By Dr Juha Ylä-Jääski, President and CEO, Technology Academy Finland
– The opinions expressed are the author’s own –
Don’t let them be the lost generation.
The young have borne the brunt of the current economic malaise afflicting Europe and much of the developed world, with chronic levels of unemployment and gloomy prospects. At the same time, many are equipped or have the potential to be equipped with the digital skills that can transform our economies through innovation, qualities that their elders often struggle with.
We are failing to grasp this opportunity, however, with demand for tech skills outpacing the ability of educators to provide for it, opening a digital divide that is holding back our economies and our young people.
This has to change. The way to reconnect with what threatens to be a lost generation is through the digital agenda. Although economic conditions in Europe remain challenging, the growing importance of the internet economy could transform the economic landscape and the lives of millions of people, with the potential to skew the jobs market in favour of the young.
Our young people know it. Until recently, science and technology were seen as increasingly marginalised and narrow fields that were only for nerds. But the nerds are becoming fashionable, partly by dint of having jobs and a sexy future, but also through the digital communications revolution that inspires through smart phones, tablets and other gizmos in a way textbooks never could. The division between arts and science is also increasingly less relevant, as Steve Job’s insistence on design proved with the success of Apple. The practical application of science – demonstrated by stars such as Prof Cox, an academic and television presenter of series such as Stargazing Live – is also inspiring young people.
Today we find that subjects that were struggling to find interested students – such as physics and chemistry – are now seeing an upturn at universities around the world. In Britain, for example, the number of students attempting A-level physics has increased every year since 2006 and demand for undergraduate degrees is such that some university departments are over-subscribed. This is against a backdrop of a substantial increase in tuition fees.
This opportunity must be seized. Young people are increasingly turning to science and technology, and we must ensure the opportunities are there for them. Efforts are urgently needed to upskill educators to be digitally confident , not only in computing subjects, but also in traditional subjects such as history and geography. Alarmingly, a recent study of ICT training across the EU showed 20 percent of secondary-level students have never used a computer in school lessons.
A passion for entrepreneurship should also be nurtured from a young age, encouraging graduates and even school leavers to start businesses while they are still in education, or to collaborate with the corporate world on their research projects. The Triple Helix – universities, business and government – must work together to provide training and opportunities.
Together with our partners at Helsinki university and Aalto university, we at Technology Academy Finland invite the most talented young scientists around the world to Finland every year to work on science projects together, with a little help from Finnish technology experts, as well as career advice from leading lights such as Michael Grätzel, Linus Torvalds and Shinya Yamanaka, recent winners of the Millennium Technology Prize. Similar initiatives are happening elsewhere, but we need more.
All of us need to improve our digital skills, but the chronic levels of youth unemployment means that policy makers’ attention must be focused on the young. It is also an opportunity to engage those who have been turned off by mainstream education and a lack of jobs. The internet is a vast repository of knowledge and opportunity that is accessible in a way that university education has not managed to be. The best coders, like musicians, are often largely self-taught.
Of course, much more is need than merely teaching young people to code. We need to dig deep into school curriculums to reflect the importance of basic programming and science knowledge across the board. Courses that may have seemed boring to young people can be recreated to include exciting practical activities such as making games or controlling robots, bringing history, geography, language learning, arts – and yes even physics, chemistry and biology – alive.