European Youth Portal Analysis
- from the perspective of youth opportunities available
While the Learning Corner was targeting different age groups and the main purpose of the platform being to educate people on topics related to the European Union and its values and interests, the European Youth Portal focuses on targeting youth and gathering opportunities for which they could apply. The first interaction with the platform has the latest news available to read on topics such as AI, global politics and different youth-related reports. This is not only valuable to keep the people up to date, but it also addresses a big range of subjects that hold importance nowadays.
What I like the most is that on the same first page, most of the opportunities for youth are presented nicely. I remember when I was in my first year of university and found out about DiscoverEU, an initiative aimed at 18 years old youth through which they can get free travel passes to explore Europe. At the time I learned about it I was “too old” for this opportunity, and I remember how much I regrated not knowing about it sooner. Therefore, I find it valuable that people can easily find this information on the website. Along DiscoverEU there are other interesting initiatives such as European Solidarity Corps (where you can volunteer in different organizations), Young Journalists in Europe (giving young people a voice through storytelling), EU Youth Dialogue (connecting young people with the politicians through dialogue), Erasmus+ (for studying and training abroad) and Eures (a platform for finding job opportunities around Europe). As a young person I was already familiar of most of them, even though I found out through different sources. By participating in some of these opportunities young people can explore different cultures, gain experience, connect with different kinds of people, share ideas, get exposed to how the EU is supporting Member States and have the perfect playground to collaborate with others. Besides these specific popular programs, there are different sections for going abroad grouped in sections specific for volunteering, studying, working, travelling, traineeships and exchanges, where people can access even more opportunities besides those already mentioned. Even though most of the opportunities were up to date, I noticed that for NATO traineeship for example the info wasn’t update since 2020. This could be an improvement point, to make sure people get the latest updates.
Another important area is the Events tab, where people can find local short-term events in different European countries, as well as competitions and broader activities. Considering that the summer vacation is coming, and youth might have more time on hand, it’s nice to see events planned not only for the next few months, but until the end of the year. Moreover, people can get involved for specific topics such as sustainable development, civic engagement, democratic participation and so on. Not only that in this section there are other hands-on opportunities, but people can also learn about these topics, as there are articles and learning resources available to expand their knowledge. Even though this platform serves as an opportunity hub, it’s nice to see they expand this to educating people as well. Not only that you, as a young person, are browsing for activities to get involved into, but you might also end up learning about something new.
All this is part of the Youth Strategy of the European Union, the framework of the youth policy cooperation for 2019-2027 meant at empowering and equipping young people with the necessary tools to become active and responsible citizens. Nevertheless, all these actions had an important impact on me as a youth, as I got the chance to study abroad for one semester and participated in several short-term projects through Erasmus+ program, I got to visit the European institutions and connect directly with the Members of the European Parliament, all through the opportunities given by the European Union. I feel like an empowered citizen, therefore at least for me, the purpose of the youth policy was achieved. And considering that in my circle of acquaintances there are other people in the same boat as me, I believe there are many examples of success stories (even on the platform you can read stories from different people talking about this). Overall, the platform is very user friendly, available in all official EU languages and in 99% of the cases up to date. To sum up, as a master’s student at Centre for European Studies, I am pleased to find a platform where you can find hundreds of opportunities and learning materials meant at helping me put in practice the knowledge gained during the past 2 years as a student in this master’s program. What I said about the Learning Corner that all young people should know about it, I keep the same impression for the European Youth Portal, as it is an invaluable source of opportunities, connecting young people around Europe and not only. Through this kind of interactions and projects you get to expand your comfort zone, be exposed to different cultures and ideas, get motivated to work on something bigger than you and become a responsible and open-minded individual who can further impact positively other people around you.
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