Linking education with the labour market: an ongoing challenge
Recent studies at European level have shown that occupations in demand will be those that are not easily replaced by technology while technological changes will increase the demand for workers with high and medium-level digital knowledge. To what extent should young people take these trends into account?
Moderator
Nikitas Koronakis, Journalist
Experts
Angelos Syrigos, Deputy Minister of Education and Religious Affairs
Loukas Petrounias, Chief Marketing Officer, Piraeus Bank
Konstantinos Kintzios I Deputy Director, ReGeneration
Anastasia Tertlidou, Marketing Project Manager, PF Cycle 2
The expansion of Higher Education during the last decades has led to a significant increase in the number of university graduates in the labour market. Globally, Millennials and Gen Zs are objectively the most educated generations. In Greece, we have reached a fullness of graduates and degrees without being able to absorb all these in the market. The connection of higher education with the labour market, the integration of male and female students into the country's production system and the better utilization, at a professional level, of the knowledge they acquire during their undergraduate studies is a significant source of anxiety for young people and a huge challenge for the political and business world.
- At which point of the education process does vocational guidance start in our country and how is it "taught" to students?
- In our country, it is widely considered that young people choose profession and not studies. What do you think about that and how can this be adapted to the new era?
- How important is the influence by society and family in choosing a professional direction?
- Accordingly, how important is the role that estimations and forecasts for the demand of various occupations play in the labour market in the coming years?
- Recent studies at European level have shown that occupations in demand will be those that are not easily replaced by technology while technological changes will increase the demand for workers with high and medium-level digital knowledge. To what extent should young people take these trends into account?
- What building blocks of higher education need to be changed to properly prepare students?
- What are the obstacles that may appear along the way?
- Are graduates really prepared to enter the labour market?
- How do you explain the phenomenon that company executives state that they are looking for but cannot find competent human resources? Do they refer to knowledge, soft skills or both?
- Does a Master's or a second degree work positively for integration into the labour market?
- What elements are required for a structural improvement of the relationship between education and the labour market?
Nikitas Koronakis was born on October 19, 1989 in Rethymnon. He holds a degree in Public Relations and Communication. Since 2007, he has been working as a journalist. Over the years, he has worked in print and electronic media, as well as in television and radio. He started journalism at the age of 17, initially working with the Media in Crete. Since 2009 he has lived in Athens. In 2010, he started his collaboration with the newspaper "Proto Thema". From 2016 to 2018, he worked at the television station 'SBC TV', presenting newscasts and shows. From 2018 to 2021, he worked at the radio station "Thema 104.6", as a radio producer of informative shows. In 2019, he started a collaboration, which runs to this day, with "ONE Channel" TV station, presenting news bulletins. Since February 2020, he has been working at the TV channel of "Mega", presenting newscasts and shows.
Angelos Syrigos was born in 1966. He is Associate Professor of International Law and Foreign Policy at the Department of International, European and Regional Studies of Panteion University.
He is a graduate of the Law School of the University of Athens and a Doctor of Law from the University of Bristol.He has been General Secretary for Population at the Ministry of the Interior (2012-2015) and Special Secretary for Intercultural Education at the Ministry of Education and Religious Affairs (2007-2009).
In the elections of July 2019, he was elected as a Member of Parliament in the 1st District of Athens with the New Democracy party. He has published five books and several scientific articles on Greek-Turkish relations, the Law of the Sea, Cyprus, the Balkans, minorities and immigration.
He is married to Irini Stamatoudi and they have three children.
Loukas Petrounias has 20 years of experience in Marketing & commercial communication, having served strategic goals for more than 50 brands.He has taught Communication Strategy, Storytelling & Digital Marketing at the Panteion University of Athens.
Since 2015, he has been working at Piraeus Bank, being responsible for or participating in projects aimed at improving the customer experience & the digital transformation of the Organisation, while since 2019 he has taken over as the Group's Head of Marketing.
Konstantinos Kintzios is a 40-year-old enthusiast, passionate about life, who dreamed of becoming a racing driver, or a basketball player of Panathinaikos, but his passion for food got the better of him, ending up at 170 kilos, 90 of which he threw away 11 years ago . And while he dreamt of a life in his beloved America, he has still remained in his equally beloved Greece, trying in every manifestation of his personal and professional life to have as a compass the saying of JFK - "Don't ask what your country can do for you, but what can you do for your country." He loves speed, food, summer, Panathinaikos, America and everything that produces beautiful feelings, smiles and positive recollections on the "hard drive" of people. If he can be described by a phrase that would be: positive impression. Being a man of action, for the last 5 and a half years he has been giving all his soul for the new generation of the country, through ReGeneration, which has succeeded in hiring 3,000 new graduates in a network of 2,000 companies, while offering almost 1,000,000 hours of training in soft, digital and technical skills, now being the largest and most successful training and employment program for young graduates in Greece.
Anastasia Tertlidou studied Philosophy and Pedagogy at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, attended Psychology courses at the American College of Thessaloniki and has worked as an educator. After successfully completing the 2nd cycle of Piraeus Bank's Project Future program, she made a career change and in recent years has been living and working in Athens as a Project Manager specialising in Marketing. She has undertaken the organisation and supervision of advertising campaigns for numerous companies, smaller or larger, such as Unilever, Coca-Cola 3E, Frezyderm, BMW. Even more than marketing, she loves people. She likes to explore their needs, actively listen and then take action to make their collaboration and experience with her better. For her, the basis of good cooperation lies in building relationships of honesty and mutual respect. She loves to share knowledge, discuss and advise on matters related to professional information and youth empowerment.
