While the EU is concerned about losing the battle for STEM talents, gaps in basic skills and quality monitoring persist, according to the EEA Monitor.
The European Commission (EC) recently published the 2025 edition of its annual Education and Training Monitor. The comparative report tracks the EU’s progress towards reaching the seven targets set out in the 2021 Council resolution on a strategic framework for European cooperation in education and training towards the European Education Area (EEA) and is complemented by 27 country reports. This year’s edition notably focuses on science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) and newly includes additional EU targets, such as those proposed by the Union of Skills (see SwissCore article), mostly pertaining to mobility and enrolment in STEM subjects (see paragraph 3 below).
The EC’s strong interest in understanding STEM learning and graduate patterns is motivated by the belief that a stable domestic pool of STEM professionals can act as a guardrail for EU strategic autonomy and technological leadership. Importantly, CEDEFOP forecasts that the digital and green transitions and replacements for future retirees will significantly increase the EU’s demand for STEM professionals. The monitor, however, shows that the EU currently lacks a strong supply of STEM-trained professionals, with only 36.3% of students in VET and 26.9% of students in higher education being enrolled in a STEM subject. A particular dearth of information and communications technology (ICT) students exists among the different sub-disciplines. The report highlighted that in the global race for talent, the EU currently has the lowest share of ICT graduates. Countries like Cyprus, Croatia, Slovenia and Sweden have launched targeted campaigns to improve the perception of STEM, to combat current beliefs about STEM careers, such as that they are less people-oriented and creative. These are also among the reasons why women remain underrepresented in engineering and ICT.
Beyond this year’s topical focus, the monitoring report tracks achievements of and accessibility to learning across the entire education spectrum. Starting with early childhood education and care (ECEC), the EU is close to reaching its participation target (currently at 94.6%, 2030 target: 96%). A remaining obstacle to full participation, as is achieved in France for instance, is the limited availability of ECEC places, particularly in disadvantaged areas. Beyond mere access, ECEC quality is considered difficult to measure, but more and more countries now make an effort to improve quality monitoring. Moving on to school education, in terms of basic skills, the report notes the continuing trend of a general decline in basic skills among young people. Notably, drivers for this decline differ across subject areas: For instance, digital distractions and waning parental involvement are said to decrease math skills among pupils, whereas for low digital skills, inequality in access to digital technologies and connectivity is a contributing factor. Across the board, however, teacher shortages are seen as a main driver of low basic skills among school-aged children. Many countries subsequently are implementing reforms, including revisions of their initial teacher education, increasing salaries, and offering continuous professional development. The report for the first time also includes statistics on the new targets on civic knowledge as a basic skill, introduced through the Union of Skills. The target foresees that by 2030, at least 85% of 13-14 year olds should demonstrate an adequate level of civic knowledge, but presently, the EU stands at 63.2%, according to survey data. On a more positive note, the EU is closer than ever to achieving its target of below 9% of early-school leavers (2024: 9.4%), but disparities by gender and socioeconomic status persist.
Progress is further evident in the area of vocational education and training (VET), where work-based learning now exceeds the 2030 target (65.2% vs. 60%). However, a small decrease in employability of VET graduates is noted, which is interpreted in the context of a generally slower labour market. In terms of mobility, the EU is far from its 2030 target of 12% in VET (5.3% at present). This is equally true for tertiary education, both for outgoing mobility (11% in 2024 vs. the 2030 target of 23%) and incoming mobility, where the EU lacks around 100’000 incoming tertiary-level students to reach its target of welcoming 350’000 students from non-EU countries. Importantly, this inward mobility is highly unbalanced across European countries, with France and Germany receiving the most students, predominantly from Africa and Asia.
As Switzerland is not part of the EEA, the report yields no insights into Swiss progress on any of the mentioned indicators. Given Switzerland’s strong intertwinement with the EU’s education and training system, however, many of the challenges outlined in the report are shared across borders and equally shape and impact Swiss education and training systems.