The project "Apprenticeship Inter-network: Bringing together VET institutions and enterprises through a Network of Career Hubs" (AppInternN) aims to strengthen the links between Apprenticeship, VET and corporate responsibility, inviting employers to offer apprenticeships and jobs to VET students and graduates, as well as share information about the national and international labour markets' state-of-play, current skill requirements and occupational/sectoral developments (including such key issues as reskilling and upskilling). Employers can thus play an active role in the preparation of students and graduates for their future careers. The project is focused on the creation of an online platform titled "Apprenticeship Inter-Network", which will host three national Career Hubs (Greek, Italian, and Spanish). Each Career Hub (CH) will facilitate the students' and graduates' search for apprenticeships or jobs through relevant databases, enhance their competences and skills by offering guidance and organizing or announcing special events (seminars, webinars, information events, study visits, presentations, job fairs, etc.), support their contact and collaboration with employers and other labour market stakeholders, ensure their familiarization with important sectoral issues, etc. It is to be noted that, within the context of the project, VET-related institutions and associations, social partner institutes, Municipalities, and Chambers will contribute to the efficiency of Career Hubs by inviting local enterprises, employers and employer associations to join the CH databases in order to be directly networked with apprentices, graduates and future employees. A particularly innovative aspect of the project consists in the establishment of a new intermediary role: that of the “Business Ambassadors”, namely established professionals, employers or other business staff members who will inform/advise students and graduates on current labour market needs and trends, occupational “problem-solving”, business development prospects, etc. The Business Ambassadors will support CHs as volunteers, thus demonstrating both their personal and their businesses' interest in corporate social responsibility. Just as importantly, the project will greatly benefit disadvantaged groups of students and graduates, such as disabled young people and young people living in remote geographical areas etc., who have limited access to labour-market information and the labour market itself. The proposed project can thus be said to constitute a genuinely inclusive form of networking and labour market integration. As stated, all three CHs will be interconnected within the framework of a transnational online platform, titled "Apprenticeship Inter-Network" (AIN). Users of each national CH (which will be bilingual: EL/EN, IT/EN, ES/EN) will have the chance to be informed about developments in the other two countries, thus ensuring a direct exchange of good practices, expertise, information and knowledge about work-based learning, Apprenticeship, and labour market integration. Moreover, it is a conscious objective of the project partners to see the AppInternN include more EU countries and relevant institutions in its e-community, which will recognize its practical utility and further contribute to the promotion of Apprenticeship as a way of enhancing youth employability throughout the European Union.
The transnational AppInterN online platform hosts 3 Career Hubs (Greek, Italian, Spanish), facilitating Apprenticeship/VET schools, students & graduates in their search for apprenticeships/jobs. Employers can prepare students/graduates for their future careers, offering apprenticeships, internships & jobs, sharing information about labour markets, skill requirements & occupational/sectoral developments with apprentices, graduates, future employees. Students/graduates’ search for apprenticeships/internships/jobs is facilitated by accessing relevant databases, enhancing their competences/skills & knowledge of sectoral issues, promoting events enabling contact with employers & labour market stakeholders. Business Ambassadors (established professionals, employers) further their own corporate social responsibility by advising students/graduates on labor market needs & trends, occupational problem-solving, business development prospects, etc. Disadvantaged students/graduates (eg disabled young people, or those in remote geographical areas) with limited access to the labor market & labor-market information also benefit from registering & utilizing the AppInterN platform, leading to inclusive networking and labour market integration.
Apprenticeship has recently emerged both as a relevant template for Vocational Education and Training (VET) and as a successful model to meet labour market demands for a skilled workforce. Moreover, since the integration of young people into the labour market constitutes a key EU priority, Apprenticeship has been widely and officially recognised as one of the best ways to attain this aim. A closer collaboration between Apprenticeship/VET schools and institutions, enterprises, social partner institutes, and municipalities can effectively promote Apprenticeship as a means of enhancing young people's employability and shaping a well-structured, efficiently functioning and inclusive labour market. Key aspects of the said collaboration include: labour-market information exchange; a closer approach between young apprentices/VET students and graduates and the professionals of their occupational sector; better knowledge of local, national and international labour market developments; cooperation between all the relevant stakeholders. The AppInternN project addresses the need to strengthen the links between Apprenticeship, VET and corporate social responsibility, further promoting Apprenticeship as a way of enhancing youth employability.