Is Germany Running Out of Bright Minds? Policy Approaches for Education and Innovation

Gaps in Knowledge Transfer

The Coronavirus crisis has exposed glaring deficiencies in the German education system. These include lagging behind in digitization and the system's lack of agility in responding to changing conditions. The result is large gaps in knowledge transfer. Most importantly, the gap between students from advantaged and less advantaged households has widened.

• What reforms must the new government initiate to close the gap?
• How can the education system as a whole be made more resilient?
• Does federalism in education have a future in Germany?

OECD director Schleicher will address how current and future challenges can be tackled and discuss with you how education should be promoted and politically shaped.

General Information on the Presentation

The presentation will be held in German and will take place as an online event.

The event was part of the series from May 2021 until December 2021:

Germany’s Economic Policy Challenges in the Post-Merkel Era

German Chancellor Angela Merkel launched a number of important policy initiatives during her record-breaking term of office. With the nuclear phase-out, she gave German climate policy a clear, albeit controversial, boost. The same is true for refugee policy – an area in which the next government must find meaningful ways to move forward. In other policy areas, she will leave her successor the task of seeking completely new paths, for example in industrial policy, digitalization, tax policy, and social policy. What challenges does Germany urgently need to address in the next chancellor’s term? What might possible solutions look like?