Academia, a chance for professional development through transnational learning

Giovanna de Mottoni, Euroguidance Italy

In 2023, the Euroguidance Centre Italy, for the first time, provided national practitioners with the opportunity to develop skills in a transnational context. This was possible thanks to Academia, the exchange programme for learning mobility of guidance professionals across Europe.

Launched in 1995, Academia has so far enabled 2000 practitioners to participate in 3-4 days thematic study visits, peer exchanges, meetings with professionals and end-users, thus contributing to improve networking and cooperation in lifelong guidance.

The Italian experience

EG Italy joined Academia in 2022, with the aim of offering EG national network operators a concrete learning and exchange experience in a multicultural environment.

Between March and May 2023, five Italian practitioners, selected among the best performers of the 2022 EG Italy training course "Mobility opportunities for learning and working in Europe", were able to participate in exchange visits in Austria, Denmark, France and Spain.

Visits took place at universities, educational and training agencies, employment services and resources/information centers and were enriched by presentations and interviews with guidance experts and end-users.

In addition to sharing knowledge about different education and career systems, Italian practitioners also had the opportunity to focus on topics such as guidance services for people aged 50+, counselling pathways, the transitions between secondary school and higher education and gender perspective and digitalisation in career guidance.

The learning outcomes

All experiences were positively rated by participants, which, besides learning about guidance in European context, highly appreciated the following aspects:

• learning in a multicultural context
• improving language skills
• knowledge on specific themes addressed in the visits
• personal and professional growth, with benefits for the sending organization as well
• networking and opportunity for new partners for staff and student exchange projects.

The feedback from Academia's first Italian experience is definitely a stimulus for EG Italy in taking that forward with the aim that, under the current programming period, an increasing number of operators can benefit from transnational staff training opportunities.

Watch the video of the study visit in Valencia (March 2023)