Gaining a foothold after graduation - career development project in partner country North Macedonia enters the next round

Düsseldorf, 09. August 2024. From summer 2024, North Rhine-Westphalia will again support a career development project run by the World University Service (WUS) in the partner country North Macedonia. Motivated students and university graduates are provided with advice, training and internships to improve their career opportunities in their home country. Young people from different disciplines can attend coaching seminars on the topics of “application training” and “starting a business” during their studies. The project runs until July 2025.

European Minister Nathanael Liminski: “It is important to us to help people in our partner country start their professional lives in order to maintain the prospects of staying in their home country. The state government is once again supporting professional internships, thereby linking universities and the labor market. The Western Balkans are well on their way to the European Union, even if, as for our partner country North Macedonia, this is already a long journey. From North Rhine-Westphalia, we ensure that young, ambitious men and women who are willing to learn find work in their home country of North Macedonia and that the pressure to emigrate is reduced. Strengthening our partner region is in our own interest. German companies with branches or supply chains in the Western Balkans will benefit in the long term from these well-trained local specialists.”

In March 2023, Minister Liminski met the participants in the first round of the project as part of his trip to North Macedonia for a personal exchange and got to know the learning and educational history of the young people. The offer from North Rhine-Westphalia met with a great response and has enormously increased the graduates' career opportunities. Youth unemployment in North Macedonia is around 35 percent, even though companies are desperately looking for skilled workers. This project facilitates the transition from studying to the job market by providing around 50 internships as an important element and giving young graduates a feel for the needs of the business world.

Like the other countries in the Balkan region, North Macedonia suffers from strong emigration, especially of the highly qualified. The program launched is intended to help defuse migration pressure. The German committee of the World University Service (WUS), a long-standing partner of the state government, has already successfully implemented corresponding programs in Albania, Ethiopia, Chile and Vietnam, among others. Since March 1, 2021, North Macedonia has been a partner country of North Rhine-Westphalia and is supported by North Rhine-Westphalia on its path to the EU.

The article first appeared on the website of the Minister for Federal and European Affairs, International Affairs and Media of North Rhine-Westphalia and Head of the State Chancellery. https://www.land.nrw/pressemitigung/fuss-fass-nach-dem-studium-berufsfoerderprojekt-im-partnerland-north-macedonia