New McKinsey report highlights the need to break barriers between sectors

The McKinsey Center for Government has produced a new report on “Education to employment: designing a system that works” acknowledged by the European Commission (see Commissioner Vassiliou’s speech). The report provides some interesting statistics, i.e. 39% of education providers think the main reason students drop out is that the course of study is too difficult, but only 9% of youth say this is the case (46% evoke cost-related reasons for skipping post-secondary schooling). The study interprets those profound differences of understanding as a consequence of the fact that education providers, learners and employers do not engage enough with each other; it also describes the close collaboration between education providers and employers (on-site visits, curricula design) as a key success factor of the most innovative systems to bridge the worlds of education and work.