The proposal REOPEN (Next Generation Workforce – Empowering Young People for Improved Employment) submitted to the Fourth Round of Calls for the Interreg Programme was approved for funding. The project is coordinated by the University of Latvia. The duration of the project is 30 months. The members of the consortium are the University of Latvia, University of Helsinki, Institute of Baltic Studies, Social Enterprise Estonia, and the Latvian Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

The REOPEN project aims to bridge the gap between education and competences needed to improve the young people’s (YP) competitiveness entering the labour market. The project will reopen collaboration between high education institutions (HEIs) and small/medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)/ organizations through business support organizations, will educate from remote areas in jointly developed training programs and provide fairly compensated smart internships as short-term mobilities (1-2 months) in Latvia, Estonia and Finland, matched to the skills and competencies of YP and actual needs of the SMEs/ organizations, thus, activating cross-border cooperation network to facilitate new job opportunities for the target group.

As a result, 300 YP from project partner countries will increase their competitiveness in the labour market – they will gain new skills during 3 training modules on soft-skills, digital and green skills, and work field-specific skills. YP will receive certificates, including official ECTS. 150 of these YP will also gain their work affiliation through practical work experience during their internships and will receive letters of reference from the hosting  SMEs.

As a positive side-result, the collaboration between HEIs and SMEs/ organization will be strengthened, finding new ways and improving HEIs ability to respond more flexibly to the rapidly changing labour market skills and competencies’ demands. A cross-sectoral international collaboration network will be established, expanded and evidence-based recommendations drafted for policy and decision makers to improve the support systems for YP. entering the labour market in the long term.

During Spring 2025, the kick-off-meeting of the project will be organized to initiate the REOPEN project and outline/schedule all activities according to the proposal’s description of work.

Text by: University of Latvia, the REOPEN project coordinator