As businesses become increasingly global in their nature we have to adapt the talent management and development infrastructures to this new reality. Attracting, identifying and deploying global talent effectively, in a timely fashion, in complex matrix organisations with operations across the globe, are complicated tasks. So is developing the talent pipeline. This article focuses on the opportunities and issues relating specifically to development solutions for global talent. We examine the options at each stage of the process for building global development solutions – from early stakeholder engagement and needs analysis to application of the learning.

Shortages of skilled workers are prompting governments in the EU's newer eastern members to develop strategies to lure back their nationals from western countries. But often the salaries offered back home remain well below workers' expectations. EurActiv's network of eastern media affiliates reports from the region.

EU capital regions in Northern Europe tend to lead the way towards the knowledge-based economy with the highest share of highly qualified workers in science and technology (S&T). At national level, France has the highest proportion of high-tech workers, while Poland's S&T workforce is the Union's youngest, according to the EU statistical office Eurostat.

Organizations do not have much time to win the trust of younger employees, according to a new survey. Half the executives reported that they have generally less than six months to “prove” to Gen Y employees that the company is the best place for them. One-quarter of respondents indicated they have less than a month.

If you plan to ease into retirement rather than land with a "Here's your gold watch" thump, don't count on your company to be of much assistance, suggests a recent study. The study, conducted by the Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp), found that 77% of responding organizations do not currently have a phased retirement program in place. As its name implies, "phased retirement" allows an employee who is approaching retirement to continue employment with a reduced workload. Phased retirement takes many forms, including part-time, seasonal or temporary work, or even an extended leave of absence, but it typically involves having an older employee gradually reduce his/her work hours over time.

If a company is to leverage its workforce to create a distinct competitive advantage, it must develop a strategic talent-management function that can advance its employees faster and more reliably along a clearly defined path.

Higher education around the world has expanded massively in recent decades so that its character and performance have significant implications for all members of society, not only economically but for social cohesion, equity, mobility and integration, says a new report by the European Science Foundation. The report says more needs to be known about how universities and other higher education institutions are changing in the 21st century. It says that expansion of the sector has implications locally, nationally and globally, as well as how it shapes the lives of individual citizens. "Higher Education Looking Forward: An agenda for future research" aims to set the basis for future studies into the changing relationship between higher education and society. The report, by the foundation's Higher Education Looking Forward project and chaired by Professor John Brennan of Britain's Open University, says the agenda should attract researchers from a wider range of social science fields, and remind future researchers they can build on an existing body of theory and research.

American neo-conservatives claim that Arab donations to US universities are improperly influencing professors and students of Middle Eastern studies.

As pressure grows on higher education institutes to raise their economic competitiveness and live up to new social responsibilities, a forward-looking study on the subject argues that future universities could well face a "mission overload".