消除电子技术鸿沟的良方

现阶段，欧洲有超过500万的失业青年，这听起来实在不可思议。当需要聘用专业对口的员工时，企业仍然时常会感受到难处，尤其是在IT（信息技术）行业。企业真正需要的从业技能与年轻人在就业市场上展现的个人才能，这两者间的错位已经司空见惯。

最近的二十年里，技术已经重塑了人们从工作到生活的所有领域。不幸的是，全欧洲的教育体系和发展方向并没有跟上这一步伐，负作用已经在显现。尽管各国政府在努力应对该问题，但是变革总是那么缓慢，留给政策制定者和教育界的问题依旧：变化如此迅速的环境中，教育如何保持常新？

对于技术和教育领域的利益相关方来说，为上述问题寻求解决方案是一项重大挑战和责任。这也是支持CSR Europe“就业技能运动”如此必要的原因所在。发起于2013年的这项倡议正构建起CSR Europe超过5000家会员的广泛网络，聚集政策制定者、教育领导者和技术企业等各方，通过更有效的合作来强化每个人的电子技能（E-skills），并寻求走向理想方案的途径。

作为这项倡议活动的一部分，CSREurope还承诺支持欧盟委员会发起的“数字就业大联盟”。这项承诺将正面应对商业与教育彼此间的现有鸿沟，刺激欧洲电子就业市场的进一步增长。为此，我们需要立即行动起来。

作为CSR Europe董事会和指导委员会成员，惠普公司正积极参与上述倡议。过去75年来，惠普一直同政策制定者、教育领导者紧密合作，不断推出新的解决方案和项目，以技术扩大教育所能开拓的视野。惠普的经验表明，社会与私营力量即商业、非政府组织和政府基于共同目标的合作，是最有效的途径。

同教育领域的先锋合作伙伴一起，我们已经开发了“惠普终生电子学习”项目。这是一个全球在线培训项目，自主学习者可以直接接入，教育家、培训师和导师们也可以此丰富现有课程。该项目帮助人们获得必要的商业和IT技能，以便于创造更多的就业机会和促进经济增长。

得益于惠普技术，这个项目提供六种语言版本，线上学习者可以接入23种模块式课程，获得来自惠普专家的专业支持、丰富的网络资源以及同龄人之间、个人与专家之间的全球交流平台。项目中的课程、服务、支持和系统语言定期更新，自2012年11月上线以来，已吸引全球超过100万的参与者。

像“惠普终生电子学习”这样的项目，在消除电子技能鸿沟方面，当然能够扮演重要的角色，但我们要做的还有更多。包括政府、企业、非政府组织及学校在内的各方，必须要更密切地合作起来，向年轻人展现技术在众多产业中创造就业机会的可能性，帮助他们引导可行的前进道路。（本文于2014年6月发表在CSR Europe“企业2020”博客，作者为惠普公司企业事务部经济发展总监Jeannette Weisschuh）

老于点评

闻听欧洲有500万青年失业并不惊讶，但其中大部分是因为缺少IT技术能力而失业，这就让我们无比惊讶了。

“当企业需要聘用专业对口的员工时，仍然时常会感受到难处，尤其是在IT（信息技术）行业。企业真正需要的从业技能与年轻人在就业市场上展现的个人才能，这两者间的错位已经司空见惯。”作为全球最发达区域之一的欧洲，竟然存在如此大的数字鸿沟！那中国的情况又会怎样？

在一般人的眼里，中国的ICT（信息通信技术）产业发展迅速，表现在日常生活中，几乎所有的青年人都拥有智能手机，都会上网，怎么会有“数字鸿沟”呢？但是，我们再深入地想一想：有多少人拥有用于工作和创造的真正的IT技能呢？绝大多数人的技能基本停留在视频浏览、生活信息获取、通信联络等日常应用上，当然，这也是进步，但这无法满足就业的需求，无法满足工作的需求。

一般意义上看，数字鸿沟是指信息技术获得上的缺失而带来的差距。但现阶段，我们更应该关注，基本获得基础上的发展问题。只有获得没有发展，等于没有缩小数字鸿沟，反而这道鸿沟是加剧了。

大众创业，万众创业，不全是传统意义上的开个餐馆、办个小店，而是要借助“互联网+”的大势，将信息技术整合到社会问题的解决之中。从这个意义上，我们必须重视数字鸿沟在不断扩大的基本现实。

缩小数字鸿沟的力量在哪里？除了政府之外，企业的价值如何发挥？通信企业在将网络铺设得越来越广的今天，如何再加一把力，把青年人信息技术的应用能力再度提升？智能制造企业在提升企业信息化的同时，如何为青年员工技能培训，乃至更广范围的青年人的技术培训多做一些？都是值得思考的。

缩小数字鸿沟对国家的意义不言而喻，对个人发展的价值不可限量，对企业发展解决人才问题也作用非凡。注重企业社会责任的你，会为此做什么呢？

英文原文

Better together:

collaborating to close the e-skills gap

It seems incredible that at a time when there are more than 5 millionunemployed young people in Europe,companies continue to experience difficulty hiring suitably skilled staff, especially in the IT industry. This mismatch between the skills that are needed and the skills that young people offer when they arrive on the job market is not new news, but if weallow it to continue we seriously threaten Europe’s future competitiveness. Combine this with the fact that many of our young people,particularly young women, don’t see ITas an attractive career option and you can see the scale of the problem.

For the past 20 years, technology has been reshaping everything wedo, from how we work to how we live. Unfortunately, educationalsystems and approaches across Europe have not kept pace and this is now beginning to really hold us back. Although governments are taking stepsto address this challenge, the pace of change is still agonizingly slow and thequestion for policy makers and education providers still remains: how caneducation remain relevant in this rapidly changing environment?

For stakeholders in the technology and education spaces, findingsolutions to these problems is one of our challenges andresponsibilities. That’s why supporting business campaigns, like CSR Europe’s Skills for Jobs,is so critical. Launched lastyear, the campaign is mobilising CSR Europe’s 5,000-strong member network,bringing together policy makers, education providers and technology businesses,to see how individual e-skills initiatives can be strengthened through strongercollaboration and to find better ways to scale the most promising solutions.

As part of its campaign activity, CSR Europe has also made a pledge to support the European Commission’s Grand Coalition for Digital Jobs. The pledge will tacklehead on the existing gaps between business needs and education relevance tostimulate further growth in the e-skills job market. If we don’t actdecisively now it may well be too late to change the tide for Europe’s youngpeople.

As a member of CSR Europe’s Board and Steering Committee, I am proudto say that HP is actively supporting this approach. We have been workingclosely with policy-makers and educators for the past 75 years to developsolutions and programs that use technology to expand the horizons of whateducation can deliver. Our experience has shown us that public-privatepartnerships, where businesses, NGOs and governments work together with asingle aim, are the most successful.

Collaborating with leading partners in the education field, we have developed HP LIFE e-Learning, a global, online training program that is accessed directly byself-paced learners and is also used by educators, trainers and mentors toenrich their curriculum. Part of HP Living Progress – our vision forcreating a better future for everyone through our actions and innovations– HP LIFE e-Learning enables people to gain the business and IT skills thathelp create jobs and stimulate economic growth.

Powered by HP technology,the program is available in six languages, including English, French,Portuguese and Spanish, and e-learners currently have access to 23 modularcourses, support from HP experts, a wealth of online resources and a globalcommunity platform for peer-to-peer and peer-to-expert exchanges. New courses, services, support and languages are added on a regularbasis to keep the program interesting and up to date for users. Since itslaunch in November 2012, HP LIFE e-Learning has reached over 1 million people globally, manyfrom Europe, with some promising results.

While programs like HP LIFE e-Learning can certainly play a strongrole in closing the e-skills gap, with 70% of students currently in secondaryeducation destined to work in jobs that do not even exist yet, it’s clear thatmore much needs to be done. All ofus – from governments to businesses and NGOs to education providers – need tobe working more closely together now to ensure our young people are preparedfor success in the real world, to show them how technology offers amazing newcareer opportunities in a range of different industries and gives them anexciting path to a brighter future.

(责任编辑：小黑)