The Interreg REOPEN (“Next Generation Workforce – Empowering Young People for Improved Employment”; 1 September 2025 – 31 May 2028; https://centralbaltic.eu/project/reopen) project of the Interreg Central Baltic Programme co-funded by the European Union. Currently, the consortium includes four Partners: the University of Latvia (UL, the coordinator), University of Helsinki (UHEL, Finland), Latvian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI, Latvia), and Estonian Business School (EBS, Estonia).
REOPEN Main Aim is to create a very practical joint cross-border solution for these challenges, and to decrease mismatch between the employment supply and demand. This can be achieved by: (i) well-designed education /training in collaboration with employers, (ii) expanding cross-border collaboration to diversify the skills and needs match opportunities, and (iii) lowering the barriers to enter the labour market for young people.
REOPEN Main Activities (September 2025 – September 2026)
Since September 2025, after the project kick-off-meeting which took place in a hybrid format on 30 September 2025 (Riga, Latvia) a questionnaire “Internship survey for companies” as well as “Young people needs assessment” were developed and distributed among SMEs/ companies/ organizations as well as young people in Latvia, Estonia, and Finland. The UHEL team established own webpage for the REOPEN project and linked it to the main website. The 1st REOPEN Steering Committee meeting took place in October 2025. At the same time, the REOPEN Partners provided information about educational courses in their universities relevant to the project themes of the planned Modules (shifted from spring to autumn 2026). The main work took place around activities of the WP1 on “Joint targeted upskilling training for young people”. In November 2025, the REOPEN project was presented as a poster and promoted at the ACCC+FASN Science Conference. In the late autumn 2026, a survey for companies was distributed, and it has been expected that, at least, 20 responses from each involved country will be collected for analysis. The released questionnaire for companies required to identify needs and expectations for intern engagement, and a series questions (with a possibility of multi-choices) to learn what skills and support companies expect from interns. The insights contributed to shaping targeted training Modules and smart internships for young people in three countries.
In spring 2026, the UHEL and UL provided info about outlining and development of educational courses/ Modules – on “Digital and Green Skills” and on “Soft Skills and Competences”, respectively. In March 2026, the duration of the project was officially prolonged by the Interreg Office for extra 3 months – from February to May 2028. The LCCI report on “Internship survey for companies” (based on more than 50 responses) confirmed that “while internship opportunities are widely available and valued across all countries, there are still significant challenges related to practical application of knowledge, soft skills development, readiness for real work environments.” The survey provided valuable insights into existing internship practices, highlighting strengths and areas for improvement across the three countries.
In April 2026, it has been decided to start campaign for young people from mid-June until the end of September 2026. The dates for 3 educational Modules were fixed as follows: Module-1 “Soft Skills and Competences” (12-16 Oct 2026; by UL), Module-2 “Digital and Green Skills” (2-6 November 2026; by UHEL); and Module-3 “Practical AI Skills for Smart Internships” (23-27 November 2026; by LCCI). Expectation is that in total more than 300 persons will attend the Modules. Successful participants, after completion the three Modules, will earn 3 ECTS credits with the REOPEN certificate, and then they will compete for individual internships (150 in total). These internships will take place during Spring-Summer 2027 in Latvia, Finland and Estonia, and it is a part of WP2 activities on “Smart internships for improved employment opportunities for young people.
The released questionnaire for young people included questions (with a possibility of multi-choices) such as: which learning format do you find most suitable; which types of home-work-assignments (HWA) do you find most useful in the learning process; what frequency of HWA would you consider acceptable; what kind of feedback would you be interested to receive from the teacher/ lecturer/ mentor; which technologies or learning tools would you like to utilize; what currently hinders you most in learning or what would you like to have improved in future; what other engaging elements would you like to be included in the learning process. It has been expected that, at least, 20 responses from each involved country will be collected for analysis.
Moreover, on 14 April 2026, the REOPEN project was presented (as oral talk “Fast‑track futures: bridging education and work”) during the PEEX-e-Conference at the ACCC Impact Week (14-17 April 2026).
During summer-autumn 2026, the development of Modules was continued by UL, UHEL, and LCCC teams. The 2nd REOPEN Steering Committee meeting took place in August 2026. The coordinator’s UL team more actively started to disseminate information about the project and related activities through “Project News” section of the REOPEN main website. The Call-for-Young-People in Latvia, Finland and Estonia to participate in the educational Modules and planned internships was also distributed through the PEEX channel (with link to announcement at the main website).
Text by: Hanna K. Lappalainen, Alexander Mahura, UHEL-INAR