Skills as a key for the future of youth – European Year of Skills at the European Youth Event

At the 2023 edition of the European Youth Event (EYE), the European Commission Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion organised a panel discussion on “Green excellence: innovation for a sustainable future” as well as an interactive workshop "Skill up with Europass” to put a spotlight on the European Year of Skills.

What skills do you need to play your part for a sustainable future?

The green transition opens to new professions and business models ready to be explored. Hence, it becomes key to be equipped with the right skills for quality jobs and shape new solutions to contribute to a sustainable economic growth and a competitive Europe.

Companies and education need to adapt and create new opportunities for young people to contribute to it, while young people can benefit from opportunities to face todays’ challenges. New digital tools like Europass  can support learners to determine their career paths towards the most demanded jobs and create effective curricula.

Green skills projects: concrete paths for a sustainable society

The “Green excellence: innovation for a sustainable future” session brought together over 200 participants and highlighted three first-hand experiences from young speakers involved in green projects and how they have transformed their passions and values into a job for a sustainable future.

Giuseppina Tucci from Obessu moderated the session and explained the work they are doing with the European Apprentices Network.

Anna Barbieri from the European Commission presented an overview of several European initiatives that aim at supporting and empowering young people: Erasmus+ for vocational education and training, apprenticeships, and the Centres of Vocational Excellence (CoVEs) that contribute to develop green excellence in local and regional contexts.

“We have the chance to choose a green job and make a change in the world” stated Melanie Henke, from the 3LoE CoVE project, which was created to equip young people and adult learners with green skills to face the transition into the green economy.

She also offered an insight on jobs for the green economy: jobs which directly produce environment friendly services or goods (for example: non-polluting transport) and jobs which make production processes greener (for example reduction of water consumption).

Maria Apsatha explained how the Fashion Earth Alliance CoVE project seeks to develop a training programme that includes greener and more sustainable practices combined with smart specialisations and digital transformation training. She encouraged the audience to look up at jobs in the green fashion sector: “There are so many interesting professions in the field of sustainable fashion”.

By sharing his experiences as an apprentice, Martin Schmidt, inspired the audience to take advantage of the apprenticeship programmes, to combine theoretical learning with practical experience in the labour market. Martin turned a hobby into a career. He has a small repair business promoting everyday sustainability and encourage young people to take advantage of Erasmus+: “Mobility helped me so much in my technical ability but also in my social skills!”.

Rewatch the session

The power of Skills intelligence for taking smart career decisions

The EYE was also an occasion to present to a young audience how to use the potentiality of the Europass projects and the skills intelligence tool when taking career decisions. In fact, Europass users can gain insights and expand their understanding of the job market to make informed decisions about their career paths. At the Europarl Radio Programme, DG Employment experts provided an overview of the platform, its flexibility and adaptability to meet the diverse needs of users and gave valuable tips on creating a good CV and using the Europass cover letter effectively.

The presentation of the possible uses of Europass to showcase candidates' skills continued in the workshop "Skill up with Europass,". With an active and engaged audience of around 170-180 participants, the workshop was held on 09 June and repeated on 10 June 2023.

The pivotal role of Lifelong learning and career management was emphasised, and the young audience engaged during the demo case video of a student's journey in search of their first job and during the interactive journey on Europass. Participants showed eagerness to make the most of the available resources after the session. As an additional incentive, participants were given the opportunity to receive « European digital credentials for learning », serving as tangible proof of their active participation in the workshop.

See more pictures!