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National education policies around the world in in Europe, specifically, the learning and teaching facilities, are presently under extraordinary pressures. Digital transition and AI tools have already challenged core learning/teaching processes and methods, including provision of knowledge, reading, writing and reasoning. As a result, modern education policies require adjustable politico-economic approaches uniting the digital agenda and skills qualifications.
Background
In history of higher education, schools and universities have been remarkably confident about their purpose: to educate, produce and transmit knowledge, conduct research and “prepare professionals”. Education policies contributed to national economic and social development; in the universities – they increasingly became engines of scientific discovery, innovation and progress. Hence, generally, national policies have regarded universities as an “integrated ecosystem”, in which teaching, research and public engagement have been interconnected along “producing” more knowledge and skills capable of keeping progress, with the most optimal use of AIs. However, present challenges are too complicated, the opportunities are too promising and the learning/teaching models are trying to accommodate extensive digital transitions.
References to” https://www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?story=20261020110313431
The “digital urgency” has been great around the world – and in Europe, in particular, e.g.: less than 40% of educators across the EU-27 felt ready to use digital technologies in teaching (data, OECD, 2018). Over 40 percent of 13-14-year-olds in the EU lack basic digital skills, falling short of the EU’s 2030 goal of reducing this figure below 15% (data from ICILS, 2023). Besides, about 20% of low-income households lacked access to computers and broadband (data from Eurostat, 2020). Then, about 95% of respondents said the COVID-19 pandemic marked a turning point in using digital tools in education.
Source: https://ec.europa.eu/info/law/better-regulation/have-your-say/initiatives/12453-Digital-education-action-plan-update-_en
Education system and society
One of the most important issues presently is around relationships between the universities (and education community as an institutional substance) and the socio-economic development (i.e. within the evolving nation-wide political-economy’s patterns). The universities have traditionally been socially responsible: e.g. by creating knowledge, educating people, addressing and solving public problems, preparing citizens and contributing to cultural and economic life.
However, these responsibilities are becoming fragmented: e.g. research are more often rewarded primarily through publications and citations, teaching process – through students’ satisfaction and public engagement through counting the “measures of impact”.
Among the digital challenges in education are such as: AIs ability to “mange human knowledge (through data centers) and digital models, and needs of modernising political-economies’ patterns. The dichotomy is vital: the universities are for “covering the employment bottle-necks” and managing national economic policies; the research and innovation’s components depend, primarily, on financial involvements.
More on education policy, challenges and AI in: Educational Challenges for a New Century: Policies for Sustainable Growth. – Springer Briefs in Education Series. 2024. -126 p.
In: https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-031-59013-9; ISBN 978-3-031-59012-2.
Skills in the digital societies: educational aspects
Recent global analysis (e.g. the OECD report) have formulated some requirements:
= Foundational skills, such as basic digital literacy, numeracy and digital-scientific knowledge, etc. are vital to enable citizens actively participating in the digital and socio-economic transitions.
= Information and communication technologies’ skills, coped with the basics in advanced technical competencies, are needed in order to help workers meet evolving job requirements and thrive in the digital age. Advanced AI skills (e.g. machine learning, data science) are in high demand, but workers with such skills remain rare (around 1% of the workforce worldwide).
= Complementary skills such as critical thinking, creativity and collaboration can enable high-performance work practices and a strong ability to continue learning. They become increasingly important as they enable effective interaction with AI systems and adaptation to changing tasks.
Reference to: https://www.integrin.dk/2026/10/08/european-skills-for-the-digital-and-ai-age-challenges-for-national-education-policies/
More on the EU skills agenda in: https://employment-social-affairs.ec.europa.eu/policies-and-activities/skills-and-qualifications/european-skills-agenda_en
Digital education in the EU
The notion “digital education” is referred in the EU to the “use of digital tools, technologies and content to support teaching, learning and assessment”; hence it includes such education policy actions as online courses, interactive learning platforms to virtual classrooms and educational apps. The digital education intends to assist “learners of all ages build the digital skills they need to thrive in today’s connected world”; it also empowers teachers and trainers with innovative methods both to personalise learning and facilitate students in acquiring knowledge and skills.
By making education more flexible, inclusive and accessible, the digital education plays a key role in creating a modern and resilient education system across in the EU-27.
Managerially, the EU’s approach to digital education centers on the Digital Education Action Plan (2021–2027, with 14 actions), which sets a policy vision for high-quality, inclusive and accessible digital learning in the member states. Among core digital education plan’s priorities are the following:
= High-performing digital education system, which is concentrated on, e.g. fostering digital infrastructure, connectivity and digital equipment for schools and universities to “operate reliably in a connected world”.
= Digital skills and competences; this priority is aimed at enhancing basic-to-advanced digital skills for students, educators, and the workforce, including emerging fields like AI literacy and data protection. Explore training guidelines via the
= Generative AI and pedagogy – this priority is aimed at integrating digital and AI tools “thoughtfully, noting that technology improves learning outcomes only when guided by active pedagogical principles rather than passive task outsourcing”.
More in the Digital Education Action Plan Policy background at: https://education.ec.europa.eu/focus-topics/digital-education/actions/plan.
Additionally in: https://ec.europa.eu/info/law/better-regulation/have-your-say/initiatives/12453-Digital-education-action-plan-update-_en
European approaches to “skills”
The EU’s approaches to skills development are concentrated in the “Union of Skills” program, as a strategic framework launched in March 2025 to tackle labor shortages and boost economic competitiveness. Core pillars of this approach include the following elements:
= Foundational education: it focuses on strengthening basic literacy, numeracy, digital literacy, science and citizenship skills from early childhood through adult learning via the Action Plan on Basic Skills.
= Upskilling and reskilling: it promotes lifelong learning and continuous training to help the workforce adapt to the green and digital economic transitions.
= Talent mobility: it facilitates the free flow of learners and workers across borders using programs like Erasmus+ (backed by nearly €28 billion) and the European Social Fund Plus (ESF+ with over €142 billion for 2021–2027).
= Global talent attraction: this element aims to attract non-EU states’ talent through initiatives like an EU talent pool and targeted visa strategies for skilled workers, top students and researchers. More in: https://commission.europa.eu/topics/competitiveness/union-skills_en
Scandinavian sub-strategy
The education policy in the EU is -almost entirely – in the hands of the member states; however, while the EU pushes digital transformation, some European Scandinavian countries (e.g. Denmark and Sweden), as well as the Netherlands are actively “rebalancing” the use of digital tools in primary and secondary schools. Thus, Denmark focuses on mobile-free primary and lower-secondary schools to encourage face-to-face interaction and prevent distraction. Sweden aims to reverse earlier heavy-digital rollouts by reintroducing physical books, handwriting practice and enhanced school libraries to counter declining reading and literacy metrics. In the Netherlands, it restricts smartphones, smartwatches and tablets in classrooms to improve student focus and classroom behavior.
Source and citations from: https://openeu.eu/processes/community/f/2/posts/86. And in: https://eavi.eu/the-european-quest-for-digital-age-balance-in-schools/
American vision
American universities are encouraging various forms providing structural, financial, technological and human conditions to make learning more optimal and enabling communities to use more optimal the resulting skills. However, the universities do not function in isolation: the whole educational facilities – laboratories, lecture halls, libraries, learning spaces, etc. provide adequate facilities for working out ideas, understanding perspectives, confronting arguments and thinking collaboratively to sustain mutual respect for open and robust discussion, intellectual humility and empathy. Thus, a university, together with students, faculty staff and administrators collaborate withing the process of learning and creation of new knowledge and innovation. The university is able to link all these facilities together “into a single learning ecosystem unified by a critical practice and deliberation toward the goal of cultivating a vital capacity -the sound judgment”.
Source and citations from: Cornell University. Report. Committee on the Future of the American University. September 22, 2026. In: https://provost.cornell.edu/_files/initiatives/future-of-the-american-university-full-report.pdf
Modern universities stand as bedrock institutions of a free and self-governing entities in “advancing discovery and the pursuit of truth”; however, the substantial decline of public trust in some of America’s preeminent institutions over the past few decades has now extended to higher
education. As researchers from Vanderbilt University note, “the American university is designed to create, preserve and disseminate knowledge through reason, argument, and evidence. Its capacity to do so rests on the unqualified protection of academic freedom, the free exchange of competing ideas and a steadfast commitment to scholarly excellence”.
The purpose of a” transformative education”, the researchers note “is not to teach students what to think, but to teach them how to think and to cultivate independence of mind, intellectual curiosity, resilience, and the capacity for meaningful contribution to a free and self-governing society”. Hence, a university delivers a transformative education when it exposes its students to a broad range of ideas, upholds rigorous academic standards, expands opportunity, protects free inquiry and equips students with the intellectual tools and independence to shape the world they enter — without the burden of unmanageable financial debt”.
Each university has a responsibility to demonstrate how it is upholding and modeling the principles it professes: such commitments demand courage and clarity of purpose, the willingness to uphold rigorous academic standards and defend free inquiry, especially when it is difficult. In doing so, American universities not only safeguard their own integrity — they use their wisdom, innovation, and principled steadiness to help secure the future of the nation.
Source and citations from: Vanderbilt University. “The University and Its Purpose: A Declaration of First Principles”. June 29, 2026. In: https://cdn.vanderbilt.edu/vu-wpfsx/wp-content/uploads/sites/149/2026/08/The-University-and-Its-Purpose-A-Declaration-of-First-Principles.pdf
Recommendations from Yale University
1. Take responsibility. Universities champion critical thinking; however, the higher education often resisted critical reviews of its own institution, professions, and modes of thought. To move forward needs “willing to admit wrongs”, find improvements and defend what is essential about higher education and its academic mission. This tendency supposed to be self-regarding, insular and unreceptive to legitimate criticism; it does not engender public trust but a shift in attitude is needed.
2. Focus on the mission. In 2016, departing from Yale’s traditional emphasis on the creation and
dissemination of knowledge, the mission expanded to include such parameters as “improving the world today”, educating “aspiring leaders worldwide,” and fostering “an ethical, interdependent and diverse community.” Although worthy goals, they are not what makes a university a university: hence Yale recommend adopting a novice mission statement: “Yale University’s mission is to create, disseminate and preserve knowledge through research and teaching.”.
3. Open minds. “Great teaching and scholarship” require contestation: as John Stuart Mill observed, “since the general or prevailing opinion on any subject is rarely or never the whole truth, it is only by the collision of adverse opinions, that the remainder of the truth has any chance of being supplied”.
Reference to: John Stuart Mill. On Liberty. J. W. Parker and Son Publ. 1859.
4. Deliver educational value. Most attempts to measure the return on investment of a college degree rely on the graduates’ income; these measures have real value as a form of accountability. But educational value cannot be reduced to a future paycheck: the value of higher education also includes the public contributions of graduates in public health, nonprofit administration, secondary teaching, the arts, local journalism, government service, basic scientific research, etc.
Reference to Yale Committee Report on Trust in Higher Education. 2026. In: https://president.yale.edu/sites/default/files/2026-04/Report-of-the-Committee-on-Trust-in-Higher-Education.pdf