Xarxa FP commemorates its 20th anniversary

Xarxa FP celebrated its 20^th anniversary on 5^th of February with an event in Barcelona counting with the participation of more than 150 attendees, including local authorities, vocational and education training schools, students, friends and representatives from 30 European cities members of the association.

The event included two key note speeches on the future of International Vocational Education and Training Mobility.

Mr. Bjorn-Tore Bertheussen, from the Directorate General of Employment, Social affairs and Inclusion at the European Commission, presented latest policy trends and actions in Vocational Education and Training in Europe.

Ms. Maria Ortueta, Head of Vocational Education and Training Unit at SEPIE, the Spanish National Erasmus Plus Agency, focused her keynote speech on the challenges and updates of the future Erasmus+ programme 2021-2027.

The celebration was also the occasion to present the 2^nd edition of Xarxa FP Mobility Impact Study (2014-2018). “This study constitutes our most precious output, as it shows the real added value that our work has in the life of our students, showing the benefits that mobility has on their employability, career prospects and competences”, said Jordi Castillo, Secretary General of Xarxa FP.

During his presentation Mr Castillo highlighted a few interesting facts:

• Women take more part in international mobility actions than men (62,3%).
• The increase in the student’s key competences is higher than in technical skills.
• Doing an international internship is a key factor to access the labour market. In particular the survey reveals that 79,1% of participants consider that undertaking an internship abroad with Xarxa FP as a key factor to help them access the labour market. A proof of that success is that 16,8% of total respondents were offered a job contract by the company after their internship.
• Low unemployment rate (8,2%). Remarkably, this low unemployment rate coexists in a context where the youth unemployment rate was 18,7% in EU-28 in 2016 according to Eurostat, with countries like Spain, which provides more than half of the students that participated in the study, with exceptionally high youth unemployment rate (44,4%).

The study is based on an online survey replied by 560 students that took part in mobility actions between 2014 and 2018.

The event also included a round table on the impact of mobility with students, teachers and Mobility Managers that have taken part in mobility actions organised by Xarxa FP in the last years.