# Recommendation on Human Capital Canonical URL: https://digital-acquis.eu/initiative/recommendation-on-human-capital Entry type: initiative Source edition current through: 17 July 2026 (2026-07-17). This is not a page modification date. Status: delivered. A delivered initiative is not necessarily legislation in force. Instrument: Recommendation Date as recorded: 09 Mar 2026 Date kind: date Status note: full date links only to published artifact types Promised timeline: Announced for this term. ## Summary The Commission will introduce a recommendation on education and skills within the European Semester to anchor the Union of Skills in the competitiveness steering mechanism. It will be underpinned by the European Skills Intelligence Observatory and advised by a European Skills High-Level Board, ensuring timely, granular evidence and guidance. The recommendation will target structural reforms across the skills pipeline (i.e. basic education, VET, higher education and lifelong learning) linking them to labour-market needs. It will inform Council debates, the Joint Employment Report and country reports/CSRs, and promote whole-of-government coordination across education, employment and economic portfolios, nationally. ## Sources - [Official source]() - [Official source]() ## Action items (25; complete published list) ### 1. Action item 530001 1. Address skills shortages in strategic sectors Provenance: source document doc-067, paragraph 1. Digital dimension: no. ### 2. Action item 530002 • Steer actions to address skills shortages, with a focus on occupations, notably requiring science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) skills, including ICT and AI, in sectors of strategic importance for competitiveness and resilience (such as digital and clean technology, circular economy and industrial decarbonisation, health and biotech, agriculture and fisheries-aquaculture, bioeconomy, defence industry and space). Provenance: source document doc-067, paragraph 2. Digital dimension: no. ### 3. Action item 530003 • Strengthen fast-track as well as longer-term delivery of future-proof and labour market-relevant skills in areas of strategic importance, by fostering partnerships between education and training providers, public employment services, social partners and individual businesses as well as public bodies, including at regional and local levels. Provenance: source document doc-067, paragraph 3. Digital dimension: no. ### 4. Action item 530004 • Reduce barriers to entry to regulated professions and take measures to promote faster recognition of qualifications in strategic sectors for EU and third-country nationals, while maintaining quality standards. Provenance: source document doc-067, paragraph 4. Digital dimension: no. ### 5. Action item 530006 2. Strengthen basic skills to build solid foundations for higher competitiveness Provenance: source document doc-067, paragraph 6. Digital dimension: no. ### 6. Action item 530007 • Strengthen the acquisition of literacy, mathematics (including financial literacy), science, digital, and citizenship skills from early age and throughout adulthood and all levels and types of education and training with particular attention to socio-economically disadvantaged groups and persons with disabilities, while also supporting the most talented. Take steps to reach the EU-level targets agreed under the European Education Area on students until 15 years of age underachieving in basic skills. Provenance: source document doc-067, paragraph 7. Digital dimension: no. ### 7. Action item 530008 • Ensure equitable access to high-quality early childhood education and care as a mean to narrow achievement gaps. Provenance: source document doc-067, paragraph 8. Digital dimension: no. ### 8. Action item 530009 • Ensure adequate incentives to increase the attractiveness of the teaching profession, especially for STEM subjects. Support initial and continuous professional development at all levels, including inclusive and gender-sensitive teaching approaches. Provenance: source document doc-067, paragraph 9. Digital dimension: no. ### 9. Action item 530010 • Strengthen students’, apprentices’ and lifelong learners’ digital skills, including Artificial Intelligence (AI) literacy, together with critical thinking, apply digital testing tools to monitor progress, and train teachers for technology-enhanced learning. Encourage the effective, responsible, inclusive and ethical use of AI. Provenance: source document doc-067, paragraph 10. Digital dimension: no. ### 10. Action item 530011 • Identify challenges and address the impact of the use of digital devices on academic performance, and mental and physical well-being. Provenance: source document doc-067, paragraph 11. Digital dimension: no. ### 11. Action item 530013 3. Strengthen Vocational Education and Training (VET) Provenance: source document doc-067, paragraph 13. Digital dimension: no. ### 12. Action item 530014 • Boost the quality and attractiveness of VET and apprenticeships, including by tackling negative perceptions, strengthening inclusiveness for disadvantaged groups and addressing gender stereotypes, notably in STEM programmes. Provenance: source document doc-067, paragraph 14. Digital dimension: no. ### 13. Action item 530015 • Create and implement policies or strategies to increase the proportion of initial medium-level VET learners enrolled in STEM fields, in particular the proportion of female students, and to reach at least 12%33 of VET learners participating in learning experience abroad. Provenance: source document doc-067, paragraph 15. Digital dimension: no. ### 14. Action item 530016 • Promote a sufficient supply in particular of STEM teachers and trainers and incentivise work-based learning in cooperation with companies. Provenance: source document doc-067, paragraph 16. Digital dimension: no. ### 15. Action item 530018 4. Improve tertiary education outcomes in STEM Provenance: source document doc-067, paragraph 18. Digital dimension: no. ### 16. Action item 530019 • Increase capacity, relevance and attractiveness for young people of tertiary education STEM programmes (including higher-level vocational programmes), particularly in ICT and AI fields, in areas with major labour and skills gaps and in strategic areas. Promote measures to empower female students in these fields. Provenance: source document doc-067, paragraph 19. Digital dimension: no. ### 17. Action item 530020 • Promote AI literacy and critical and strategic thinking of graduates, foster transdisciplinary approaches and enhance the internationalisation of tertiary level STEM programmes (including higher-level vocational programmes), particularly through joint transnational programmes. Provenance: source document doc-067, paragraph 20. Digital dimension: no. ### 18. Action item 530022 5. Investment in education, training and skills Provenance: source document doc-067, paragraph 22. Digital dimension: no. ### 19. Action item 530023 • Promote effective and efficient public spending on education and skills commensurate to the identified challenges and agreed objectives and targets, including by leveraging on cohesion policy funds, including the European Social Fund Plus. Provenance: source document doc-067, paragraph 23. Digital dimension: no. ### 20. Action item 530024 • Promote private investment in quality upskilling and reskilling and the use of the social investment and skills policy window of InvestEU and ensure synergies with public investment. Provenance: source document doc-067, paragraph 24. Digital dimension: no. ### 21. Action item 530025 • Regularly monitor and evaluate investments in education and skills at national, regional and local levels, using solid and tailored impact assessment and evaluation methodologies while avoiding unnecessary administrative burden. Rely where considered useful on the Voluntary Guiding Principles endorsed by the Council34, to inform evidence-based policymaking. Provenance: source document doc-067, paragraph 25. Digital dimension: no. ### 22. Action item 530026 • Ensure the use of administrative data to assess the effectiveness and efficiency of public and private spending in education and training. Provenance: source document doc-067, paragraph 26. Digital dimension: no. ### 23. Action item 530028 6. Skills intelligence for mastering labour market transitions Provenance: source document doc-067, paragraph 28. Digital dimension: no. ### 24. Action item 530029 • Develop and apply methodologies for the use of big data and AI, to provide better and timelier skills intelligence, building on and complementing existing quantitative and qualitative skills intelligence sources. Provenance: source document doc-067, paragraph 29. Digital dimension: no. ### 25. Action item 530030 • Further integrate and increase the regular use of skills intelligence in the (re-)design of national, regional and local skills and economic development strategies, in the areas of lifelong career guidance, reorientation and job transitions, as well as in future-proofing the design and the development of education and training programmes. Provenance: source document doc-067, paragraph 30. Digital dimension: no. ## Current developments Latest updates from Digital Policy Alert and Global Trade Alert. No reviewed developments available; this does not establish that no developments exist. ## Associated policy priorities - [Human Capital, Skills & Talent Mobility]() ## Broader policy context (shared priority; not a direct citation) - [2030 Roadmap on the Future of Digital Education and Skills]() — status: forthcoming. The roadmap will steer Europe’s digital education transformation, building on the review of the Digital Education Action Plan. It will promote equal access, build a digital education ecosystem, and forge partnerships with EU-based EdTech. An accompanying AI in Education initiative will set an AI literacy framework, support safe, ethical AI uptake in classrooms, and address online safety, wellbeing and misinformation. The Roadmap complements the Union of Skills and the STEM Plan, enlarging Europe’s AI-capable talent pool. The Digital Competence Framework will be updated by end-2025 to reflect emerging technologies. It will strengthen teacher capacity through targeted support and guidance. - [Action Plan on Basic Skills]() — status: delivered. The plan will lift literacy, numeracy, science, digital and citizenship skills, tackling underachievement. A Basic Skills Support Scheme will pilot interventions with EU funding, from early identification and tutoring to school-level improvement plans. A European Innovative School Award will recognise innovation and partnerships with businesses and local authorities. The Commission will pilot university–business partnerships via Erasmus+, Digital Europe and EIT to train for shortage sectors and co-develop micro-credentials. The plan will expand the European Alliance for Apprenticeships to 700 pledges and streamline the Pact for Skills (linking EU Skills Academies, CoVEs and European Universities) to double 25-million upskilling commitments. - [Digital Competence Framework (DigComp 3.0)]() — status: not recorded. DigComp 3.0 provides a common framework for identifying and describing the key areas of digital competence. Its use spans employment, education and digital-skills training across the EU, with adoption in at least 22 Member States and use as a basis or guide for 27 digital-skills certification schemes in 25 countries. The Joint Research Centre presented the new version in an online event for policymakers, employers, educators and researchers working on digital competence development. - [Digital Skills Academies]() — status: not recorded. The EU will deploy a targeted network of Skills Academies anchored by a flagship AI Skills Academy and complemented by a Quantum Skills Academy, a Cybersecurity Skills Academy (with an Industry–Academia network and cyber-campuses), and Net-Zero Industry Academies. Academies will offer one-stop training, apprenticeships and fellowships, returnships for women, and competitions. Building on Large-Scale Partnerships, a rollout will serve strategic sectors: defence, automotive, grids, wind, food, AI, quantum, virtual worlds and semiconductors. Coordinated under the Union of Skills and linked to the Clean Industrial Deal, the EIT will equip 1 million learners by 2028, with gender and mobility targets across Europe. - [EU Literacy Coalition]() — status: forthcoming. The EU Literacy Coalition is an initiative announced under the Union of Skills and the Action Plan on Basic Skills. The Commission says the Coalition will be established in autumn 2026. In preparation, the Commission held a conference on reading and literacy in Warsaw from 5 to 7 May, followed by a two half-day stakeholder workshop to lay the ground for the Coalition. The Commission presents the initiative as a joint approach across education and culture that brings together the cultural, creative, education and book sectors in response to declining literacy competences and reading habits. - [EU Teachers and Trainers Agenda]() — status: forthcoming. The Teachers and Trainers Agenda is an initiative within the Union of Skills aimed at tackling shortages, improving conditions and strengthening careers for educators. The wider strategy seeks to help people access quality jobs, help companies find talent and make skills portable across the EU. It includes action on basic skills, STEM, vocational education and training, upskilling, reskilling, skills intelligence and talent attraction. - [EU Visa Policy Strategy]() — status: delivered. EU Visa Policy Strategy sets out changes to make visa tools more responsive to readmission, security and border-management cooperation. In 2026, the Commission plans a new framework for visa-exemption assessments, a Visa Code revision and the launch of the European Travel Information and Authorisation System. The measures cover restrictive visa options, digitalised procedures, travel-document security, longer-validity multiple-entry visas, support for innovation talent, border-management IT and a proposed EU Visa Support Office within a revised Frontex mandate. - [European School Alliances]() — status: forthcoming. The programme will knit Europe’s education and innovation fabric into a single, high-performing network. Universities alliances will launch joint programmes (especially in AI, quantum, semiconductors, data and cybersecurity) under a European degree/label, backed by an EU legal status and an investment pathway that secures long-term cooperation, shared infrastructures, and partnerships with business and research. In schools, a 2026 pilot will create European School Alliances to boost pupil and teacher mobility, enable cross-border cooperation between schools and authorities, and serve as testbeds for pedagogy, curricula and competence frameworks. Alliances will help schools become learning organisations focused on mastering basic skills. - [European Skills High Level Board]() — status: not recorded. The Board will be the steering hub of the Union of Skills, chaired by the Commission and uniting business leaders, education and training providers, and social partners. It delivers cross-sector insight and guidance on skills issues, drawing on evidence from the European Skills Intelligence Observatory and aligning action with the competitiveness steering mechanism. It will support a new EU-27 Recommendation on human capital and inform country-specific recommendations, while taking into account the Digital Decade Board’s advice on digital basic skills. With a dynamic, agile set-up, the Board can convene stakeholders quickly and accelerate implementation across sectors. - [European Strategy for VET]() — status: forthcoming. The Strategy upgrades VET into a first-choice pathway for competitiveness, cohesion and generational renewal. It tackles skills shortages by modernising curricula with employers, expanding work-based learning, and boosting mobility and internationalisation (via Erasmus+ and a pilot European VET diploma/label in 2025–26). It raises excellence and inclusiveness, combats gender stereotypes, and sets a 2030 STEM target: at least 45% of initial medium-level VET enrolment, with one in four women. Centres of Vocational Excellence will scale transnational partnerships and drive national reforms, while recognition frameworks ease cross-border learning and careers, making VET as valued as higher education across the Union. - [Fair Labour Mobility Package]() — status: forthcoming. The Package will remove frictions to cross-border work while safeguarding rights, making Europe’s labour market more efficient. It will propose a European Social Security Pass for digital verification of entitlements, streamline posting procedures, and clarify social-security coordination for cross-border remote work. The package will strengthen the European Labour Authority’s mandate and data capabilities to improve enforcement and joint inspections. A Skills Portability Initiative will simplify recognition of qualifications and interoperable digital credentials, including for third-country nationals. Together, these measures cut administrative burden for employers and workers, enable service provision, and support talent circulation across the Single Market. - [Intergenerational Fairness Strategy]() — status: delivered. The Commission will present the first EU-wide strategy to embed long-term, intergenerational perspectives across policymaking. It will: (1) strengthen intergenerational democratic participation and scrutiny; (2) tackle cross-cutting challenges (i.e. climate, housing, fiscal sustainability, skills and lifelong learning) through an intergenerational lens; and (3) empower all ages, combating ageism and protecting children’s rights. The strategy is being co-created via a 2025 four-phase process and may include a monitoring tool for intergenerational fairness. It will align with the Union of Skills agenda and related education actions, ensuring no generation is left behind. It will propose metrics and mainstream youth participation. - [MSCA Choose Europe for Science]() — status: not recorded. Choose Europe will co-fund recruitment programmes that link MSCA grants to long-term positions, tackling precarity and drawing top researchers to Europe, including in AI. It sits within a wider talent-magnet approach: a new Visa Strategy to better use the Students & Researchers and Blue Card Directive, pilots of Multipurpose Legal Gateway Offices, and an EU Talent Pool plus a 2030 target to host at least 350,000 non-EU tertiary graduates annually. Complementary quantum actions include a European Quantum Talent Mobility Programme and a Pilot for Researchers-in-Residence in quantum startups. Together, this integrates R&I careers, mobility and immigration tools into one offer. - [Quality Jobs Act]() — status: forthcoming. Developed with EU social partners in 2025, the Quality Jobs Roadmap will set a coherent EU strategy to raise job quality alongside competitiveness. It will back fair wages, high health-and-safety standards, decent working conditions, work-life balance, gender equality and wider collective bargaining; strengthen enforcement of work-related rights; and support access to training and fair job-to-job transitions, drawing on the European Pillar of Social Rights. It will align with the Competitiveness Compass, Union of Skills and the Clean Industrial Deal so decarbonisation creates attractive jobs and regional cohesion, and may announce targeted legislative and non-legislative actions with robust monitoring and evaluation. - [Skills Portability Initiative (SPI)]() — status: forthcoming. The initiative will remove barriers to cross-border work by making skills and qualifications usable across the Single Market. It will consider a legislative proposal to ease mobility and promote common EU formats for interoperable digital credentials, building on EQF, Europass and ESCO. Recognition in regulated professions will be expanded and modernised using digital tools, while simpler common rules will be explored to recognise third-country nationals’ skills. In parallel, the EU will develop a framework for automatic recognition of qualifications and learning periods in school, VET and higher education, and examine accession to the Lisbon Recognition Convention. - [STEM Education Strategic Plan]() — status: delivered. The EU will reverse declining STEM performance and close talent gaps by 2030 through enrolment targets (45% of initial VET in STEM, 32% tertiary, and 5% ICT PhDs) with gender goals (≥25% women in VET, 40% tertiary, 33% ICT PhDs). It will modernise curricula via a STEM competence framework, pilot STEM education centres, and launch Advanced Digital Skills Competitions. Universities and Centres of Vocational Excellence will offer joint programmes and micro-credentials aligned with industry, moving toward a European degree for engineers. A Teachers & Trainers Agenda and actions under the Union of Skills will boost capacity and attractiveness. - [Union of Skills]() — status: delivered. Union of Skills measures span basic education, digital learning, science and technology education, vocational training, higher education and labour-market mobility. The programme lists action on basic skills, a Skills Guarantee, skills academies, university-business partnerships, portability and recognition of qualifications, a European degree or label, and talent attraction. Its timetable includes pilots, strategies, frameworks and legal arrangements. --- [Reading guide and interpretation notes]() · [Methodology]()