Increasing awareness of international training opportunities
Europe has a high unemployment rate for young people, but work experience, training, internships and apprenticeships all go some way to address this. Programmes that allow young people to travel abroad and learn in different countries are especially successful – which is why STORY was set up.
Safi Sabuni, President of the Erasmus Student Network, which led the STORY project, explains how it has helped her organisation:
“STORY has contributed to several developments in our organisation. The ErasmusIntern platform, which was created as a result of the project, is still one of our main projects and platforms, making us a more versatile facilitator, and we continue to provide the student guidebook to students and universities all over Europe. It has enabled us to give more support to students and universities, and establish the Erasmus Student Network as a knowledgeable partner.”
One of the main challenges for the project team, from Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands and Poland, was a general lack of knowledge about international programmes. Even those who do know about them seem to perceive them as study rather than training opportunities; 79% of people who participate in the Erasmus programme do so to study while only 21% participate for training.
| Key facts and figures | |
| Project title | Strengthening Training Opportunities for international Youth |
| Lead organisation |
Erasmus Student Network |
| Location | Brussels, Belgium |
| Duration | 2013-2014 |
| EU grant |
€ 149,524 |
The project team analysed the impact and quality of international programmes, and created new guidance based on their findings. This included a student guidebook and an online platform, ErasmusIntern, which matches up training providers with those looking to train abroad. The website proved immediately popular, with more than 20,000 users registering within two months of its launch!