The Regional Director for Labour, Vocational Training and Consumer Defence welcomed in Ponta Delgada on Tuesday morning a group of young Europeans who are in the Azores under the Eurodyssey programme.
For Rui Bettencourt, this is a source of pride because this programme welcomes 50 to 60 European youngsters in the Azores from the most varied areas who hold degrees and master’s degrees in areas whose importance is already growing in Europe such as the case of restoration, marine biology and tourism.
This is a programme that celebrates its 25th anniversary this year and it was created with the purpose of providing youngsters with an exchange experience. In addition to welcoming young trainees, this programme sends young islanders to Europe, where there are currently 25 Azorean youngsters doing traineeships. Another 25 youngsters from the archipelago are expected to participate in this exchange programme.
On the one hand, this is a very successful programme, stressed the Regional Director for Labour, Vocational Training and Consumer Defence as there are youngsters working on the Azores and, on the other hand, there are youngsters working in Europe who are, thus, contributing to the construction and assertion of Europe of Regions.
Moreover, it is also a project that works very well because during in this six-month traineeship, youngsters will have the opportunity to learning the language, the culture and the geography of the host region for one month. In turn, they will become the ambassadors of the Azores in their region of origin by promoting the image of the archipelago abroad.
Since the Azores have assumed the presidency of the European Region, the Eurodyssey programme has been increasingly sought after, increasing 50%, which, for Rui Bettencourt, reveals the good work carried out by the Region.
Moreover, more and more businesspeople are adhering to Eurodyssey and most of the adherents are companies seeking to internationalise, which also represents a key element of this programme, thus capturing a European vision of business.
Rui Bettencourt concluded that many youngsters have chosen the Azores in the areas of marine biology, restoration and tourism as the Region counts upon the support of highly-qualified regional companies and research centres, thereby contributing to the dissemination of Eurodyssey abroad.