Posts Tagged ‘European Commission’

The EU is celebrating the 15th anniversary of its Leonardo da Vinci programme, which helps to fund thousands of vocational education and training courses across Europe. Since 1995 the EU has helped more than 600 000 young people to go on training placements abroad. The European Commission is currently investing €240 million a year through Leonardo da Vinci to support the mobility of trainees, apprentices and trainers and the modernisation of vocational education and training in 31 countries.

Androulla Vassiliou, the European Commissioner for Education, Culture, Multilingualism and Youth, said: “Vocational education and training gives students the kind of skills that are increasingly sought after on the labour market. The Leonardo da Vinci programme offers them more by helping to fund work placements abroad. This experience boosts their language abilities and other broad skills like team-working and adaptability, which makes them more employable and enhances their personal development. In the long-term this contributes to building a better-qualified workforce and to making Europe more competitive.”

Public consultation on the future of the programme
Leonardo da Vinci is part of the Lifelong Learning Programme, and also includes three other programmes supporting mobility: Erasmus (for higher education students), Comenius (schools) and Grundtvig (adult education). Do you want to give your opinion on EU policies and influence their direction? The Commission has launched a public consultation on the Lifelong Learning Programme after 2014.

Read about how to apply for projects funded by the Leonardo da Vinci Programme.

Has knowing other languages opened doors for you, made a difference in your life? How? The European Commission would love to hear your story on the advantage of knowing languages! So join the Tongue Stories competition. Send your contribution and inspire people to use different languages by telling a interesting and amusing anecdote. The contributions from competitors in the 31 participating countries will be published on the campaign website for public voting and the best stories will be rewarded with a free trip to Brussels. The competition and the public voting are open until 31 January 2011. Check out the terms and conditions of the competition for more info.

Interested in knowing more about languages in Europe? News, information on language policy, initiatives and much more are available on the Multilingualism website of the European Commission. Androulla Vassiliou, European Commissioner for Education, Culture, Multilingualism and Youth shares her own language story with you. Just as some celebrities as Bjorn Borg did.

On the occasion of the European Day of Languages 2010, the European Commission will launch a language story competition to highlight how speaking foreign languages can open doors in your private and professional life. The Commission will ask citizens in 31 European countries to tell their favourite foreign language stories. The authors of the best stories will be invited to Brussels for an award ceremony around Europe Day in May 2011.

Also take a look at:

• A summery of language events in EU countries
• The on-line language quiz
• The European Commission’s press release

Tomorrow Commissioner Vassiliou will be hosting a webstreamed public debate on “Youth on the Move” – the European Commission’s flagship initiative on promoting learning mobility and improving young people’s skills and job perspectives. Anyone with a PC can join in from 15:00 to 16:00.The Commissioner will respond to questions both from members of a live audience and from the public, via the web. This is your chance to ask the Commissioner anything you like about EU policy on education, training, mobility and youth. Don’t miss it!!

The European Commission has just launched an online public consultation on the development of the future European programme in the field of youth. The current European youth programme – “Youth in Action” – will run until the end of 2013. The online public consultation has been launched to collect views on how to best develop this future programme so as to ensure an adequate response to youth needs, challenges and expectations. Filling in the questionnaire will only take a few minutes. Everybody is welcome to contribute! The cosultation will be open until 30 November 2010.

Yesterday Youth on the Move was launched! Finally young people are put at the centre of the EU agenda! As part of the EU2020 Strategy, Youth on the Move is focusing on increasing opportunities for young people, to unleash their potential fully and achieve smart, inclusive and sustainable growth in Europe.

The first Youth on the Move event will be held on 8-9 October in the Millenaris Park in Budapest. During these two days, young people from Budapest will have the possibility to discover the many opportunities available to them thanks to EU programmes. Through a series of both formal and informal activities, they will have the chance to get valuable information on mobility possibilities, as well as to talk to others who have already worked or studied abroad. Discussions will focus also on youth unemployment, problems and solutions. A chain of musical and theatre performances will accompany the debates. The second Youth on the Move event will take place on 14-16 October 2010 at the Museum of Modern Art in Bordeaux.

On 17 September 2010, Commissioner Vassiliou will be hosting a webstreamed public debate on “Youth on the Move” – the European Commission’s flagship initiative on promoting learning mobility and improving young people’s skills and job perspectives. Anyone with a PC can join in from 15:00 to 16:00.

The Commissioner will respond to questions both from members of a live audience and from the public, via the web. This is your chance to ask the Commissioner anything you like about EU policy on education, training, mobility and youth. You can put your question in any of the official languages of the European Union. You can also submit questions in advance to EAC-YOM@ec.europa.eu

In September, the European Commission will adopt ‘Youth on the Move’, an initiative that aims to promote the mobility of students and trainees and to improve the employment situation of young people. ‘Youth on the Move’ will encourage EU countries to work together to give young people in Europe better opportunities to make the best of their skills. The Commission’s upcoming proposal is a contribution to Europe 2020, the EU’s reform strategy for the coming decade to develop an economy that is based on knowledge and innovation. Young people have an important role to play in this but they need more support in order to unleash their full potential. ‘Youth on the Move’ provides this support by contributing to better education, training and access to labour market.

Commissioner Androulla Vassiliou will hold a press conference dedicated to ‘Youth on the Move’ on September 15. She is also keen to have an open dialogue about these important matters with the main people concerned. Their interest, opinions, experiences and participation is of course key to the success of the initiative and to achieving the Europe 2020 goals. She will therefore host a webstreamed debate with European youth on 17 September 2010. During this debate, the Commissioner will answer questions from a live audience, as well as from remote participants who choose to send in questions, either beforehand or in real time. More details about this event will soon be available on Commissioner Vassiliou’s website.

The Europemobility Video Contest, supported by the European Commission, is open to any European citizen who has accomplished a study program, youth exchange or work placement abroad, within Europe. The challenge is to create an original and creative video that show mobility experiences. You can make a documentary or a short presentation, about a general or a specific aspect of your stay abroad. There are two award categories, one for the videos elected by the Europemobility Jury and one for those elected by the online voters. Europemobility will award €500,- for the best video nominated by the Jury and a netbook for the best video nominated by the online voters. They also both win a trip to the Award Ceremony. Videos must be uploaded before 30 June 2010. For further information about the terms and conditions, please visit the competition web site.

The European Commission invites online and print journalists to take part in the EU Journalist Award 2010 – Together against discrimination organised in the framework of the Commission’s anti-discrimination campaign. The articles on issues of discrimination and diversity in the European Union must be submitted before the competition deadline of 17 September 2010. For further details about the competition, please visit the Award website.