PROGRESS REPORT 1998
INVESTMENT IN HUMAN RESOURCES

  • Human resources, the key to business success in Metropolitan Bilbao
  • Telecommuting contributes to increasing company competitiveness 
  • The need to promote the science-technology-company system
  • Vocational Training is increasingly adjusted to company needs
  • The need to guarantee the quality of the metropolitan education system
  • Opinion on investment in human resources
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    FOREIGN LANGUAGES IN NON-UNIVERSITY EDUCATION

    The growing internationalisation of today's society has made the speaking of several languages into one of the main assets as regards human resources in the metropolitan area as a whole. The use of foreign languages has become an important work tool and an essential vehicle for reception of the new technologies coming from abroad.

    Over recent years, there has been an appreciable rise in the knowledge of foreign languages by the population of Metropolitan Bilbao, not to mention the number of youngsters who are taking their university studies in other languages, thanks to the knowledge acquired prior to starting their university education.

    In most of the Member States of the European Union, early experience of teaching a foreign language is progressing efficiently. When the language is obligatory, it is normally taught as from the third year of primary school, with certain exceptions, such as Luxembourg or France, where they start earlier.

    The most common foreign language taught in primary education within the European Union is English. This language is studied by 26% of the non-anglophone students in Europe. Moreover, the countries that study English most are Spain and Finland. The second language is French, with an overall average of 4%.

    In Spain and Finland, more than half of the primary school children studies a foreign language. In Denmark, France, Italy and Sweden, the percentage is somewhere between 19% and 48%. Finally, Ireland does not teach a second language to children at primary school.

    During the first stage of higher education (obligatory), the learning of several foreign languages is an obligation, except in Ireland, where they are only optional subjects. In some countries the obligatory curriculum includes two foreign languages (Belgium, Denmark, Greece, Holland, Finland, and Sweden), or sometimes even three (Luxembourg). The possibility of learning an extra foreign language is offered as an option in most of the Member States.

    In general, all of the education systems offer the opportunity to learn a foreign language. Thus, in the Member States for which data is available, the average amount of foreign languages studied by each student during general secondary education is 1.3.

    English is, by far, the foreign language most studied during secondary education. The other official languages of the European Union are not offered as often on the curricula in view of the lower student demand for them. This is why the average in the EU as a whole, and for the 1994/95 school year, was 89% as regards English, while 32% studied French, 18% German and only 8% Spanish.

    In France, a third of general secondary education students studied Spanish during the 1994/95 school year. In Luxembourg, the percentage was 10%. In the other Member States, the percentage was never over 5% and in some States it was non-existent.
     

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    *Human resources, the key to business success in Metropolitan Bilbao

    Availing of highly qualified members of staff who meet market conditions is undoubtedly an enormous advantage for any company. The Strategic Plan of Revitalisation confirms that the perception of businesses with respect to the management of human resources and the emphasis on the permanent training of workers are key elements of this new conception.

    It is necessary to create information and awareness programmes on occupational hazards for workers, while companies should adopt policies directed at the detection of problems likely to cause accidents by drawing up risk assessment plans and contributing to reducing the high level of job-related accidents.

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    *Telecommuting contributes to increasing company competitiveness

    In 1998, Metropolitan Bilbao and the Basque Autonomous Community in general, experienced an appreciable decrease in the unemployment rate and an increase in occupation with respect to all sectors. In Bilbao, for instance, employment increased by 24,000 jobs, most of which were located in the Bilbao metropolis, while the unemployment rate has fallen by 4.7 points. Nevertheless, in the Basque Autonomous Country, there are still a number, 5.2%, of families whose members are all out of work, meaning that there is still a long road to cover.

    The cultural changes of recent times reflect the growing appreciation of telecommuting from a widespread point of view, replacing the former limited perception to work in the home, for another, more open perception, which offers an infinity of possibilities as regards increasing company competitivity, thus improving the quality of the individual's work experience.

    Together with telecommuting, call centres are expected to experience an important increase, especially in the big companies. In order to make the most of this source of employment, a strategy should be designed to control the location of this kind of services within the metropolitan area of Bilbao.

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    *The need to promote the science-technology-company system

    As confirmed by the Progress Report of 1997, the University has to become a centre of excellence with respect to technological research and innovation, and always in close relation with the business fabric. Likewise, it is necessary to strengthen the backing given to the University in order to market the results of its research, often unknown or insufficiently valued by those who are potentially interested in using it.

    We should recall the need for the Basque Autonomous Community to realise its obligatory right to accept responsibility with respect to research, thereby greatly contributing to fulfilment of the objectives set down in the Basque Government's Science and Technology Plan for the period 1997-2000.

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    *Vocational Training is increasingly adjusted to company needs

    Recent data from the Basque Government's Education Department show that 70% of the Basque vocational training students join the job market in the subject they have studied, mostly in the industrial sector. These results show that training options are adjusting to the demands of the job market, therefore giving shape to the tactical nature of the boost in vocational training as regards the competitiveness of companies in Metropolitan Bilbao.

    On the other hand, and as part of the reform taking place within the education system, we have to promote a more intensive relationship between universities and further vocational training. This would improve the way in which society sees vocational professional training, so that it would therefore consider this option as an appropriate means of gaining access to university studies, especially in the area of technology.

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    *The need to guarantee the quality of the metropolitan education system

    Attaining quality education unavoidably implies the introduction of information technologies at all levels of the education system. This would enable the student to become accustomed to using these systems from an early age, and would permit him or her to make the most of the advantages they offer as regards the obtaining of all kinds of knowledge. It would also prepare them to meet the demands of society and the job market from an early age on.

    We have to expedite the introduction of a system for assessing the quality of the education taught at the different educational centres, and at all levels. This system would provide the students and their families with clear-cut information to help them in their choice of educational centre according to their criteria on quality.

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    *Opinion on investment in human resources

    The population is increasingly more aware of the need to develop new attitudes and skills in order to guarantee the process of metropolitan revitalisation. Thus, 73% of those polled answered that they were ready to accept innovation, 69% are preparing themselves to use the new information technologies, and 67% are ready to take the initiative and risks.

    Unemployment is seen as a problem that will improve ten years from now, and there is a certain tendency towards greater optimism with respect to 1997. The evolution as regards last year's data shows a generally lower tendency to accept a reduction in own working time and salary in order to improve the job market.
     

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    *METROPOLITAN BILBAO