Abstract:

For various reasons, new ways of working have become more popular, particularly with the freelance sector. An increasing number of people are registering on digital platforms to offer their services as freelancers (Popiel, 2017). This context has been felt in the Portuguese market, which also shows an increase in people defining themselves as freelancers (INE, 2023). The data shows that freelancers are significantly more satisfied with their leisure time and job satisfaction than other workers, which can be explained by their high level of autonomy. In addition, they are highly flexible in terms of where they work and the pace at which they work (Van der Zwan et al., 2020).

This context introduces challenges, especially in the training offered by higher education institutions, which can respond to the development of skills capable of enabling young people to work as freelancers. And despite the predictable growing trends, university courses have generally paid little attention to preparing students to look for jobs as freelancers and, with a few exceptions, have failed to integrate activities that can develop the entrepreneurial, digital and transversal skills needed to succeed as independent workers. With this in mind, the European+ project DiFree was created. Given the framework of the project, it is pertinent to share its purpose. The aim of this abstract is to present the project and disseminate information about freelancing opportunities and develop tools to help university students, recent graduates and young professionals take advantage of them. The DiFree project also aims to bridge the gap between the academic knowledge and training offered to higher education students and the current needs of a volatile and rapidly changing job market, where flexibility and digitalization are essential skills. It is also intended to provide higher education students and graduates with digital, entrepreneurial and labor market-relevant knowledge and training useful for pursuing self-employment. It also aims to ask them to self-reflect and assess their skills with a view to such a career. In addition, the project seeks to offer them advice and guidance before, during and after they decide to pursue a freelance career.

Therefore, by carrying out the activities proposed by DiFree, it is hoped to provide all those seeking to become freelancers with a range of content and a set of tools capable of empowering all those seeking to become freelancers with a greater and better capacity to respond to the challenges of the job market.

References:
[1] Instituto Nacional de Estatística (2023). 14,8% dos trabalhadores por conta própria em dependência económica e 12,0% em dependência organizacional.
[2] Popiel, P. (2017). “Boundaryless” in the creative economy: assessing freelancing on Upwork. Critical Studies in Media Communication, 34(3), 220-233.
Van der Zwan, P., Hessels, J., & Burger, M. (2020). Happy free willies? Investigating the relationship between freelancing and subjective well-being. Small Business Economics, 55, 475-491.

Keywords:

Digital Freelancing, Higher Education, DiFree.