Business Forum • 30 April, 2024 at 11:36 AM
The European Investment Fund (EIF), with the participation of the European Commission, today announced three new guarantee agreements that will support the financing of education for nearly 40,000 students and learners in Germany and Spain. The announcement at the EIF's “Level Up” event, comes ahead of the closing event of the European Year of Skills, the aim of which is to mobilise all relevant partners to boost development of, and investment in, skills. The agreements with intermediaries from Germany and Spain will ensure that students and learners from underprivileged backgrounds will get better access to loans and income sharing agreements to finance their studies.
In total, the guarantees are expected to back over €100 million in new financing to support skills over the next three years. The EIF commitment is backed by the InvestEU programme, which mobilises investment for EU policy priorities such as the green and digital transition as well as social investment and skills. The programme aims to trigger more than €372 billion overall in additional investment between 2021 and 2027.
“When we invest in people, we invest in the future of Europe.” said EIF Chief Executive Marjut Falkstedt. “The European industry landscape is going through transformative times and new technologies continue to emerge. This means that acquiring new skillsets is important not only on a personal level, but also for Europe as a whole. At today's event, we have put the accent on the necessity for Europe to level up when it comes to developing people's skills, and these transactions reflect that commitment.”
Commission Vice-President for Promoting our European Way of Life Margaritis Schinas said: “The InvestEU programme has proven to be crucial to channel investments towards improving access to education and training. This is key to help young people and learners fulfil their ambitions and train for the jobs that are in demand – as also highlighted by the European Year of Skills. I'm delighted that, thanks to today's agreement, we will help students and learners in Germany and Spain enhance their skills. This, in turn, will enable them to contribute to strengthening innovation and competitiveness.”
Supported under the InvestEU Skills and Education guarantee, all transactions will be directed at students and learners. €10m deal with the German-based Lendorse, which will help over 800 non-EU students from developing & emerging countries to pursue a master's degree, with a particular focus on STEM fields, in Germany. The company uses Income Share Agreements to allow talented students to "study now and pay later". In addition, two Spanish intermediaries will receive guarantees to support students in acquiring new skills or reskilling to improve their employment chances on the market. SeQura will get a guarantee for a portfolio of €62,5 million in loans to reach some 31,000 students with a growing focus on vocational upskilling and master's diplomas. Bcas will see a portfolio of €30 million guaranteed, giving around 7,500 learners access to income sharing agreements focused on reskilling for employment.
The Level-Up event organised by the EIF in cooperation with the EIB Advisory services brought together financial intermediaries and other stakeholders interested in financing skills and education. Apart from showcasing InvestEU products supporting Skills & Education financial, experts guided the audience on how they can benefit and become key players in supporting access to finance for education and upskilling through InvestEU financial products.
The European Investment Fund (EIF): The EIF is part of the EIB Group. It supports Europe's SMEs by improving their access to finance through a wide range of selected financial intermediaries. The EIF designs, promotes and implements equity and debt financing instruments targeting SMEs. In this role, EIF fosters EU objectives in support of entrepreneurship, growth, innovation, research and development, the green and digital transitions and employment.
The InvestEU programme provides the European Union with crucial long-term financing by mobilising significant public and private funds to support a sustainable recovery. It helps generate additional investments in line with key European priorities, such as the European Green Deal, the digital transition and support for SMEs. The InvestEU programme brings together a multitude of EU financial tools to support investment by making project financing simpler, more efficient and more flexible. The programme has three components: the InvestEU Fund, the InvestEU Advisory Hub and the InvestEU Portal. The InvestEU Fund is implemented via various financial partners. They will invest in projects by using the EU budget guarantee of €26.2 billion to mobilise at least €372 billion in additional investments.