Abstract:

European islands are confronted with an increase number of people returning from mainland back to family home due to economic difficulties encountered through loss of jobs. Many of these people are aged between 22 and 30. Since 2010 the unemployment encountered on the European Islands has witnessed a sharp increase and in some places, according to national statistics, youth unemployment has witnessed values in the region of 35 to 40%. These islands are also confronted with a shortage or resources such as land, water, energy and dwellings for native population. Moreover, since European islands are found at various administrative scales, there is a lack of harmonized approach on dealing with economic growth and labour market as fundamental factors necessary for monitoring their sustainable development. Moreover, the higher costs of mobility and the reduced set of opportunities to find an alternative job can exacerbate the problems of social exclusion and economic inequality. This unemployment is high within graduates’ students and this indicates a clear need for Higher Education to offer to graduates a chance to be employable or to have an entrepreneurial vision once they graduate through the quality of courses offered. Continue education has a huge potential in ensuring that graduates are getting relevant skills as desired by industry. The courses need therefore to be informed by industry from inception phase and not after they have been created when it is sought only industry backing. European Islands Continue Education on Resources Efficiency Virtual Gateway seeks to improve the quality and relevance of proposed graduate modules by seeking industry input, support in order to attain transversal skills in resources efficiency management in an emerging labour market and to offer students entrepreneurship mentoring/coaching from relevant stakeholders. This work has been funded by the Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA), as an Erasmus Multilateral Project through project number 539230-LLP-1.2013-1-ES-ERASMUS-EQR and 539517-LLP- 1-2013-1-ES-ERASMUS-EKA.

Keywords:

e-learning, education, European islands, Resources Efficiency, Lifelong Learning Programme, Erasmus.