Description: As Europe begins a new academic year, policymakers, educators and employers are looking beyond skills development towards a new challenge: ensuring that future-ready competences are recognised, valued and connected to opportunity.
As students, apprentices and lifelong learners across Europe return to classrooms and training programmes this autumn, an important question is gaining renewed urgency: are we equipping young people with the skills they need to thrive in a rapidly changing world?
Amid digital transformation, the green transition and growing global competition, skills development has become a strategic priority for Europe. Employers increasingly look beyond academic qualifications, seeking people who can adapt, communicate effectively, collaborate across disciplines, solve problems and continue learning throughout their careers.
The challenge is no longer only about helping young people develop these skills. It is also about ensuring that the competences acquired through formal, non-formal and experiential learning can be demonstrated, validated and understood by employers, education providers and policymakers.
This conversation sits at the heart of Erasmus Days 2026, highlighting the role of education, cooperation and skills development in preparing learners for the opportunities and challenges ahead.
From Skills Development to Skills Recognition
While significant investments have been made across Europe to support skills development, a persistent challenge remains: how can learners effectively demonstrate the competences they have acquired, particularly those developed through experiential, non-formal and work-based learning?
Addressing this challenge is the mission of EMPASS, an Erasmus+ project coordinated by JA Europe. EMPASS seeks to make employability skills more visible and recognised through innovative approaches to their assessment and validation.
At the centre of the project is the EmPass Micro-Credential, designed to help young people identify, develop, assess and showcase key competences for the workplace. By providing a structured way to document skills gained through different learning experiences, EMPASS contributes to strengthening the connection between education and employment.
