The UAB presents Euroacció programme and first international alumni chapter in Brussels

The UAB presents its Euroacció programme and first international alumni chapter in Brussels — Vicenç Sellés, Director of the Treball Campus Office (left), Sara Moreno, Vice-Rectora for Students and Employability, and Amadeu Altafaj, permanent representative of the Government of Catalonia to the EU during the presentation event.

Sara Moreno, Vice-Rector for Students and Employability, and Vicenç Sellés, Director of the Treball Campus, presented in Brussels the programme Euroacció, a pioneering programme to encourage students and graduates to take up work placements in EU institutions. They also presented the Brussels chapter, the university's first international alumni section.

21/09/2016

The event took place on Wednesday 21 September at the headquarters of the Delegation of Catalonia and included the presence of Amadeu Altafaj, permanent representative of the Government of Catalonia to the EU and a UAB journalism graduate. Representatives of the University's alumni community currently working in European institutions and organisms were also present.

A Pioneering Programme

Euroacció-UAB is a pioneering programme created by the UAB to promote training and work opportunities for students and graduates interested in a professional career in the European Union sector. Its development is carried out by the technical team at the Treball Campus employment service and by the UAB Alumni-Amics Foundation, in coordination with the Vice-Rector for Students and Employability.

The initiative, which began on the same day at the opening of the new 2016/17 academic year, includes the participation of over 40 former UAB students who will work as mentors and help new graduates by giving them support and assessment in situ.

“This is not only about a work placement, it is about offering support at the beginning of a career in a very specific area. The European context contains very specific codes, values and guidelines that mentors can show and explain to students and graduates of the University interested in beginning a professional career in Brussels," says Vice-Rector Moreno.

In this first group of mentors, there are people from very different sectors who could help University graduates interested in professional careers in scientific fields, politics, medicine and communication.

There are currently some 600 former UAB students living in Europe's capital, working at different institutions, organisms and entities, and in this sense there is an interest in getting the maximum number of people to participate in Euroacció.

In addition to the mentors programme, the Treball Campus employment service will train and assess university students and graduates to be able to successfully access professional opportunities offered by European institutions, through work placements and calls offered by the European Personnel Selection Office (EPSO), and by several businesses and entities working with the EU institutions.

Among the actions offered will be training sessions, including preparation courses for open competitions, as well as dissemination courses, programming of visits to the European institutions, publication of professional opportunities and permanent guidance for the University's students and graduates.

First International Alumni Chapter of the University

The Vice-Rector for Students and Employability also presented a project to open an international alumni chapter in the Belgium capital, the UAB-Brussels chapter, in a city in which a large number of former UAB students live and work.

The international chapters represent the UAB Alumni in a specific region and promote activities such as networking, professional support, refresher courses and debates on current issues related to the University in different cities of the world.

Alumni UAB is one of the University's institutional programmes which aims to bring together and create a large community of UAB graduates. Its actions are aimed at building bidirectional relations between the university and its graduates, fostering collaborative work and social relations among community members, providing support when entering the job market and facilitating continuous training programmes.

Interest for European Institutions

Since 2006 Treball Campus informs its students and graduates of the opportunities to take up work placements and/or work for European institutions and businesses through different means.

This line of action gave way last year to the informative session on the challenges and opportunities of working in European institutions (“Pràctiques i feina a les institucions europees: reptes i oportunitats”), which demonstrated a growing professional interest among university students in the EU administration. The audience was surveyed after the session to learn about their needs and expectations with the aim of creating a specific programme, the Euroacció-UAB.

The survey revealed that 98% of students requested help and looked to contact with a person who had already passed a selection process and was working in the EU to act as a guide. Following this, the UAB decided to contact the alumni and friends who could be interested in collaborating in such a project as mentors.