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The Commission aim is to improve the long-term mobility for Vocational Education and Training, so-called VET learners. The programs were initiated in the ErasmusPro program (proposed in December 2016), which goes in line with the Erasmus+ programme, specifically designed to support long-term placements of VET learners abroad. ErasmusPro is operational from 2018 and will provide opportunity for about 50,000 young people to spend 3-12 months in another EU member state.

European Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs, Skills and Labour Mobility, Marianne Thyssen, underlined that alongside year-long programmes like Erasmus for university students, vast majority of Vocational Education and Training learners (so-called VET learners) tend to go abroad for rather short periods.  

With this in mind, The Commission is creating more long-term opportunities, which will ultimately increase the VET learners’ chances on the job market. With these pilot projects and Commission’s new ErasmusPro initiative, up to 50,000 long-term mobility opportunities for VET learners will be mobilise by 2020, she added. 

Supporting mobility’s experience

Already presently, about 650,000 vocational education and training (VET) learners and graduates can benefit from Erasmus+ funding to support their mobility experiences of 2 weeks to 12 months abroad. Despite the benefits of long-term placements, however, less than 1% of them stay abroad for more than 6 months.

The new pilot-projects launched this year will therefore offer 238 apprentices a position in another EU country for a period from 6 to 12 months, to identify good practices and bottlenecks with longer-term apprenticeships abroad. These 238 placements come in addition to the 100 apprentices currently involved in similar projects financed by the Commission in 2016.

As part of the Commission's overall effort to improve the long-term mobility of vocational education and training (VET) learners, the Commission also proposed ErasmusPro initiative (in December 2016),  which will become operational in 2018 and which will allow an additional 50,000 young people to spend between 3 and 12 months in another EU state.

Both the present pilot project and ErasmusPro are the first steps towards a European framework for the long-term mobility of apprentices. It will provide concrete guidance for the EU states to give young people the chance to develop their skills and enhance their employability, while strengthening their sense of European citizenship through experience in another EU country.

The Commission has been given already a lot of support for the mobility for Vocational Education and Training (VET) learners. Under the Erasmus+ programme, for example, around 650,000 VET learners and recent VET graduates will benefit from funding to support their mobility experiences abroad, that ranges from a period of 2 weeks to 12 months.

However, the Commission aims to strengthen opportunities for more long-term mobility and therefore more in-depth experiences for VET learners and apprentices, to help them carry out a more substantial part of their training in another European country.

The pre-financing of pilot projects is an example of this in practice. So far, the Commission has launched two calls for pilot proposals (in 2016 and 2017); 9 projects have been awarded grants. 

Perspectives

In 2017, the projects are being led by six EU states: Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Italy and Spain; however, all other EU states (except the UK) are also involved in the partnerships.

The projects offer apprenticeships in a broad range of professions and sectors, such as tourism, catering, health care, trade and logistics, IT, marketing, construction, manufacturing (metal, electronics, etc...) and agriculture. The professional, personal and social experience gained while living and working abroad will complement and enrich the apprentice's studies at "home"

The seven pilot projects for 2017 aim to:

- Evaluate the demand and capacity for long-term transnational apprentice mobility schemes;

- Identify bottlenecks for long-duration mobility; and

- Identify and disseminate good practices and success factors for long-term work placements for apprentices.

The 2017 projects will run until end 2018 - early 2019.

It has to be notices as well that the EEA-countries –through funds for youth employment- are also offering some support for living and working abroad. For information, visit:  www.eeagrants.org/fundforyouthemployment for the specific call for proposals, and http://ecorys.pl/eeagrants/ for the partner search tool and the registration.

Reference: Brussels, 4 September 2017, in:

http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-17-2763_en.htm?locale=en