COHAB - Co-ordination and integration of higher education and the labor market around the South Baltic Sea

It has been recognized by the project partners that the interregional labour market mobility is not very well-functioning in the South Baltic Sea region. Bottleneck situations in the area requiring qualified labour from other countries have not really improved the labour market mobility and the project partners believe that a project is needed in order to establish the barriers of this lacking mobility and to do something about this situation. The project partners have established that the main barriers that need to be addressed include ignorance of each other’s local culture in education and labour market, educational
recognition and lack of strong educational links. The project will focus on two professions in the public sector and founded in a higher education institution participating in the project. The aims of the project are to accumulate data on the labour market in order to identify common barriers, to make the selected educations/professions well known and transparent, to increase staff mobility, to increase student mobility and to increase staff and student competencies in order to equip them for cross-border mobility. In order for the labour market to become mobile, it is the belief of the project partners that this process has to
start with educational cooperation. Through study visits, cooperative work with courses or attendance in courses and summer school, staff and students will be introduced to and become familiar with the cultures of the South Baltic region; the labour market, the job opportunities, the educations and educational structures, the people and the local traditions and values. The staff and students will become ambassadors for the interregional mobility and the result will be that it will widen like rings in water ensuring that the project is firmly rooted in the partnership organisations and with other organisations. The project has a clear cross-border impact and a long term perspective. Through parallel teaching, an essential teaching approach in the project, it will be possible to solve logistic barriers and for the project partners to continue to cooperate after the end of
the project period. The virtual education is sustainable in thinly populated areas like in the South Baltic Region. In the short term staff and students in the educations involved will become mobile, and in the long term mobility will become a more natural option for other students as well as the graduates and will spread to the labour market. The project will be a good practice example that will spread to other professions.