Weekly Roundup
SME Week YOUTH ESSAY COMPETITION 2019
If you are between the ages of 18 and 25 and want to share your ideas about entrepreneurship, small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) and the European entrepreneurial ecosystem, then Youth Essay Competition 2019 is just the thing for you! The European Commission Directorate General for Single Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs is looking for youth of Europe to answer the following: “Write the speech that you would give as the new Commissioner for SMEs and entrepreneurship to Europe’s entrepreneurs”. Speeches must be in English, should not exceed 2500 words and must be submitted until 16th August. The three finalists will win an all-expenses-paid trip to the 2019 SME Assembly in Helsinki and deliver their speeches to 500 Assembly delegates.
Find out more about the competition here.
Labour mobility opportunities for refugees to be tested by Cedefop
Most refugees who are living in developing countries of asylum are struggling to match a labour market needs with their skills and qualifications. Cedefop has started a project to investigate how vocational education and training (VET) can help to create labour mobility opportunities for adult refugees. Project “Complementary pathways for adult refugees: the role of VET, skills and qualifications” was created to test a skills-based matching process to allow refugees to legally move from first asylum countries to other host countries based on their skills and market labour needs. Even though Canada, Australia and the USA are already assessing refugees’ skills and matching them with employer demand, in Europe this kind of initiative is still new so this project is going to “fill this gap”.
Read more here.
Prison education cuts reoffending rates
A new report from thinktank Onward suggests that reoffending rates could be reduced if prisoners are spending at least 40 hours a week training or working. Given in mind that only 17 % of prisoners have been able to secure a job a year after their release, proper education and training can turn them away from criminal activity and settle them back into society. The study was presented to the Great Britain Ministry of Justice and was backed by the minister. In an attempt to improve the situation, the Ministry has created a job plan to help to reduce the cost of recidivism. Around 15 billion pounds will be invested every year and over 230 businesses already registered to work with prisoners.
Read more about the plan here.
Entrepreneurship in Education – what, why when and how?
Background paper, Entrepreneurship in Education, was released by the European Commission with the collaboration with OECD and LEED to help education practitioners with entrepreneurial skills teaching. The resource discusses questions “what”, “why”, “when” and “how” of entrepreneurial education, gives terminology of entrepreneurship in education, some tools that can support the value creation process and explains what are entrepreneurial competencies. It also discusses different aspects of the teaching process and ways to assess student progress effectively. Even though the paper was published in 2015, it’s still a valuable resource for teachers and everyone working in education.
Read the whole paper here.
Cedefop’s new toolkit tackling early leaving is out!
European Commission and the EU Member States have a goal to lower the rates of early leaving from education and training below 10% by 2020. Early leaving is one of the key issues in Europe and despite the number of young people who drop out of school is becoming lower, early leaving still affects one in ten young adults. Cedefop has so far done a three-year research study to explore the scale and causes of early leaving from VET and launched VET toolkit to tackle early leaving in 2017. This year, the toolkit was revised with more data, good practices, tips and tools to support implementation and evaluation in tackling early leaving. Toolkit is designed for VET practitioners and policymaker but will be also useful in ministries, VET schools, companies, social services and youth organisations.
Find more information here.
AHEAD Conference 2020: Call for Papers
Ahead (Association for Higher Education Access & Disability) is accepting submissions for the 2020 Conference: Through The Looking Glass: Reflecting on Inclusion from The Boardroom to the Classroom. It’s open to staff and students who are interested in reflecting on how to create inclusive learning environments. Submitted paper should show a good practice relating to themes: It Takes a Village – Communities of Inclusive Practice, What’s the Worst that Can Happen? – Getting it Wrong on the Road to Success, Tell Me What You Need? – Excellence and Innovation in Disability Support, If You Build it They Will Come – Active Inclusion Approaches in Further Education, How Can I Help You? – Inclusive Strategies for Student Services, Nothing About Us Without Us – Student Voice Theme. Papers should be submitted until 14th October.
See the application here.
Share your world through 360° film and photography
The new 360° technology lets you capture every direction at once and give the most realistic view you can imagine. If you have creative ideas about the Sustainable Development Goals (such as no poverty or zero hunger), then look around you, produce a 360° media piece and maybe just your story will be screened at the UN General Assembly in New York in September. Rules are simple: you have to be between 5 to 24 years old, produce a media with a focus on climate action and reducing inequalities and submit your #myworld360°story until 15 August.
Check out more here.
Technology Skills 2022: Ireland’s ICT Skills Action Plan
Ireland has set out a priority ICT Action plan – Technology Skills 2022 to meet the need for graduates skilled in computing and electronic engineering to support and propel economic performance in upcoming years. The plan was conducted by the Expert Group on Future Skills Needs (EGFSN) and the goal is to increase the total number of graduates with high-level ICT skills by more than 5000 every year by 2022. They hope this will be done by implementing the following measures: providing new options to embed high-level ICT apprenticeships within the education and training sector, have a high-level ICT pathway to provide opportunities for up to 2750 people from diverse backgrounds, expand the number of graduates from computing and electronic engineering and from relevant Skillnet Ireland programmes.
The action plan can be viewed here.
Prepared by Iva Badanjak
