MATES Contribution to New ESCO Launch

Today the European Commission has officially launched the new version of the European classification of Skills, Competences, Occupations and Qualifications (ESCO). ESCO v1.1 is the result of a two-year process of quality review of existing concepts, as well as development of new occupational and competence profiles.

For ESCO to remain useful in the labour market and in education and training, it needs to be updated regularly in line with trends of new and changing occupations and skills. MATES has been an active contributor to this process, reviewing 100 occupational profiles in the shipbuilding and offshore renewable energy value chain with the purpose of identifying changes due to emerging trends in the maritime technologies sector. The impacts of these trends, which were identified by the MATES partnership, have resulted in 14 new skills and five new occupations being identified, described and included in ESCO v1.1. MATES has also developed a protocol to assist the involvement of experts in the review process.

MATES contribution forms part of the wider updates to ESCO v1.1 which include:

  • New content: 68 new occupations, 354 new skills and 158 new knowledge concepts have been created and translated in all the ESCO languages.
  • A new transversal skills hierarchy: revised structure and terminology on transversal skills and competences.
  • Labels for Green, DigComp, and Research skills: access to new sub-sets of skill and knowledge concepts including skills for the green transition and for researchers, as well as digital skills and skills for the European Digital Competence Framework for Citizens (DigComp).
  • Quality improvements: Over 500 terms have been updated.

Some of the key features of ESCO include: transparent and comparable skills and occupations in Europe; strengthened mobility within the EU; and enhanced skills intelligence which helps to bridge the gap between education and training systems and the labour market (e.g. education and training systems can clearly identify the skills demanded by the labour market and how they can adapt their curricula to meet those needs). Solving current and future skills mismatch in the shipbuilding and offshore renewable energy sectors is one of the key focus areas of the MATES project.

Inclusion of MATES results in the ESCO classification is one of several knowledge transfer activities being carried out by the partnership to ensure sustainability and long-term impact of the project’s outputs.

Read more on ESCO, MATES Executive Report on Present Skills Gaps in Shipbuilding and Offshore Renewables Value Chains and MATES Foresight Scenarios Identifying Future Skills Needs and Trends Report.