News

The "Erasmus+ students of today, international leaders of tomorrow" training (ESTILT training, in short) took place in Brussels, Belgium from the 31st of May to the 1st of June 2019. It was co-organised by ESN and EMA, with the support of Confia International and its main objectives were:

• To support young talents with international/Erasmus+ experience to enter the job market
• To strengthen the participants' professional portfolio by exploring how to bring forward the skills and competences gained during their international experience
• To create an opportunity for best practice exchange with representatives from recruiting companies and the business sector
• To give participants the opportunity to learn what the most valuable competencies for the job market of today are
• To offer participants the possibility to learn to reflect on their own competences gained through their international mobility experience and become more self-aware
• To help building the participants' CV and provide them with feedback from their peers and from recruiters
• To support participants in exploring the concept of intercultural leadership
• To offer participants the possibility to develop networking skills

Participants were selected based on their motivation to attend the event and plans on how to apply the knowledge gained through the event. Gender balance and a diversified geographical distribution was also taken into consideration. Before the event they were given preparatory tasks by the trainers and they connected with the topic of professional development and the needs expressed in their applications. Since it was only a two full day event, these tasks were crucial in order to make the time spent at the event more meaningful and efficient.

During the ESTILT training, the 20 participants coming from ESN, EMA and also some not affiliated with any of the organisations (all alumni of mobility programmes) had the chance to reflect on their skills gained through mobility, meet employers, network and define the next steps of their professional path (by improving their CV, reflecting on steps for self-development, etc.). Furthermore, they were encouraged to replicate the results observed in this training by sharing them within their networks and/or implementing similar actions within their organisations or personal networks. A video will also be soon disseminated with the main outcomes of the event, to allow any alumni of a mobility programme to profit from the learnings that were uncovered during the training.

We would like to thank the Erasmus Student Network for providing their facilities for some of the activities, the Erasmus Mundus Association (especially Leasa Weimer), Confia International, Doodt Films and all the guests of the human library who volunteered their time for the benefit of the professional development of our participants!