European Code Week is an initiative designed to help bridge the digital skills gap by inspiring young people and educators to program and use technology. Originally a European campaign, the EU Code Week stretches to almost 80 countries and 4 million participants around the world!
Certiport has long been a supporter of this week and is thrilled to have been awarded a Certificate of Excellence in Coding Literacy from the European Commission for our role in EU Code Week – for the fifth year running! We believe that ensuring citizens gain the digital competence they need is imperative to future-proof our society. We work to help them make their skills visible and transferrable through internationally recognized certifications.
According to statistics from the European Union, over 70% of businesses face obstacles in securing investments because they lack staff with adequate digital skills. Countries across Europe and economies around the world are wrestling not only with reskilling to fill existing gaps, but also finding solutions to ensure that future labor forces have the skills and resilience to adapt to technology’s rapid changes. Education systems are considered the backbone of the economy and thus must modernize to scale up the use of ICT (Information and Communication Technologies) in teaching and learning.
Events, such as EU Code Week, help schools give students in-demand skills for their future careers. Coding can help develop competences such as computational thinking, problem solving, creativity and teamwork, all skills that are needed to move future generations from mere consumers of technology and content to veritable creators. Of course, coding and programming aren’t the whole story. Students, need a range of skills from basic applications, to digital productivity, entrepreneurship skills, creative digital design and much more. But it is a great place to start.
The need for these skills also extends well beyond students: to teachers, parents, job seekers and citizens in general. Right now in Europe, 4 out of 10 adults and every third working person lack basic digital skills. Through the Certiport network of global partners, we helped job seekers ensure they could upskill to advance their employment prospects with networking, security, cloud, and server administration skills, filling that much-needed gap for specialist level talent tool.
Certiport is proud to be part of European Code Week, we encourage teachers, schools, and our partners around the world to mark their calendars for EU Code Week 2023: October 7th – 22nd. We look forward making EU Code Week this year an even bigger success.
Learn more about the EU Code Week here.