The ENGAGE project focuses on adult education and employment in Europe. It will contribute to meeting the Europe 2020 goals to increase employment rate by 75% and participation target of 15% in lifelong learning through development of the basic competences of adults. According to the data, young adults unemployment rates are much higher, than of any other age group. The high rates reflect the difficulties faced by young people in finding jobs. At the same time about 30% of European companies indicate that have significant trouble in finding appropriate candidates for the job. [Eurostat, 2015]. Adjustment rate of the relationship between skills supply and market demand is just 24% in RO, 38% in PL, 23% in CY, 20% in GR 26% in PT and 34% in IT. The considerable statistics are intensified by youth unemployment. According to the latest data 13 % of people aged 15–24 and 30 % of people aged 25–29 were neither in employment nor in education or training in the EU. Higher proportion of the population in the 15–24 age group was still studying, while most people in the 25–29 age group had already left the education system. Looking at individual cases: 24% in RO, 23% in PL, 23% in CY, 43% in GR 21% in PT and 33% in IT [Eurostat 2016]. At the same time, the importance of soft skills importance is increasing. According to professional advisors, there is a paradox when hiring and firing people: „70% of candidates gets the job thanks to professional skills and 30% thanks to soft skills and 70% of employees loose the job because of lack of soft skills and 30% because lack of professional skills”. Therefore it is crucial to enhance young adults soft skills in order to help them keep the jobs. Also it is important on focusing on development such skills that will be needed in the future. Global Challenge Insight Report (WEF 2016) shows that there will be a shift in the importance of skills between now and 2020 and the top 4 skills will be: complex problem solving, critical thinking, creativity, and coordination with others. According the PISA ‘Problem-solving panel’ (2012) the level of development of mentioned skills among population far too low in partner countries. The main project aim is to develop young adults’ skills in the area of problem solving, critical thinking, creativity and teamwork and facilitate the match between young adults and employers through delivery of high quality learning opportunities tailored to the needs of low skilled young adults. The aim will be achieved through: - creation of Virtual Platform for future skills diagnosis and improvement; - creation of Matching Portal for connecting skills and labour market needs; - increase of motivation of low-skilled young adults through participatory approach; - wide dissemination of the results. Main target group includes low-skilled young adults up to 29 years of age, especially those looking for job, NEETs. The secondary target group covers employers. The project will directly involve 625 participants. Low-skilled young adults, employers as well as stakeholders and external Experts will be involved in various project activities: piloting, evaluation, providing feedback, participating in multiplier events. The methodology will be based on peer learning and active participation and contribution of partners to the elaboration of the best quality results. The project is centred among development of two main Intellectual Outputs: the Virtual Platform and the Matching Portal which will be offered freely after they are created. Activities leading to the production of these outputs are common effort of all partners. It is expected that the impact of the project will be significant at all levels. Local, regional and national levels will be impacted by the dissemination activities performed by partners in their regions and countries. The project will have the biggest impact low-skilled adults as they will be provided with an attractive resources through which they will be able to increase the skills that are and will be in high demand in the future: problem solving, critical thinking, creativity and teamwork. They will be able to build attractive, digital portfolio through which their employment chances will significantly increase. Besides the four skills the project focuses on, they will also increase digital competences. Also the impact on employers will be significant as they will be able to match their offers and needs with the appropriate candidates before they meet the candidate. It will save them valuable time and give chances for hiring adequate persons thus chances for having better work force and more effective business.
The ENGAGE project focused on adult education and employment in Europe and it contributed to meeting the Europe 2020 goals to increase employment rate by 75% and participation target of 15% in lifelong learning through development of the basic competences of adults. The partnership was made up of 8 partners from 7 countries speaking 6 languages, who decided to tackle one common problem to all of them, relying on research findings that create the context of the ENGAGE project. According to statistics, young adult’s unemployment rates are much higher, than of any other age group, which reflect the difficulties faced by young people in finding jobs. At the same time, about 30% of European companies indicate they have significant trouble in finding appropriate candidates. [Eurostat, 2015]. Adjustment rate of the relationship between skills supply and market demand was just 24% in RO, 38% in PL, 23% in CY, 20% in EL, 26% in PT and 34% in IT, at the time of project submission. According to data, 13 % of people aged 15–24 and 30 % of people aged 25–29 were neither in employment nor in education or training in the EU. Higher proportion of the population in the 15–24 age group was still studying, while most people in the 25–29 age group had already left the education system. The figures in partners’ countries look as follows: 24% in RO, 23% in PL, 23% in CY, 43% in GR 21% in PT and 33% in IT [Eurostat 2016]. At the same time, the importance of soft skills importance increased considerably. According to professional advisors, there is a paradox when hiring and firing people: "70% of candidates gets the job thanks to professional skills and 30% thanks to soft skills and 70% of employees lose the job because of lack of soft skills and 30% because lack of professional skills”. Global Challenge Insight Report (WEF 2016) shows that the top four skills will be complex problem solving, critical thinking, creativity, and coordination with others. Therefore, the partnership found it crucial to enhance young adults’ soft skills in order to help them keep the jobs and to focus on development of such skills. The main project aims were to develop young adults’ skills in the area of problem solving, critical thinking, creativity and teamwork and to facilitate the match between young adults and employers through delivery of high-quality learning opportunities tailored to the needs of low skilled young adults. The aim was achieved through: - creation of Virtual Platform for future skills diagnosis and improvement; - creation of Matching Portal for connecting skills and labour market needs; - increase of motivation of low-skilled young adults through participatory approach; - wide dissemination of the results.Main target group included low-skilled young adults up to 29 years, especially those looking for a job and NEETs. The secondary target group covers employers.The project directly involved 726 participants: low-skilled young adults and employers, as well as stakeholders and external Experts in various project activities: piloting, evaluation, providing feedback, participation to multiplier events. The methodology relied on peer learning and active participation and contribution of partners to the elaboration of best quality results. All partners contributed to design and develop the Virtual Platform and the Matching Portal as free employment tools. The impact of the project was significant at all levels. Local, regional and national levels were impacted by the dissemination activities performed by partners in their regions and countries. The project registered the biggest impact on the 262 low-skilled adults as they were provided with useful resources to increase the skills: problem solving, critical thinking, creativity and teamwork among others. They have built digital portfolio aimed to increase their employment chances significantly. Besides the soft skills, the project focused on increasing digital competences. The impact on the 88 companies was significant, as well. The Matching Portal allowed them to match their offers and needs with the appropriate candidates before they meet the candidate. The relevant pre-selection saved valuable time and increased chances for hiring suitable persons which contributed to higher quality work force and more successful business.