In a recent survey, we found that 32% of young Europeans want to study, train or work in another EU country – but only 12% ever have.

How can we make it easier for more young people to move around the EU and find opportunities to work, study or volunteer? How would you encourage other young people to find out what it’s like to live in another country and get to know fellow Europeans? What ideas do you have to make working and living abroad realistic and rewarding for everyone?

Ideas

In my experience the biggest challenge to beat is the fear of moving out of your country and known environment, like your family and friends. For example in the age of 13 I could have participated in an exchange program to Ireland, but I declined, because I wanted to stay with my friends at home and was afraid to enter a new strange culture with a different language. So what was the problem?I think children should be prepared for such a challenge in an early age. You could offer English classes in the elementary school and maybe early projects between schools like trips to the sea from Germany to the Netherlands or expeditions from Budapest to Vienna to discover your country's history, to support connections between kids or future friends.So all in all the "european family" should be a part of your normal life you don't want to miss.
By giving workshops about this options in high schools. I discovered that I could study as an European citizen in any European universty (often with lower costs that in Spain) too late, after I had started my major in Spain. It would be great if this information were easily available to students before they design their future. Again (because it has been already suggested in other comments) European volunteer ambassadors could be the way to make these workshops possible: a network of people that, in each town, are interested and engaged with the EU and decide to work for it. This network could receive their training from the European institutions located in each country, or even be paid a short internship in Brussels as a way to incentivate this iniciative.
What I've noticed is that many young people have plans to go abroad to work, volunteer or learn, but it's very difficult to find complex and trustworthy informations on this topic. Seeking for volunteering offers, such as EVS, means leaping from site to site and reading more text than in some school lectures, without the ceratinty of finding, what you need. Erasmus and EVS are amazing opportunities, but the essential informations aren't easy to find. People will not decide to spend a big amount of money and go abroad for a year, if they aren't sure, what they can expect. One website with all of necessary informations would be very useful and could save all of us the energy and time spent for researches.Money can be also the problem, but in the field of voluenteering EVS gives a possibility to avoid it. There's also Erasmus, that allows every student to go abroad, regardless of his/her financial status. Seeking for a job is the another issue. There are multiple websites and agencies for work-seekers, but they usually offer holiday jobs for low-qualified employees, such as fruits picking or dish washing. If we are talking about long-term workplaces demanding special qualifications of experience, it soon comes up, how difficult it may be. Some kinds of career consultancy, in addiction to creation of the multi-national job center with work offers for graduates or skilled workers and international traineeships opportunities, can ease the process of job seeking and allow more people experience the adventure of working abroad.
I'm studentt in 3 rd year in Skopje,Macedonia. I'm studying computer science and engineering and i want to make some changes, i want to go in some country in europe and explore same more possibility. I want to volunteer or make erasums changes to know more about studying in euorope, make more friends, and enrich my knowledge. So i really want to trial some of these projetcts. Thanks !
Every moving abroad opportunity usually faces the biggest problem which is money. Erasmus exchange grant usually doesn't even cover rent costs, so if you have very little money in your bank account there begins the struggle of how to survive. Moving to foreign country it is always hard to adapt at first, not even talking about how to find the job. If country is not English speaking which is in almost all of the cases, it becomes really hard to find job through national websites, because all information is given in unknown language. I believe that creating network which would act like a database for jobs in EU countries would be a great opportunity for people to gain more money and find work easier and most importantly faster. If there would be one website where all job opportunities for english speaking people would be places that would be great source to start living great adventure and not struggle with money so much.
Activating partnerships with youth run organization as AIESEC. I am volunteering right now in Poland through AIESEC and it was very simple to make it happen. The associations of this kind have a place in each country and several local offices through a nation, for them it is very easy to reach students and propose them any kind of experience abroad.
As EMers live in different cities of varying standards, by chance or by choice, monthly stipends should be modified accordingly. Like in Chevening scholarships, grantees receive different amount based on where they live in the UK.
1. Give him a contact on someone who has been already there - especially or maybe just in case he won't be on place where it's easy to find friends. (Erasmus isn't that case)2. Give him tips where to find friends, what can he do there.3. Give him few tips how to get to know people from there and how is the best way to become friend with them.4. Make a platform where people from same area and from abroad could meet.5. Introduction video/spot for every country.6. Maybe give advices for whom is which place suitable - if someone likes culture should go somewhere, if someone like nature and so on7. Give some possibility to idea go abroad as a pair or in group of 2 people.
I've participated in some Erasmus Youth exchanges and training courses, but I have to admit I didn't know anyone who had heard about it. It was very difficult to find those projects, I did it just because Twitter suggested me the profile of a NGO and I discover that Erasmus was more than an exchange for university students. It'd be very helpful if every city, town, would have an office or an NGO to receive/send participants to exchanges, or to create projects in that city
I've participated in some Erasmus Youth exchanges and training courses, but I have to admit I didn't know anyone who had heard about it. It was very difficult to find those projects, I did it just because Twitter suggested me the profile of a NGO and I discover that Erasmus was more than an exchange for university students. It'd be very helpful if every city, town, would have an office or an NGO to receive/send participants to exchanges, or to create projects in that city