The eSkills for Jobs 2015 European competition

• January 14, 2016
• admin

Article by eSkills Malta Foundation published on The Malta Independent ICT Feature on 14.01.2016 ​

The eSkills for Jobs 2015 European competition, is organised within the context of the eSkills for Jobs awareness raising campaign. The European Competition is an opportunity to highlight and reward persons with a high level of digital skills and literacy at a European level. ​

The eSkills for Jobs 2015 European competition, is organised within the context of the eSkills for Jobs awareness raising campaign. The European Competition is an opportunity to highlight and reward persons with a high level of digital skills and literacy at a European level. The competition was divided into 5 categories:

– Digital Citizenship;
– Digital Entrepreneurship;
– Career Campaigner;
– Young Digital Talent Competition;
– Outstanding use of ICT for teaching.

Etienne Buttigieg

ICT Student’s Association (ICTSA) are the winners of this year’s Digital Entrepreneurship Category. The ICT Students’ Association, ICTSA, is a student organisation which represents all students studying an ICT course based at the University of Malta. For the second year running, ICTSA took part in the eSkills for Jobs competition and have used this platform to showcase the work they do as an organisation throughout the year. ICTSA strongly believes in the potential of students and young adults and have provided a framework to empower Malta’s youth through digital eSkills and entrepreneurial flair over a five year-long project.

ICTSA’s mission is to bridge the gap between students and the industry and have witnessed a high engagement with students especially when made aware with the opportunities they can exploit when equipped with the right eSkills.

The Digital Entrepreneurship category was open to entrepreneurs working on creative entrepreneurial projects building on ICT tools and/or media and eSkills. As part of that category each participant submitted video presenting entrepreneurial project using ICT tools and/or media.

The winners were announced during the eSkills and Ada Awards Dinner held in Luxembourg on 14th December 2015. Etienne Buttigieg ICTSA’s Honorary President who is currently a final year student reading for a Bachelor in IT studying Computing and Business was in Luxembourg to receive the award.

“The eSkills Digital Entrepreneurship award is meaningful in the sense that it translates to recognition on a national and European level. We know that Europe is currently lacking in the innovation it needs to remain competitive to compete with other large economies. This is a problem we must not take lightly and as Europeans, it is our duty to take a proactive stance on this issue.
I have been serving the ICTSA executive for three terms and as president of this organisation, I have witnessed a high rate of student engagement when it comes to the entrepreneurial competitions and initiatives that we organise. I believe that to have a winning team, it must be equipped with members from different backgrounds with different expertise. This motivation showed in all the events we organised, and so far we have witnessed levels of success which I have no doubt will continue improving. This is the mentality that we, as Europeans need to instil in our policy makers, NGOs and youth. We need to remain innovative, competitive and engage more of these European winning teams.” Etienne Buttigieg – Honorary President ICTSA.

To see the winning video please visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHizfT0j5tc

The awards ceremony was followed by a high level conference. The eSkills for Jobs 2015 and Watify for Digital Entrepreneurs conference ‘Transforming Europe towards the digital age’ took place on 15th December in Luxembourg. The conference was held under the presence of Xavier Bettel, Prime Minister of Luxembourg and was hosted under the Luxembourg Presidency of the Council of the European Union.