On September 24, 2020 the members of the SubNetwork on Employability gathered online in order to discuss the state of the art of the SubNetwork and the future steps for the next year. Indeed, the SubNetwork aims to be a useful tool for advocating the European Institutions on the main topic of the SubNetwork which is strengthening economic and social cohesion by promoting cross-border, transnational and inter-regional cooperation and sustainable local development. On this occasion, some key actions were relaunched, such as the Students Start-cup Competition, the setting up of a network of Mediterranean career centers thanks to a needs assessment of the latter and reinforcement of the University Incubators.

The online event, coordinated by UNIMED and the Lebanese University as scientific coordinator of the UNIMED SubNetwork on Employability, was attended by 9 Institutions from 8 countries, members of the SubNetwork, namely the University of Frère Mentouri Constantine 1 and University Mohamed Lamine Debaghine Setif 2 from Algeria, the University of Jordan from Jordan, Duhok Polytechnic University from Iraq, the University of Aljufra from Libya, the University Ibn Tofail of Kenitra from Morocco, the Al Najah National University from Palestine, the University of Granada from Spain, the  University of Sousse from Tunisia.

During the debate, participants underlined the urgency to implement cooperation and networking with the private sector that can lead to providing students with grants in order to set up a startup, an enterprise or a project. Participants shared their best practices in their Institutions, explaining their events realized on an annual basis, like open days, training of trainers, conferences on the SubNetwork field and specific academic programs where theory and practice are well balanced in order to teach the students how to handle all risky situations in managing an enterprise.

On this occasion, new methodologies were proposed in order to collect data and new experiences also by involving new members and to fill the gap between the academic background and the labor market offer.

The meeting was also an opportunity to recall previous activities of the SubNetwork performed during the past months namely between March and July 2020, if you missed the events, you can read the report here.

Launched as part of the RESUME project, the SubNetwork on Employability aims at promoting cooperation among its members on the thematic of entrepreneurship and employability. The collection of information and initiatives, the ongoing projects and partnerships – already established or in the process of definition – with university departments, research centers, researchers, professors, international experts, entrepreneurs, policy makers, will be the sources of this thematic SubNetwork and will offer cases of discussion and study and help to develop further initiatives and future actions.

Please stay tuned on the next activities and follow us on our dedicated page!

To join our SN on Employability please click here.