23 16:12:03 UTC

Claudia S., Italy

claudiascriffignano — 2017-05-24 09:13:02 UTC

I think that in Italy there is a lack of STEM skills, more than in other European countries. The reasons are many: first of all the teachers' training.
Teachers should use new metodologies based on new tecnologies, but sometimes they can't use them due to technical problems or due to lack of time. New metodologies need much more time to be applied, and it's a challenge when you have only three hours per week and many subjects to deal with. Curricula should be reviewed.

Cigdem

cigdemkutbay — 2017-05-24 11:46:03 UTC

Students avoid choosing STEM because they dont want any challenge. If they could see the relations between what they learn and create something they would be more interested

Jana, CZ

2017-05-25 08:59:15 UTC

It seems that it is much easier to talk and discuss various issues rather than understand and do them . However, STEM is exact and you also have to acquire facts and deal with them. As already mentioned by some of the other participants, this is not that easy and many students go for what is easier and more popular .

Aiki (EE)

aiki — 2017-05-28 04:53:14 UTC

I agree that quite often the shortages might just be at local or

regional level. Not everybody with good skills is ready to move to another region or country for a job. Some skilled people still stay where their roots are and then have problems with finding a job suitable for their abilities. I also see that every year some students who could be able to continue studies in STEM choose other fields because they love sports or arts or think that social sciences are easier.

Jose

2017-05-28 10:42:56 UTC

Jose, Spain

2017-05-28 14:38:21 UTC

I not agree with there is a lack of STEM skills in Europe. From the articles reported, the situation is very different depending on the country. In this case, the average value, is not relevant because in a global EU market the local solution should be founded. Maybe geographical barriers and low pay can explained the employers' difficulties. Many people prefer do not work that work far from their family environment. In addition, many time the employers require experience workers and young people with STEM skills haven't it.

Irene Viola (Italy)

irenesenatore — 2017-05-29 16:22:56 UTC

I was not really aware about the skill shortage that Europe is living nowadays. Reading the survey one can understand how less students engage themselves in studying subjects related to STEM and that less careers start in these fields. I think that for what may concerns Italy, the real problem regards the chances of getting a satisfying jobs and matches the studies that one has done. The job market doesn't offer a lot of opportunities, I'm afraid and also few and fewer money are given by the governments to research projects in our university. This can be one of the main causes related to the Italian situation.

Ada

2017-05-30 10:31:26 UTC

Firstly, I agree that the data shown on STEM skills shortage might not be fully relevant due to various barriers. If there is a lack of STEM skills I think it is because of the lack of interest of students to this areas. It is important to provide proper learning environment and teaching methods to engage more students to STEM. We need to increase the modern methods and make possible that students understand the importance of STEM by teaching the curriuclum more related to real life and based on problem solving and critical thinking.

Sarah, Italy

2017-05-30 15:47:43 UTC

I believe that in Italy there is a lack of STEM skills. The main reason is the low spread of scientific subjects and the traditional teaching method. Teachers should have more opportunities to upgrade to ensure multidisciplinary training in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Only in this way will it be possible to train skilled young people who can enter the workplace more easily.

Pablo, Spain

2017-05-30 15:51:25 UTC

Yes, in Spain there is a lack of STEM skills because of the students don't know what can they do with what they are studing.

Noelia, Spain

noelia_velasco_perez — 2017-05-31 10:18:02 UTC

In my view, there is a great lack of STEM skills in Spain, due to the decontextualization of teaching in the real world. Many times, students don´t understand the importance and application of scientific contents, the they just study them memoristically, without developing skills and competences essential for their future. A change in the methodologies of education is necessary, to make the contents more practical, and promote the development of STEM skills.

Reyes, Spain

2017-06-01 16:41:07 UTC

I´m not sure, but I might say that the first problem could be the difference between the salary that a high-skilled employee wants to earn and what the employer wants to pay him.
In addition, nowadays there are a lot of new professions that didn´t exist a few years ago, and we aren´t prepared yet.

Juan Gutiérrez, Spain

jgutierrezs — 2017-06-03 06:55:01 UTC

The situation is different in each country. There is countries with STEM careers shortage like Germany or Great Britain, and there is other countries with STEM careers plenty, like Spain.
The final situation is that there is not enough STEM careers skills in Europe, and I propose a double solution: geographical mobility and to design programs and courses to encourage STEM careers like this.

Ioana, Romania

2017-06-04 19:28:52 UTC

The graph shows a lack of STEM skills in Europe.
This lack is due, I consider the following factors:
- It has been a time when industry has fallen a lot (since 1990), people with STEM skills have hardly found a job.
- Most have targeted other sectors of activity.
- Young people do not want to attend classes and then not find a job.
When demand for jobs in a given field exists and wages are good, the difficulty of recruiting qualified staff will no longer be a problem.

Kenan ÇETE - Turkey

kenancete — 2017-09-27 14:02:00 UTC

STEM skills are unfortunately missing all over the world. In school, we teach everything, but imagination and ability to act are missing.

Rovena Hoxha

rovena_hoxha — 2017-10-16 12:40:45 UTC

Hasan Gunes, Turkey

hgunes02 — 2017-11-12 19:21:47 UTC

The lack of skill gap is due to the demand for new skills is bigger than the existing supply and demographic changes in Europe and restructuring of specific sectors.

halil sünbül/turkiye

2019-02-01 12:22:14 UTC

I think it is missing.