In early July the European Commission presented the “European Skills Agenda for sustainable competitiveness, social fairness and resilience”, for the period 2020-2025. With the view to post-COVID economic challenges and creation of jobs demanding new skills, the renewed vision is built on 12 actions, two more than the previous Agenda of 2016, and a comprehensive approach to skills development and recognition, digitalisation, and multisectoral and multidisciplinary European cooperation in education and training. The 12 actions refer to the following:

1. A Pact for Skills: mobilising partners in public and private sectors for better training opportunities and facilitate public-private cooperation. The launch of the Pact is foreseen for November 2020.
2. Strengthening skills intelligence: through enhancing ‘real-time’ information access and dissemination, and big data analysis of job vacancies.
3. EU support for strategic national upskilling action: in cooperation with Member States and employment agencies on modern and comprehensive national skills strategies development and implementation, with a particular focus on transversal and entrepreneurial skills as well as skills in support of the digital and green transition.
4. Council Recommendation on Vocational Education and Training for sustainable competitiveness, social fairness and resilience: making VET more attractive for learners and fit for the digital and green transition, including increased learning mobility, close partnerships with employers and work towards inclusion of vulnerable groups.
5. Rolling out the European universities initiative and upskilling scientists: bringing education and research together through long-term transnational alliances and training researchers, including the development of a European Competence Framework for researchers and development of open science and science management curricula for researchers.
6. Skills to support the green and digital transitions: developing green and digital skills (see Digital Education Action Plan), monitoring workplace ‘greening’ and provide online training courses. Implementation of the Digital Europe programme and a range of other initiatives to support the development of digital skills for individuals and SMEs.
7. Increasing STEM graduates and fostering entrepreneurial and transversal skills: especially empowering women to train in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths), support for transversal skills and enhanced support for entrepreneurs.
8. Skills for Life: supporting adult learning for all on beyond-job skills such as civic competences, media literacy and environmental literacy, among others.
9. Initiative on Individual Learning Accounts: looking into ways to support lifelong learning for all through portable and quality-checked training entitlements – portable on-job training outcomes of individual learners/workers.
10. A European approach to micro-credentials: developing European standards to recognise learning outcomes of short-term courses for re- or upskilling offered by a wide range of education and training providers, from HEIs to industry or civil society organisations
11. New Europass Platform: the revised platform for resume creation has been launched with the view to supporting individuals present their skills, competences and qualifications in an attractive way (including “Europass Digital Credentials” issued by education and training institutions and linking the “EU Skills Profile Tool for Third Country Nationals” with the new Europass).
12. Improving the enabling framework to unlock Member States' and private investments in skills: including improving transparency around skills investment and exploring financing mechanisms to benefit.

More information here.