We were pleased to once again be invited to the annual Do Your MOB event, hosted by Scuola Centrale Formazione, in Italy. This year’s event was held in the City of Genoa and coincided with Orientamenti 2018 – a huge careers event for young people in the Liguria region of Italy.
The event was held over two days and covered a number of presentations around the theme of technology and soft skills development. The first day included talks from experts in Erasmus+ from Italy, Spain and the UK. There were also presentations from students who talked about their positive experiences on the programme and all of the skills that they were able to gain through taking part in international mobilities. The presentations highlighted some interesting statistics. For example, although 90% of Young Europeans surveyed agreed that an “International Experience” was important, only 25% were actually able to get such an experience. This highlights the importance of the programme and how we need to widen participation for young people from all backgrounds.
Following on from the presentations, delegates from all over Europe ranging from Finland to Malta were able to meet and discuss projects informally over a traditional Genovese dinner.
Day 2 saw a number of concurrent workshops, continuing themes explored from the previous day. One workshop looked at resources to support students to understand Hidden and Intercultural Competencies, and was led by Miika Kekki a lecturer and careers coach from the University of Eastern Finland.
Lots of new connections were formed with excellent organisations all over Europe and it was fantastic to see how people all over the continent are working hard to support young people get the best from the opportunities provided by the Erasmus+ programme. We look forward to next year’s event!