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'We Mean Business' participates at Sofia's National Youth ForumThe first of the 30 planned We Mean Business National Info Day events took place yesterday in Sofia, Bulgaria within the frame of the national youth forum entitled 'Youth employability. Vision and challenges'. Bulgarian Minister Totyu Mladenov and more than 100 stakeholders gathered to discuss different topics ranging from the lack of connection between business, educational institutions and state to youth employability being the key to sustainable economy.
Totyu Mladenov, Bulgaria’s Minister of Labour & Social Policy, opened the conference stating that traineeships are paramount to fighting the Bulgarian crisis. Dragomir Stoynev, Chairman of Commission of Labour and Social Policy in the Bulgarian Parliament gave an interesting speech and declared that youth employability is a matter of state security. All speakers shared a common ground and agreed that there should be better links between educational institutions and companies. The attendees had the opportunity of hearing about the benefits of hosting a trainee which included three companies (Overgas Ink, Johnson Controls and HP) sharing their experiences and good practices with trainees. business, state, students, universities.
The We Mean Business Initiative became an official partner of the forum, which provided the perfect environment for state institutions, federations of enterprises and business sectors to exchange ideas and define expectations for Erasmus and Leonardo da Vinci trainees throughout Bulgaria and beyond. The forum facilitates the building of networks and fosters dialogue to promote the benefits of hosting Erasmus and Leonardo da Vinci trainees. It was organised into two discussion panels: to develop business environments which encourage the hiring of young people, and discussions on student related matters. The hosting organisation, Bulgarian Industrial Association, opened the event with a speech given by their executive president, Mr. Bojidar Danev who described the We Mean Business initiative and its benefits for organisations throughout Europe.
Luxembourg will be holding their We Mean Business National Info Day on 5th June 2012, to coincide with European Funding Week at the Chamber of Commerce Conference Centre. The event will be an opportunity for stakeholders and players from different communities such as Chambers of Commerce, Universities, the Lifelong Learning Programme National Agency and umbrella organisations to share good practices and create virtual communities that will look to encourage more workplaces to host an Erasmus or Leonardo da Vinci trainee.
Click here for more information on P.A.U. Educations' involvement in this European initiative: |  Attendees network during a coffee break.  'We Mean Business' took place during the national youth employability forum. |
Valores de Futuro, en un taller sobre educación financiera de la OCDEEl equipo de Valores de Futuro, proyecto educativo de BBVA que P.A.U. Education desarrolla desde el curso 2009-2010, participó el pasado 7 de mayo en Madrid en una jornada sobre educación financiera organizada por la Organización para la Cooperación y el Desarrollo Económicos (OCDE). Pierre-Antoine Ullmo, fundador de P.A.U. Education, quién participó en la jornada en calidad de miembro del Comité Científico de Valores de Futuro, insistió en la importancia del diálogo para establecer cualquier proceso educativo.
El workshop fue liderado por Diana Corssan (Commission for Financial Literacy and Retirement Income, New Zealand) y Annamaria Lusardi, profesora de Económicas en la George Washington University School of Business y presidente del grupo de expertos de PISA (Programa para la Evaluación Internacional de Alumnos de la OCDE). El objetivo de la jornada consistió en proporcionar una plataforma para la interacción y el intercambio de experiencias entre los distintos actores (investigadores, autoridades, educadores) vinculados con la integración de la educación financiera en la escuela. Cinco profesores participantes en el proyecto 'Valores de Futuro', desarrollado tanto en España como en Portugal y destinado a fomentar la educación financiera en jóvenes de 6 a 15 años, asistió con el fin de desarrollar un debate alrededor del papel del dinero ligado a valores como la ciudadanía, la solidaridad, la responsabilidad y el esfuerzo. El taller precedió la conferencia 'Challenges Ahead. Turning Policy Guidance into Efficient Practices', organizada por la OCDE y el Ministerio de Economía y que se celebra hoy y mañana en la capital española.
Pierre-Antoine Ullmo terminó su intervención recordando que la participación es la base de la apropiación de conocimientos, y que la esencia de 'Valores de Futuro' es que se trata de una plataforma abierta donde todos los actores del proceso educativo están invitados a participar. Precisamente la participación es la clave de los más de 62 talleres que el programa pone al alcance de los docentes de primaria y de 1º y 2º de ESO para trabajar en clase. Muchas escuelas deciden compartir después el resultado de los talleres que eligen desarrollar en sus aulas. La sección 'Participación activa', consultable aquí, recoge esos trabajos. |  La neocelandesa Diana Corssan es miembro del OECD International Network on Financial Education Advisory Board |
Maribor's YoM festival opens up with an Erasmus accentThe Youth on the Move campaign is back to Slovenia, as part of the European Youth Week initiative, from 7th to 10th May 2012, at the Trg Leona Štuklja square in Maribor. "This is a fantastic opportunity to learn about European culture and traditions, while getting to know EU traineeship initiatives such as Leonardo or meeting Erasmus ambassadors", declared Aude Delesalle, Project Manager of the YoM campaign.
Youth on the Move is a comprehensive package of policity initiatives on education and employment for young people in Europe, launched in 2012 as part of the Europe 2020 strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. The Maribor event, the first of the third phase of the project, will be taking place from today until 10th May and will offer its visitors an entertaining European experience: the European Village project, with its colourful market stalls, is the gathering point of the event, where music, dance, food and traditions will be on display. More than 3,000 visitors are expected.
Additionally, during the Maribor YoM event visitors will be able to find information about projects of the Lifelong Learning and Youth in Action programmes, as well as participate in debates and discussions about the recession and initiatives to overcome it, such as the interactive game presented by students of the Faculty of Economics of the University of Ljubljana. The schedule of activities can be found here. Visitors to the European Youth Week will also have the chance to explore traineeship opportunities such as Leonardo or Erasmus, as well as more recent initiatives like We Mean Business, which aims to raise awareness about European trainees amongst companies, or the Generation 1992 campaign about the 20th anniversary of the European single market.
P.A.U. Education has led the communication campaign of Youth on the Move from its initial phase in 2011 and 2012, with events in Helsinki, London, Brno, Tallinn, and Nicosia, and is now developing the third phase, with the initial event in Maribor, and only an event left in Helsinki (Finland), to be celebrated the 26th and the 27th of May. July will be the time for a new set of events in Trencin (Slovakia), while Dublin (Ireland) and Bucharest (Romania) will hold their festivals in September. Two further events will be taking place in Sweden, one in Stockholm (November) and another one in Malmö (December).
For more information on the YoM initiative, you may visit its Facebook page or follow them on Twitter. |  The Youth on the Move event at Maribor expects more than 3,000 visitors.  Students will be able to access information on European traineeships.  Culture and youth initiatives are the basis of Youth on the Move. |
Need Social Media Help With Your Project?"Web2LLP will provide social media training and good practices information to project managers who seek to gain insight into social media dissemination of projects", Agnès Aguiló, Project Manager of the eLearning project organised by P.A.U. Education states on this Lifelong Learning Programmes project. Web2LLP aims to boost dissemination strategies of LLP projects through providing personalised support and training on the integration of social media, as well as through identifying best-practices and sharing resources.
Social media and web 2.0 tools allow people to build social and business connections, share information and collaborate on projects online, empowering a variety of human activity involving learning, interaction, collaboration, knowledge building and economic growth.
The dissemination of projects' outcomes with a view to optimise their value is a key element of Life-Learning Programmes and although social media marketing is an emergent and flourishing area specialising in boosting promotion of activities and companies through viral networking tools, LLP project teams often do not take up social media in their web strategies. However, the correct use of social media in the dissemination of a given project can be a very powerful tool and as such, the wealth of resources that can be found in Web2LLP is extremely useful.
Web2LLP will offer online and face-to-face training sessions, a personalised helpdesk service, and publicly shared, self-paced training materials (in EN, FR and IT) that will be available to any LLP project. The partnership will look at projects in all LLP sub-actions to identify, promote and exploit their best practices in web strategies. The EC-supported Web2LLP is a two-year multilateral project (2012-2013) within the context of the Lifelong Learning Programme. |  Web2LLP Twitter Account Is @Web2LLP |
UOC&Plugged, un festival de ideas de los ciudadanosMents Obertes, el portal social de la Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC), ha lanzado UOC&Plugged 2012, un concurso dirigido a toda la ciudadanía con la intención de premiar las mejores ideas y proyectos de emprendedores que se presenten. La institución espera destinar cerca de 80.000€ en formación a los equipos que presenten las mejores propuestas y reforzará con talleres y otras píldoras de conocimiento aquellas ideas creativas que no lleguen a la parte final del concurso.
La primera fase del mismo, ya abierta, es la recogida de ideas en mentsobertes.uoc.edu/plug, en función de ocho categorías: social learning, finanzas, recursos, wikieconomía, gobierno, comunicación, salud y urbanismo. Las ideas serán elegidas en distintas etapas, tanto por votación popular como por un jurado en cada una de las categorías. Mañana, jueves 3, se abrirá la votación popular tras haberse contabilizado ya más de 300 ideas. El reto debe su nombre UOC&Plugged a su capacidad de generar 'un instante de desconnexión y reconnexión creativas en las personas para tratar de pensar nuevamente y preservar el bienestar social.
Alternativas a los antibióticos; retorno de latas y tetrabricks a los supermercados; reciclaje de bicis... muchos ciudadanos están ya subiendo sus ideas en la plataforma. La iniciativa está dirigida, según se manifiesta en el portal, a 'mentes abiertas, personas que saben motivarse y movilizarse en tiempos difíciles, que convierten las crisis en oportunidades y que saben compartir creatividad'. En definitiva, cualquiera puede tanto participar como votar las ideas de otros. Tan solo se trata de pararse a pensar, o mejor dicho, repensar y encontraremos oportunidades cuotidianas. |  UOC&Plugged tiene la intención de premiar las mejores ideas y proyectos de emprendedores qur surjan del concurso. |
