Boosting Employability and Empowering Social Engagement in High Education through Pro Bono Erasmus Project

Project Title

Boosting Employability and Empowering Social Engagement in High Education through Pro Bono

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for higher education

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2018

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Cooperation between educational institutions and business; Civic engagement / responsible citizenship; Labour market issues incl. career guidance / youth unemployment

Project Summary

CONTEXT AND BACKGROUND
Our starting point was the Europe 2020 strategy’s objectives of smart and inclusive growth and contribution to fight the high youth unemployment and social exclusion. For that purpose it is necessary to equip the future workforce with skills that will enable them to find their firsts job experiences. In the moment of the creation of the Consortium, partners’ experience had shown that learners need real-life examples from their own communities to commit and be sustainably engaged. These social, civic and employability skills are most effectively acquired through work-based learning experiences, as a pro bono project.
Such Project consists in the realisation of a professional free of cost consultancy in a key area of the organisation of one NPO run by a team of skills-based volunteers. In the University framework, this pro bono project is performed by students under the guidance of a team of professional volunteers that work as mentors. Thus, the BEESE Pro Bono Project had responded to this need by offering unique Pro Bono Projects that unite students with businesses and community-based NPOs and recognise the voluntary work-based learning academically through their teachers. All the Project was ideated to build a common methodology to facilitate the correct implementation of Pro Bono Projects in Universities.
ALLIANCE & OBJECTIVES
This Project was a European Strategic Partnership between NPOs working in the field of promoting pro bono practices and professional volunteering (pro bono intermediaries) and Higher Education (HE) organisations and Institutions (5 countries, 9 partners). This Project aimed to announce, promote and consolidate pro bono practices among students in European Universities and to strengthen links between Higher Education Institutions, NGOs and enterprises. Therefore, the Project reached two objectives:
1.It increased HE students’ employability by contributing to the achievement of relevant and practical knowledge and skills.
2.It improved students’ awareness of social causes by enabling them to work together with NPOs and companies on civil society issues.
ACTIVITIES INCLUDED
– A research on students’ motivations in order to implement successful Pro Bono Projects in European HE Institutions, coordinated by the UAM with a pool of more than 1,700 students from the 5 European countries of this Consortium.
– Execution and evaluation of different kinds of Pro Bono Pilot Projects in each country. Following the Lean Startup Model Methodology, each Pilot was executed, iterated and improved in each country in order to create one unique Methodology for European Universities (3 times at the 5 countries).
– Publication on the BEESE website of a Guidebook and an Online Course on how-to implement Pro Bono Projects in European universities.
– One International Training Activity (Paris, September 2021).
– More than 5 Multiplier Events.
PARTICIPANTS
We reached more than 3.000 people during the Project as mentioned in the application: 1.Students of the last university courses and master degrees; 2.NPOs beneficiaries from the pro bono consultancies carried out during the Pilots; 3.Companies who connected with their employees as mentors during the Pilots; 4.University teachers who guided students or connected them during the Pilots; 5.Admin staff of the Partners organisations during the Training Activity; 6.Other stakeholders that participated in the dissemination activities: students associations, university teachers, university staff and general public.
IMPACT and LT BENEFITS
– Regarding UNIVERSITIES in Europe, we aim to reach a large number of European Universities. In a 10-15 years framework we believe 30-40% of these institutions will have developed any kind of Pro Bono Project based on the results of this Project.
– Regarding university STUDENTS, this Project will improve their employability, by acquiring new skills, working together with professionals and facing real problems. On the other hand, it will empower their social engagement. Benefits that we have already seen during the Pilots.
– Regarding COMPANIES, this Project will allow them to work in their “employer branding”: becoming companies more attractive for students and attracting new talent.
– Regarding the NPOs, this Project will allow them to obtain professional consultancies for free, which will allow them to increase their impact. Also, this Project will serve to attract new talent to the 3rd sector.
– Creation of new links and narrow existing ones between the companies, HE Institutions and the 3rd sector.
SUSTAINABILITY
During the latest months of the Project, we have created the LOCAL INFORMATION DESK NETWORK of the BEESE Pro Bono Project Network formed by each member of this Consortium. Each member has created an email only for this purpose. It will guarantee the exploitation of the Project results in order to ensure the implementation of Pro Bono Projects in European Universities in the future.

Project Website

http://beeseprobono.eu

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 341318 Eur

Project Coordinator

Önkéntes Központ Alapítvány & Country: HU

Project Partners

• Junior Consulting Sciences Po
• Work for Social, trabaja para el cambio social
• Pro Bono Lab
• Time Heroes Foundation
• UNIVERSIDADE DO PORTO
• UNIVERSIDAD AUTONOMA DE MADRID
• UNIVERSITY OF NATIONAL AND WORLD ECONOMY