Thirty years old, thirty years strong

For most, the 30th birthday is the first big milestone where one starts looking back rather than just steaming ahead with youthful force. The European Training Foundation (ETF), precisely thirty years old this autumn, decided not to do that. Instead, it marked the occasion in a forward-looking manner, with an event titled Reflecting on the Past, Envisioning the Future. 

That is not to say there was no reminiscing. There were congratulations aplenty, not just on the anniversary but also on the achievements of the organisation.

‘The ETF’s resilience, flexibility, and ability to cope with a challenging environment [...] is remarkable,’ said Commissioner for Jobs and Social Rights Nicolas Schmit, stressing in particular how the ETF has stood by Ukraine during its darkest days.

On that topic, ETF Director Pilvi Torsti interjected:

‘Some might ask why we should even think several years into the future when [...] the current storms in the geopolitical landscape can make it difficult to see too far ahead. But the answer is clear: 1994 was a more optimistic period than today. We must commit to the same spirit and bold targets today, despite a more complex geopolitical reality. The ETF’s mandate is more relevant than ever and must reflect the signs of our times.’

‘Dear friends, the future of education is not something we observe – it is something we create, together,’ Torsti said.

Li Andersson, MEP and Chair of the Employment and Social Affairs Committee of the European Parliament, was the first of many to attempt to define this future of education and training. She identified four key trends: the transformation of our economic model in response to ecological and climate crises; the continuation of the technological revolution, whose trajectory remains unpredictable; decreasing social cohesion and increasing polarisation; and shifting global power structures.

‘What we need is a radical education and training agenda that can confront these challenges,’ said Andersson, underlining the wealth of international evidence that shows how education can help communities rise from the ashes.

Powerful examples were highlighted throughout the day: Ireland, South Korea, and indeed Li Andersson’s own home country Finland, of which she said:

‘A hundred years ago, Finland was one of the poorest countries in Europe, embroiled in a series of bloody wars. In 2024, the Finns have beaten the rest of the world in happiness. Education was at the root of this incredible transformation.’ 

Mario Nava, Director General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion, emphasised the need for cooperation - an area in which the ETF has excelled over the past decades.

‘The bigger the challenge, the more impossible it is to tackle alone. Just look at Covid. When it broke out, countries everywhere thought they could tackle it themselves by closing their borders. Well, that didn’t work.’

‘We need a union of skills. We have made many unions – trade, monetary, energy [...]. Now we need a union of skills to address the challenges of the future,’ said Mario Nava, who is also the Chairman of the ETF Governing Board.

Throughout the day, many echoed his sentiments, emphasising how visionary it had been in the 1990s to create an agency dedicated not to EU countries but to the Union’s neighbours.

‘You are very lucky,’ he said. ‘The current EU would probably not have created an ETF.’

His final appreciation of the ETF was delivered in a manner subtly reflective of the day’s spirit.

‘Thank you for the work you have done and particularly for the work you will do.’

The clout of the many speakers notwithstanding, the event’s highlight was when the 150 participants were asked to split into groups and discuss what the year 2050 would bring to five areas and how the ETF could respond.

EU neighbourhood
Not surprisingly, the group discussing the EU neighbourhood talked a lot about enlargement. Thirty years ago, there were 12 EU countries. Today, there are 27, and enough countries lined up for membership to expect considerable expansion by 2050.

As regards the role of the ETF in the next 30 years, the group dropped a line that many picked up on later in the day when they said: ‘The ETF is our connector.’

‘The direct support neighbourhood countries receive is very valuable, but the ETF also helps us to create common standards in vocational education and training. This process of integration is one of the most important contributions of the ETF to the EU neighbourhood’, the group said.

Economies
The group discussing economies looked at the skills that would be needed in very different sectors in 2050 but concluded that soft skills would be the most essential across all industries.

‘We actually need skills of people who can look across different sectors,’ the group reported back.

For the ETF, the group saw a role in anticipatory planning and leveraging partnerships for institutions to work better together in planning for change.

Technology
Technology will be difficult to predict. What is by now easy to predict is that we will go through profound change again without knowing exactly what this change will entail. This makes lifelong learning, critical thinking, autonomous learning and soft skills important. The big thing is making it inclusive and ensuring no one is left behind.

The ETF can provide continuity for improvement but also promote new developments. Time and again, as the first ETF Director Peter de Rooij loved saying, it has proven its flexibility to respond to changing needs. It has always protected diversity, variety, and richness and connected the unexpected. It must keep doing so, whatever the challenges it faces.

A powerful message from the group was the notion that the ETF must counter artificial intelligence with social intelligence.

Global education
One of the questions for the group that discussed global education was, of course, what skills will be on global curricula in 2050. Greening, critical thinking and adaptability are obvious. But some of the other keywords echoing through the group had been bridges, holistic, openness, consciousness and collaboration.

This points to a need to unite what is separate: oppositions such as global and local, artificial and human.

And what can the ETF do? One of the young ambassadors said that it is less important to be the one who connects the dots than to be the one who helps to connect the dots: the primus motor, the place for dialogue. Just the job for the ETF!

Geopolitics
Will we still be Eurocentric in 2050? The group discussing geopolitics was convinced that the EU would still be attractive. Its education model is a source of inspiration, being bottom-up, inclusive and benefiting from intergenerational exchange.

Can the ETF do anything at all in the daunting geopolitical theatre? According to the group, today it has shown that it can: the ETF made space again for young voices and this is critical. Also, many see the ETF not as a missionary institution but as a critical friend, which is important in a world creaking under geopolitical pressure.

Lighthouse

In her opening words, Pilvi Torsti had said:

‘Education and training have been, and presently are, our lighthouse, guiding us through change, showing the way forward, and connecting us to a shared vision of progress with our stakeholders.’

‘This lighthouse makes it possible for the ETF to navigate the different priorities of our 30+ partner countries, the EU and EU member states – our complex ecosystem.’

This lighthouse kept flashing its light over the day’s proceedings. Education was called a lighthouse, but the deputy mayor of Turin, Michela Favaro, also called the ETF itself a lighthouse in the city’s transformation from post-industrial collapse to being designated the European City of Innovation in 2025.

At the age of 30, that is an endearing compliment, given that it all began with PHARE[1] in 1994. Or, actually, in May 1990 – but that’s a story for another day.

As the day drew to a close, Mario Nava summed up his impressions, saying it had been ‘a magnificent day, one of the best of the year.’

‘At 30, the ETF is at its prime age,’ Pilvi Torsti concluded. ‘At prime age, we are experienced enough to know our strengths and courageous enough to embrace the future with ambition and energy.’

[1] Phare is the French word for lighthouse and was the abbreviated name of the first European support programme for Eastern Europe: Poland and Hungary Assistance for the Restructuring of the Economy (PHARE).