Education: enabling people to act

Education is highly valuable, on both individual and overall societal levels. Education enriches our lives, delivers new insight, and fosters self-awareness. It enables higher incomes and social advancement, well-being and progress. However, in light of the dynamic changes going on in the world, a new ideal of education is needed to enable us all to act with a clearer focus on the future.

The concept of education for sustainable development aims to achieve exactly this, within the framework of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs). This will allow the 17 SDGs to be achieved on a broader basis. However, as of 2023 they had only been implemented at a rate of twelve percent – meaning the UN concept of sustainable education needs to achieve much greater resonance worldwide.

Expanding sustainable educational systems

To create a sustainable world in any comprehensive sense, people need more knowledge and more expertise, as well as unifying values based on a common sense of humanity and altruism. A greater awareness of the need for this kind of change is also essential. To achieve this, however, educational systems must become much more accessible. Currently, students from educationally disadvantaged backgrounds are the minority in 60 percent of European countries; only 20 percent of university students come from lower-class families.

In a rapidly changing world where digitization and in particular artificial intelligence are changing our everyday lives and our work at a high rate of speed, it is essential to establish “digital competence” as a fixed part of general education. In addition, we absolutely need to foster competence in the natural sciences and make them a higher educational priority.

Many young people are interested in STEM fields (science, technology, engineering and math), but only 25 percent of new OECD students take these subjects. Often, little effort is made to stimulate interest in the natural sciences among girls or – even worse – girls may be discouraged from studying these subjects, or their potential may not be recognized. This runs contrary to the needs of the economy, which often suffers from a lack of trained scientists.

According to one study, there could be 50 million open positions in STEM fields by 2030. To utilize this potential, we should make STEM professions more attractive and get male and female students alike excited about them from grade school on. Through exciting, practical instruction, we can spark their interest in STEM subjects and motivate young people to enter into careers in the natural sciences.

Education as the key to success

Because of this, the entire economy is working to better demonstrate the attractiveness of STEM professions and the potential of digitization. The chemical industry, which is reliant on science, in particular is an important driver of education for sustainable development and is supporting the global transformation. It contributes fact-based thinking and action, collaboration based on partnership, and a high level of innovation at the interface between technology and the natural sciences.

At Covestro, we are aware of our responsibility, and are involved in a wide range of educational initiatives. Our goal is to foster expertise in STEM fields and get the next generation excited about these forward-thinking areas. Covestro is doing so worldwide through a large number of projects to promote education – all of which are intended to help young people take active responsibility and initiative in shaping their futures in an increasingly complex world.