Estelle Borrell knew she wanted to work in law since she was a teenager, when she interned at a court in Versailles, France. "The lawyers in their black robes, they were like gods to me," said the 24-year-old Parisian.
Borrell studied law at Vienna University, where she dreamed of putting her passion into practice at an international organization. She got a shock when she began working at a Vienna law firm.
"I knew how to resolve cases on paper, but when I got into the law firm it was really ridiculous," Borrell said. "My boss asked me to call a judge and I was absolutely not able to do it. I didn't even have the vocabulary I needed to do a really simple call."
Borrell, who is now back in France seeking work while continuing legal studies in Paris, had found out firsthand what educators, industry and governments across the continent are slowly coming to acknowledge as globalization intensifies competition and a devastating economic crisis swells youth unemployment: Europe's universities, many founded during the Middle Ages, are failing to prepare students for the demands of the 21st century world.
Data from the EU Commission show the disparity that exists between the EU and the United States in terms of spending on university education, one factor that has been identified as a cause of European universities' under-performance.
Total public and private spending on higher education in the European Union accounts for 1.3 percent of GDP, compared to 3.3 percent in the United States, according to EU figures cited in a 2008 report by the Brussels-based Bruegel think tank. On a per student basis, that translates to annual spending of euros 8,700 in the EU versus euros 36,500 in the US, Bruegel says.
Read more: Class Of 2012: European Universities Fail Youth In Career Preparation
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