Fostering youth employability trough EROVET
(A European Research Group On Vet)
According to Eurostat data, in September 2017, the youth unemployment rate in the EU28 was 16.6%. At the time:
The lowest rates:
- Germany 6.4%
The highest:
- Greece 42.8%
- Spain 37.2%
- Italy 35.7%
The latest studies conducted by the OCDE show a very similar situation for unemployment in the UE28:
- Greece 47.4%
- Spain 44.5%
- Italy 37.8%
- Portugal 27.9%
- Turkey 19.5%
- Lithuania 11.5%
- Germany 7%
Researchers agree that there are a number of reasons for this situation. Some believe that a lack of professional experience is one of the obstacles preventing young people from finding a job. Others state that the mismatch between student skills and the positions offered in the job market is one of the key issues to be addressed. We agree with this last statement, as we believe that there is a lack of connection between existing training, the current needs of companies and the economic realities of many local territories.
The Declaration of Ministers made in Riga in 2015 highlighted the importance of investing in VET and policies to promote and improve skills in order to increase employability, help reduce skill mismatches and facilitate smoother transitions into employment. Among the medium-term deliverables, they suggested that work-based learning should be promoted and that this should involve social partners, companies, chambers of commerce and VET providers, as well as stimulating innovation and entrepreneurship. However, according to CEDEFOP, only 34% of students involved in initial training are trained in the EU through work-based modalities (such as the dual system), with Latvia, Denmark, Hungary and Germany being the leading countries in implementing such schemes. Again, the countries with the highest unemployment rates have tended to be the ones with the poorest records in terms of introducing this training modality into their respective education and employment systems. The VET indicator scores for Greece, Lithuania, Portugal, Turkey and Italy show that work-based training has only timidly been introduced in these countries. This shows that there is still a long way to go and much work to be done.
As far as entrepreneurship is concerned, we believe that the approach to this problem that has been adopted in most VET training centres across Europe is still predominantly theoretical and mostly centred on entrepreneurial management rather than on the product. We also believe that greater efforts should be made to improve the skills of our trainees and their ability to create sustainable entrepreneurial projects; according to our data, the current lifespan of most of these projects does not exceed three years.
Finally, the European mobility of our students, together with the implementation of the ECVET recommendations, will undoubtedly help to increase opportunities and employability. In fact, according to the EU, five years after graduation, the unemployment rate amongst young people who have studied or trained abroad is 23% lower than amongst their nonmobile peers. To date, some of the countries participating in the EROVET project present very low rates of students completing work placement periods abroad, with Lithuania, Greece and Portugal being the countries with the lowest rates of student mobility.
Based on this information, we believe that something needs to be done with the view to:
Helping to develop a high quality and labour market for people with relevant vocational skills (with a special emphasis on work based learning and entrepreneurship)
Promoting opportunities for mobility in order to contribute to the international competitiveness of our labour force
Improving life-long orientation and guidance
We believe that this larger goal can be accomplished within the framework of EROVET, a group of European VET representatives and relevant stakeholders, which includes VET training centres, economic institutions and local administrations.
EROVET aims to increase opportunities for youth employment by working along the following lines:
Improving professional competences by helping students with their professional orientation and providing them with work placement opportunities in other European countries.
Adapting students’ professional profiles to meet the real demands of companies and building strong partnerships between companies and training centres in order to promote student mobility and work-based learning.
Fostering initiative and entrepreneurship and improving the quality of resources available for promoting entrepreneurship and providing careers guidance.
1. ONLINE RESOURCE BANK
A bank of careers guidance tools and resources to facilitate the work of careers advisors (websites, templates, guides, etc,..).
2. EUROPEAN JOB POOL
A platform where job offers and requests for work can be posted and centralised. This platform will provide information, mediation and active support to EROVET members.
3. MOBILITY NETWORK
A network which will give the training centres involved in EROVET the possibility to promote the mobility of their students.
4. SUCCESSFUL CASES IN WORK-BASED LEARNING
EROVET aims to identify and publicise success stories.
5. ENTREPRENEURSHIP LABEL
A mark of recognition awarded by EROVET to VET training centres that follow an strategic line related to the promotion and development of the entrepreneurship and initiative.
6. ENTREPRENEURSHIP PRIZE
This prize will encourage the creation and development of entrepreneurial projects involving VET trainees. It will have a national phase and an international phase and will encourage the participation of VET training centres and the exchange of experiences among different countries.
7. ENTEREPRENEURSHIP BUSINESS MANAGEMENT COURSE (EBM)
A training module that will train VET learners to manage their own enterprises.
EROVET currently includes eight partners from seven different countries.
The coordinator of the EROVET community
GLOBALleida: a public entity responsible for economic promotion in Lleida (Spain).
Five VET training centres
Ortaköy 80.Yıl Mesleki ve Teknik Anadolu Lisesi in Ankara (Turkey)
Escola Profissional AMAR TERRA VERDE in Vila Verde (Portugal).
i.i.s. des ambrois in Oulx (Italy).
Vilnius Tourism and Commerce School in Vilnius (Lithuania)
Institut Escola del Treball in Lleida (Spain).
Two local entities wich also belong to EROVET
Dieythynsi Deyterobathmias Ekpaideysis N. Rodopis in Komotini (Greece)
Landkreis Osnabrück Fachdienst Bildung in Osnabrück.
All of these stakeholders will share problems and solutions, knowledge, data and resources that will help to make of EROVET a really useful tool for VET centres and learners.
EROVET will lay the base and provide the means to create a self-sustainable network that will be able to accept other new members in the near future.
WHY EROVET?
According to Eurostat data, in September 2017, the youth unemployment rate in the EU28 was 16.6%. At the time:
The lowest rates:
- Germany 6.4%
The highest:
- Greece 42.8%
- Spain 37.2%
- Italy 35.7%
The latest studies conducted by the OCDE show a very similar situation for unemployment in the UE28:
- Greece 47.4%
- Spain 44.5%
- Italy 37.8%
- Portugal 27.9%
- Turkey 19.5%
- Lithuania 11.5%
- Germany 7%
Researchers agree that there are a number of reasons for this situation. Some believe that a lack of professional experience is one of the obstacles preventing young people from finding a job. Others state that the mismatch between student skills and the positions offered in the job market is one of the key issues to be addressed. We agree with this last statement, as we believe that there is a lack of connection between existing training, the current needs of companies and the economic realities of many local territories.
The Declaration of Ministers made in Riga in 2015 highlighted the importance of investing in VET and policies to promote and improve skills in order to increase employability, help reduce skill mismatches and facilitate smoother transitions into employment. Among the medium-term deliverables, they suggested that work-based learning should be promoted and that this should involve social partners, companies, chambers of commerce and VET providers, as well as stimulating innovation and entrepreneurship. However, according to CEDEFOP, only 34% of students involved in initial training are trained in the EU through work-based modalities (such as the dual system), with Latvia, Denmark, Hungary and Germany being the leading countries in implementing such schemes. Again, the countries with the highest unemployment rates have tended to be the ones with the poorest records in terms of introducing this training modality into their respective education and employment systems. The VET indicator scores for Greece, Lithuania, Portugal, Turkey and Italy show that work-based training has only timidly been introduced in these countries. This shows that there is still a long way to go and much work to be done.
As far as entrepreneurship is concerned, we believe that the approach to this problem that has been adopted in most VET training centres across Europe is still predominantly theoretical and mostly centred on entrepreneurial management rather than on the product. We also believe that greater efforts should be made to improve the skills of our trainees and their ability to create sustainable entrepreneurial projects; according to our data, the current lifespan of most of these projects does not exceed three years.
Finally, the European mobility of our students, together with the implementation of the ECVET recommendations, will undoubtedly help to increase opportunities and employability. In fact, according to the EU, five years after graduation, the unemployment rate amongst young people who have studied or trained abroad is 23% lower than amongst their nonmobile peers. To date, some of the countries participating in the EROVET project present very low rates of students completing work placement periods abroad, with Lithuania, Greece and Portugal being the countries with the lowest rates of student mobility.
Based on this information, we believe that something needs to be done with the view to:
Helping to develop a high quality and labour market for people with relevant vocational skills (with a special emphasis on work based learning and entrepreneurship)
Promoting opportunities for mobility in order to contribute to the international competitiveness of our labour force
Improving life-long orientation and guidance
We believe that this larger goal can be accomplished within the framework of EROVET, a group of European VET representatives and relevant stakeholders, which includes VET training centres, economic institutions and local administrations.
WHAT ARE ITS GOALS?
EROVET aims to increase opportunities for youth employment by working along the following lines:
Improving professional competences by helping students with their professional orientation and providing them with work placement opportunities in other European countries.
Adapting students’ professional profiles to meet the real demands of companies and building strong partnerships between companies and training centres in order to promote student mobility and work-based learning.
Fostering initiative and entrepreneurship and improving the quality of resources available for promoting entrepreneurship and providing careers guidance.
WHAT WILL THE RESULTS BE?
1. ONLINE RESOURCE BANK
A bank of careers guidance tools and resources to facilitate the work of careers advisors (websites, templates, guides, etc,..).
2. EUROPEAN JOB POOL
A platform where job offers and requests for work can be posted and centralised. This platform will provide information, mediation and active support to EROVET members.
3. MOBILITY NETWORK
A network which will give the training centres involved in EROVET the possibility to promote the mobility of their students.
4. SUCCESSFUL CASES IN WORK-BASED LEARNING
EROVET aims to identify and publicise success stories.
5. ENTREPRENEURSHIP LABEL
A mark of recognition awarded by EROVET to VET training centres that follow an strategic line related to the promotion and development of the entrepreneurship and initiative.
6. ENTREPRENEURSHIP PRIZE
This prize will encourage the creation and development of entrepreneurial projects involving VET trainees. It will have a national phase and an international phase and will encourage the participation of VET training centres and the exchange of experiences among different countries.
7. ENTEREPRENEURSHIP BUSINESS MANAGEMENT COURSE (EBM)
A training module that will train VET learners to manage their own enterprises.
WHO ARE THE MEMBERS
EROVET currently includes eight partners from seven different countries.
The coordinator of the EROVET community
GLOBALleida: a public entity responsible for economic promotion in Lleida (Spain).
Five VET training centres
Ortaköy 80.Yıl Mesleki ve Teknik Anadolu Lisesi in Ankara (Turkey)
Escola Profissional AMAR TERRA VERDE in Vila Verde (Portugal).
i.i.s. des ambrois in Oulx (Italy).
Vilnius Tourism and Commerce School in Vilnius (Lithuania)
Institut Escola del Treball in Lleida (Spain).
Two local entities wich also belong to EROVET
Dieythynsi Deyterobathmias Ekpaideysis N. Rodopis in Komotini (Greece)
Landkreis Osnabrück Fachdienst Bildung in Osnabrück.
All of these stakeholders will share problems and solutions, knowledge, data and resources that will help to make of EROVET a really useful tool for VET centres and learners.
EROVET will lay the base and provide the means to create a self-sustainable network that will be able to accept other new members in the near future.
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