Karl Knox, Head of Business, Management, and Commerce at Ravensbourne University London, discusses how to future-proof Europe’s finance and business leaders through aligned education, policy and industry
The UK and European finance and business sectors are both deeply in transition.
Digital disruption and global uncertainty are rewriting the nature of work and what companies expect from their employees. It’s unfolding at an unrelenting pace, from the rise of fintech and automation to new demands on sustainability reporting. Yet on this continent, the pipeline from learning to the workplace is trailing behind.
Skills gaps are already inhibiting us. E-capabilities in financial technology, environmental, social and governance (ESG) reporting, plus leadership skills, remain shorthanded, leaving organisations without the means to adapt.
In the UK, research from business communications supplier Esendex showed that financial services scored only 58.3 out of a potential 1,600 for overall digital readiness skills, despite the industry being under pressure to upskill in technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) and automation, which already account for more than half of all vacancies advertised within the sector.
Three-quarters of small and medium-sized European businesses, meanwhile, report that it is hard to hire qualified employees, a challenge made worse by an ageing workforce and the simultaneous demands of the green and digital transitions.
Why does this gap matter?
These gaps have tangible impacts on competitiveness and long-term resilience. Banks and financial institutions without digital and ESG competencies risk falling behind in compliance and innovation, and those firms that cannot engage in talent access have worse growth prospects.
At a macroeconomic level, the gaps threaten to undermine Europe’s ability to deliver on its green and digital transition promises – such as achieving climate-neutrality across the continent by 2050 – both of which are at the centre of productivity and sustainability objectives for the next decade.
To keep Europe world-competitive in finance business servicing, it is of the utmost concern for future prosperity that these gaps be closed.
Setting the agenda
Policymakers are attuned to the problem. The European Commission’s 2020 Skills Agenda had envisioned a five-year plan for increasing digital and sustainability skills, while the Union of Skills’ initiative that rolled out in March 2025 is designed to improve social mobility as well as recognition of skills across member nations.
Along with this, the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) has driven ESG literacy into the mainstream of financial practice, prioritising making graduates proficient to read systems of regulation and translate them into tangible contexts.
The UK is also moving in this direction, with the Modern Industrial Strategy placing a focus on building digital capability, regional hubs and stronger talent pipelines. Taken together, these policy arrangements make one thing very clear: the future generation of leaders in finance and business must be capable of leading and adapting in a digital-first, sustainability-led economy.
Education’s response: Innovation in curriculum
Europe’s universities are acting, but the change must accelerate. Degree apprenticeships and hybrid courses that couple academic study with professional accreditation are becoming increasingly common, enabling graduates to hit the ground running. Business schools and specialist institutions are embedding digital transformation in finance education, employing AI, data analysis and ESG reporting as a direct component of pedagogy and assessment.
In many universities across the UK, for example, business students have contributed to cross-disciplinary projects with business clients, practising theory while building digital and leadership skills in greater demand by employers. These are symptoms of a broader trend,
in that universities are evolving away from their historic function as purveyors of theory-informed education to become active players in the development of the future workforce.
Examples of practice: Collaboration in action
Cooperation is the thread of gold that runs through much of the innovation. In Europe and the UK, universities have been encouraged to co-design modules with businesses, incubating live brief environments where students develop real-world projects and integrate professional mentoring into degree courses. These approaches take education closer to business and reduce the “lag” between learning and labour market needs.
Cross-border programmes also demonstrate the added value in collaboration at scale. EU programme finance schemes such as Train4ESG are creating skilled ESG training courses for financial professionals, helping to align academic programmes with the regulatory and market realities companies face.
These initiatives demonstrate how higher education, policymakers and industry can work together to build a talent pipeline that is technically skilled, as well as being sensitive to future issues.
A call for deeper partnerships
The path forward should be more togetherness. Universities cannot do this alone: employer-created apprenticeships and project-based education, together with co-developed curriculum, are essential to preparing graduates into increasingly rapidly evolving jobs. Policymakers need to remain supportive of cooperation, as the EU has with its €1.3 billion Digital Europe Programme for 2025–27, which entails significant funding for digital skills.
Industry, for its part, needs to remain at the forefront in shaping learning pathways and influencing the next generations of leaders. The future of business will rely as much on creativity as technical skill – blending imaginative thinking with digital fluency to drive meaningful innovation.
As we enter 2026, the message is clear; business and finance in the coming decade will demand digitally fluent and sustainability-literate leaders. It is only by working together that higher education, industry and government can meet the challenge of equipping Europe’s graduates to lead innovation and sustainable growth.
It’s time to act so the students of today can become Europe’s finance and business leaders of tomorrow.
