International day

Media materials:

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Eurocentrum Liberec / Europe direct Liberec

Organisation:

Eurocentrum Liberec / Europe direct Liberec

Country:

Czech Republic

About organisation:

The Eurocentre Liberec is an information point where citizens can address their questions about the European Union. The Eurocentre provides information about the EU for the general and professional public. It offers information materials and a range of other services for those interested in gaining a deeper understanding of the European Union and aspects of the Czech Republic's EU membership. For example, we organize educational and cultural events, we give lectures at primary schools, high schools and universities. One of our main target groups is young people. All Eurocentre services are free of charge. From 1 May 2021, the Eurocentre Liberec is also a Europe Direct information centre under the European Commission.

Title of the project

International day

Start date:

18/10/2022

End date:

18/10/2022

Objectives:

The International Day is a fair of international opportunities with lectures, debates and other accompanying activities, which is intended primarily for students of secondary schools and universities from the Liberec Region. We established the fair to inform a larger number of young people at once and also because there was a complete lack of similar events in our region. We organise the event in cooperation with the Foreign Department of the Technical University of Liberec and together with other partners. One of the main goals is to motivate young people by personal stories of the speakers, by showing them real people and examples. During the event it was possible to visit the stands of exhibitors, including ours. Participants could also attend a lecture entitled "Study, travel, work in the EU" by Martin Fišer from Eurocentrum Liberec, partner of the Eurodesk network. In the second part, they could participate in "From Liberec to the World and Back", where they could be inspired by the stories of 8 people who shared their international story and how it personally affected them. The speakers talked about volunteering, DiscoverEU, E+Youth Exchanges, etc. Everyone used mostly pictures and had just 8 minutes in total. In the last part, there was a discussion with students who had been to university on Erasmus+ and participants could ask them anything practical. Event was attended by 250 secondary students from all over the region and about 550 university students.

Why the project was: empowering young people, adapting to changing realities, or thinking out of the box:

For this event, we tried to motivate young people to try a foreign opportunity and give them confidence through the stories of specific people from different backgrounds. Martin Fišer's lecture offered mainly a general overview of what is on offer for young people and examples of current opportunities and what to do for it. The second part of the programme entitled "From Liberec to the World and Back" brought 8 stories of 8 people for 8 minutes using a presentation with pictures and minimal text for maximum interactivity. We believe that long presentations are already outdated and that it is more important to motivate young people with real stories than to inform them about every little detail in the application form, etc. As a speaker we had a teacher who has explored Europe by hitchhiking and organising European projects, or a student who tried youth exchanges and this inspired him to set up a non-profit organisation. Another speaker was for example a winner of the Discover EU competition, but also a scientist, a high-ranking firefighter, a sportsman, etc... After this session, a place was reserved for 8 speakers where young people could meet and talk to them personally. These were personalities exclusively from our region. The last part was dedicated to an informal discussion with students who went on E+ at the university. The whole event was complemented by a fair where representatives of different institutions offering various international opportunities exhibited.

How the project was inclusive:

Each speaker at the event actually came with a personal story from their experience abroad and tried to show young people the breadth of possibilities from short-term projects to E+ youth exchanges to the Discover EU competition to volunteering to the European Solidarity Corps, etc. Exhibitors also offered a variety of opportunities, internships, work and study in the EU. For example, there were representatives from EURES, ESN, CAMPUS FRANCE, EURODESK, EUROPE DIRECT, the University's International Department, etc..At the Eurocentre stand we had Eurodesk materials and were actively informed about its website, objectives and activities. The Eurodesk logo was on the poster for the event, it was mentioned in the promotion and during the event itself. The European dimension was also helped by the fact that we had the Europe Direct brand and could disseminate information about the event and its outcomes through the Representation of the European Commission in the Czech Republic. The European dimension of the event was also helped by the cooperation with the local ESN office and the partnership with the Foreign Department of the Technical University of Liberec.

Green aspect:

When choosing the location of the event, we chose a place that would be easily accessible by public transport and not too far away from the majority of the participants. That is why we chose Liberec as the venue for the event.Registration and promotion of the event was done online. We kept the printing of event materials to a minimum. For serving refreshments (coffee, water, tea etc.) we used washable dishes. We avoided using plastic completely. We used eco-friendly, durable, recycled and recyclable promotional items. We minimised use of physical handouts.We informed participants about our choices and explained to them why we serve food like this etc..

How the project has given a European dimension to your event and ensured the visibility and promotion of Eurodesk?

Each speaker at the event actually came with a personal story from their experience abroad and tried to show young people the breadth of possibilities from short-term projects to E+ youth exchanges to the Discover EU competition to volunteering to the European Solidarity Corps, etc. Exhibitors also offered a variety of opportunities, internships, work and study in the EU. For example, there were representatives from EURES, ESN, CAMPUS FRANCE, EURODESK, EUROPE DIRECT, the University's International Department, etc..At the Eurocentre stand we had Eurodesk materials and were actively informed about its website, objectives and activities. The Eurodesk logo was on the poster for the event, it was mentioned in the promotion and during the event itself. The European dimension was also helped by the fact that we had the Europe Direct brand and could disseminate information about the event and its outcomes through the Representation of the European Commission in the Czech Republic. The European dimension of the event was also helped by the cooperation with the local ESN office and the partnership with the Foreign Department of the Technical University of Liberec.

Impact:

The event was attended by around 800 people from students and teachers from secondary schools and universities. The atmosphere was really positive and the hunger for information from young people was incredible. Despite our other activities in the region, many young people are still unaware of the opportunities the EU offers them. Also they often do not believe that the opportunities are for them. They don't trust themselves linguistically, they are afraid of the high costs, or they think that the different programmes are only for the most talented from the best schools. We believe that by interactively sharing just the personal experiences of a variety of people, we can rid them of these fears (and myths). An important dimension of the event is to connect the students of the SHS with the local university, where they can perhaps see the campus for the first time in their lives and have a taste of a foreign opportunity before actually going to any university. Then they often have a greater interest in E+ at university. We have a similarly good experience with university students, where we try to offer them mainly short term opportunities, which often rid them of the uncertainty of whether or not to go to university to E+ or to try ESC. All the speakers were also originally from our region, to show young people particular people from their localities, neighbourhoods and that EU programmes are also relevant for people from small towns and villages in a small region in the Czech Republic.