Between 25th and 26th of March the 26th Session of Chamber of Regions of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe was held in Strasbourg, where on behalf of the Committee of the Regions Mr. Csaba Borboly, president of Harghita County Council was also present, accompanied by Mr. Tihamér Zsolt Ladó, youth expert on behalf of the Federation of Youth Organization of Ciuc Region.
Harghita County Council together with the Association for Harghita County has offered the possibility for youth organizations in Harghita County to participate in the event dedicated for fostering youth employment by education and trainings, organized on 26th of March in Strasbourg. Accordingly, based on the sent applications, an expert was selected who could participate at the event together with the county council president. Mr. Csaba Borboly, as permanent member of the Committee of the Regions (CoR), is member of EDUC Commission (Commission for Education, Youth, Culture and Research of the Committee of the Regions), and as rapporteur elaborated previously the CoR’s opinion on European higher education in the world (http://www.borbolycsaba.ro/en/committe-of-the-regions/).
On the session in Strasbourg, Mr. Csaba Borboly presented positive examples and practices, accordingly formulating recommendations in the concerned field. The abovementioned opinion also highlights that in a multilingual and multicultural Europe an important role would be given to those higher education institutions, which offer training in more than one language, including also training in minority languages. In a multicultural context, hence students have the possibility to acquaint with at least two European languages, which can be attractive for foreign students also. For this very reason, the linguistic skills are accentuated from the perspective of internationalization of higher education. Furthermore, it also emphasizes the importance of minority culture and the necessity for supporting regional universities.
He further underlined those initiatives in Harghita County that concern the employment of youth. Accordingly, presented the initiative entitled as Harghita county community work for our children, within the framework of which, owned to public work, appropriate circumstances were developed in education institutions (http://kalaka.hargitamegye.ro/). He spoke about those initiatives of Harghita County Council, which are aimed at practical training and the youth having, thus, the possibility to learn different professions. This is important also because on national and county level there is lack of specialists. As he put forward, the county council is working on a programme toward keeping the talented youth behind the borders and decreasing, thus, the level of migration. For example, for doctors who are career beginners, service apartments are assured, and are open to those young people who would like to exploit their experiences gathered abroad in their homeland.
He also emphasized that in 2015 Cluj Napoca will be the European Youth Capital and in the framework of the programme the goal will be to strengthen the role of youth and involve them more in the society life, in the necessary changes. Mr. Csaba Borboly expressed the point of view of the Committee of the Regions, according to which the issue of youth’s unemployment has to be solved on local level, which would be facilitated if grants are allocated on regional and local levels. He also highlighted the importance of traineeship programmes based on high standard of theoretical and practical education, regarding which, the collaboration between educational institutions and entrepreneurial spheres is essential and indispensable. Accordingly, such strategies should be elaborated that are supporting the start-up enterprises of youth. There is need for efficient labour placing services which holds the connection between educational institutions, entrepreneurial sphere and civil organizations, thereby fostering the youth’s employment on the labour market. It is also important to develop such online platforms which are oriented toward youth’s training and is accessible for everybody independent of material background and social circumstances.
Summing up, the issue is complex and the solution is not easy, as the rapporteur concluded. The local, regional, national and European institutions would have a significant role in decreasing youth’s unemployment by encouraging job creation and developing programmes aimed at supporting young entrepreneurs. The problem of youth’s employment is a priority in the EU, and member states should together come up with solutions – as the county council president claimed. He also outlined Mr. Tihamér Zsolt Ladó’s proposals as well: young teachers should have a unified wage within the European Union, the enterprises to have the possibility for tendering to cover the wage costs of one-two years of career beginners, moreover, on the level of European Union to support the partnerships between enterprises and professional schools.
Strasbourg, 26th of March 2014
Leave a Reply