Making the Mediterranean an employment hub: UfM launches the HOMERe project

Marseille, 17 March 2015 – Education, employability, mobility and youth: 150 southern and northern Mediterranean representatives from the fields of academia, economy and business, as well as student representatives, met at the Villa Méditerranée today for the launch of the UfM-labelled project “High Opportunity for Mediterranean Executive Recruitment (HOMERe)”. They discussed about young graduates’ employability in the region, how the HOMERe programme can help their transition into the workplace and their interest in the businesses operating in the Mediterranean.

The HOMERe programme was recently given the green light by the UfM as part of its Med4Jobs initiative. The project provides students, particularly those from the southern Mediterranean, with the opportunity to gain work experience through internships with international companies located either in the northern Mediterranean or elsewhere in the south of the region. More than 500 different courses (at universities, colleges and institutes) in Morocco, Lebanon, Tunisia, Algeria, Egypt and also in Europe, have signed up to this programme.

A programme to enhance youth employability in the Mediterranean

HOMERe fulfils two of the UfM’s principal objectives: supporting youth education and employment and developing the region’s private sector. By improving international mobility for students and enabling them to develop their skills in a professional environment, HOMERe is helping to boost their entry into the labour market and enhance their international profile, at the same time as supporting the development of businesses, especially SMEs, in the Mediterranean region.

“Education is the key to the region’s development,” said Professor Ilan Chet, the UfM’s Deputy Secretary General for higher education and research. “The HOMERe project will give young people who are finishing their studies an outstanding opportunity to enhance their career development and acquire practical international experience to complement their education.”

A programme that supports young people and businesses

This morning, Delphine Borione, the UfM’s Deputy Secretary General for Social and Civil Affairs and the project’s main players and partners; Bernard Morel, Vice-President of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region; Louis Aloccio, Vice-Chairman of the Association of Chambers of Commerce and Industry Marseille Provence; Alain Meyssonnier, French Foreign Trade Advisor and Director of the Société des Eaux de Marseille; Kamel Haddar, Chairman of the Algerian Talents and Leaders Association; and Zoubeir Tourki, Head of the National School of Engineering at Sousse, Tunisia) expressed the Mediterranean countries’ interest in collaborating in proactive and practical programmes that support young people, their mobility, education and employability.

“It is essential to promote new programmes that allow young people in the Mediterranean to access to an employment keeping theirs skills  in the territory that has educated them and boosting the creation of networks in the Mediterranean countries”, said Pierre Massis, Director of the Office of Economic Cooperation for the Mediterranean and Middle East (OCEMO).