School to Work Aims to strengthen transnational cooperation between stakeholders in the Baltic Sea Region in the field of education and work in order to prevent early school leaving and develop support for vulnerable groups of students/youth. www.s2wflagship.eu
Baltic Training Programme Supports the internationalization of vocational education and training as well as entrepreneurship and the internationalization of business. www.baltictrainingprogramme.se
Baltic University Programme Largest university network in BSR focused on sustainable regional development through cooperation in education, research and applied projects www.balticuniv.uu.se
Baltic Sea Labor Forum Aims to promote social dialogue, tripartite structures and cooperation as crucial elements of sustainable growth and social development in the BSR www.bslabour.eu
Baltic Science Network Aims to provide science and research ministries of the Baltic Sea region states with an overall coordination framework to develop and implement science policy in a macro-regional dimension and to ensure a better representation of macro-regional interests on the EU level http://www.baltic-science.org/
There was a great interest in the Baltic Sea Strategy among the participants attending the PA Education stakeholder seminar in Vilnius early in March. Participants were primarily interested in the cooperation opportunities that were opened with more efficient and broader transnational cooperation in the Baltic Sea region.
The stakeholder seminar resulted in a large number of concrete ideas to address some societal problems. There was a great deal of focus on the possibilities of improving education and vocational training through work-based learning and entrepreneurship. Efforts must be directed to teachers and students as well as to developing new teaching methods.
In particular, possibilities were discussed of involving entrepreneurs and companies in the education, for instance by showing and discussing good examples. In today's reality, the distance between the content of the education and the demands of society is far too big.
The demographic development of an aging population is a topic of discussion in the same way in the Baltic Sea region as it is worldwide. Our societies must create opportunities for both middle-aged and elderly to stay on the labor market for a longer time and also to make changes o their career paths. Today it is assumed that people make one career choice in their lives – this will not be the reality in the future.
The societal view of people getting further education or a whole new career must be changed. That type of life choices must be normalized. This means, among other things, that labor market stakeholders have to change their attitude towards middle-aged people, that education for them must develop both in respect to content and to methodology, and that entrepreneurship should be encouraged even in the later stages of life. A special effort is required to motivate women to return to work after maternity leave.
You are welcome to download the presentations shown during the seminar:
The stakeholder seminar
The demographic development of an aging population is a topic of discussion in the same way in the Baltic Sea region as it is worldwide. Our societies must create opportunities for both middle-aged and elderly to stay on the labor market for a longer time and also to make changes o their career paths. Today it is assumed that people make one career choice in their lives – this will not be the reality in the future.
The societal view of people getting further education or a whole new career must be changed. That type of life choices must be normalized. This means, among other things, that labor market stakeholders have to change their attitude towards middle-aged people, that education for them must develop both in respect to content and to methodology, and that entrepreneurship should be encouraged even in the later stages of life. A special effort is required to motivate women to return to work after maternity leave.