CONVERGENCE CLUB OF ONLINE EDUCATION IN EUROPEAN UNION

Education has a major role regarding human development and society, being the main resource of growth of a country. Along with the technological evolution and changes, education has gained other dimensions, as internet brings together. In this paper we aim to study if there are influences of the digital skills and access to technology on the education development and convergence in the European Union Countries. The method applied is based on convergence clubs principle: a group of countries tend to have similar tendencies regarding a specific characteristic. Considering that the European Union states may form clusters of countries with a specific characteristic based on the expenditures together with the internet use. On the clusters resulted we employ an econometric model that takes into consideration aspects as: influences on how European countries converge in terms of access to internet and technology of households, and stimulation of educational convergence in European Union. Another aspect of our research is to point out the need of investments in all education and training forms in such a way that we can ensure that the people that take part in this process will be more efficient and their effectiveness will raise as a consequence of improved skills and competences that are meeting rapidly the needs of the labour market. This process of education and training will allow the individuals to achieve the knowledge, skills and competences through the usage of the ELearning platforms that enables them to grow and to influence their situations, by broadening their perspectives, equipping people favourably for their future lives.