GSS EU Science Funding Gateway

In order to reduce skill gaps, and identify and reduce problematic forms of mismatches in an informed manner, innovative research activities are needed that focus on understanding them both from the supply and demand side. Such activities should look into the roles played by individuals, public and private employers, skills-development institutions and policy frameworks.

Research activities may cover aspects such as the determinants of the choice of VET or study programme by individuals; the coordination, cost sharing and financing instruments for skills development, looking into which instruments lead to which outcomes, and why; the role of employers and work places in the provision of VET and AL. Other researched aspects may be the involvement of employers in defining curricula and organising training; the role of personal attitudes and gender stereotypes, information and structural factors in the decision to seek initial or adult education; the extent to which training balances the provision of general, job-specific and personal development skills (e.g. the levels and gaps of digital skills in the public or private sectors).

Proposals may look at the opportunities of informal learning and skills formation provided by workplaces; the coordination at local level between VET institutions, employers, R&I agencies or other public institutions; the interaction of skills development systems and institutions with other domains, in particular innovation and industrial policies, etc.