NEXT UP - Navigating the Next Normal: Innovative Approaches to Enhancing Youth’s Education-Employment Transitions in Post-COVID-19 Europe

The NEXT-UP project, officially titled "Navigating the Next Normal: Innovative Approaches to Enhancing Youth’s Education-Employment Transitions in Post-COVID-19 Europe," is a comprehensive initiative funded under Horizon Europe. The project aims to explore and forecast the long-term impacts of the COVID-19 crisis on youth transitions from education to employment, with a focus on creating evidence-informed, future-oriented policies and programs.

The project emphasizes inclusivity, particularly supporting disadvantaged groups to ensure equitable job access. The interdisciplinary consortium includes academic and NGO partners from nine EU countries, enhanced by an international advisory board. The conceptual framework integrates the Quadruple Helix Model for social innovation with concepts of agency between employability and employer-ability, intersectionality, and policy learning.

Methodologically, NEXT-UP combines various approaches, including the Living Lab approach, machine learning, psychometric surveys, systematic literature review, longitudinal and focus group interviews, statistical methods, agent-based modeling, and policy design. The project aims to co-create and implement effective strategies for youth transitions from education to employment through informed policies and sustained social innovations.

The project is coordinated by Tampere University in Finland and involves several beneficiaries, including universities and research institutions from Norway, Portugal, the Netherlands, Spain, Italy, Germany, Estonia, and Austria, as well as the National Union of Students in Finnish Universities of Applied Sciences (SAMOK). 

The NEXT-UP project aims to create responsive and resilient educational and employment systems in Europe by addressing youth unemployment and employability challenges in the post-COVID-19 era. Key objectives include understanding the long-term impacts of the pandemic on youth transitions, developing evidence-based policy recommendations, and fostering social innovation through stakeholder collaboration.

The NEXT-UP project aims to address the long-term impacts of the COVID-19 crisis on youth transitions from education to employment (YTSTW) across Europe. The project focuses on creating evidence-informed, future-oriented policies and programs to support young people, particularly those from disadvantaged groups, in navigating the post-pandemic labor market.

The primary goals of the NEXT-UP project include:

1. Analyzing Structural Changes: The project aims to identify alignments and discrepancies in perceptions of youth transitions between educators and employers. It will develop guidelines for higher education institutions (HEIs) and vocational education and training (VET) providers to navigate the evolving educational landscape. Additionally, an agent-based model will be created to forecast future YTSTW scenarios.
2. Exploring Youth Perceptions: NEXT-UP will capture shifts in youth perceptions and experiences through longitudinal qualitative interviews. The project will analyze young people's decision-making processes in their transitions from education to employment, considering intersectionality to understand the multifaceted factors influencing these transitions.
3. Documenting Emerging Patterns: The project will create a European database documenting youth transitions before and after COVID-19. It will develop typologies capturing cross-country YTSTW trajectories and use statistical models to identify structural disadvantage factors. The analysis will include a critique of EU surveys such as the EU-LFS and the Eurograduate Survey.
4. Predicting Skill Demands: NEXT-UP will forecast emerging skill needs in the labor market and address mismatches between training outcomes and employability demands. The project will analyze social media usage patterns in job searching to gain insights into vulnerable youth groups.
5. Evaluating Policies: The project will develop a typology categorizing various youth employability policies and conduct a comprehensive review of macro-level policies and programs across EU countries. It will assess the impact and efficacy of these policies and generate policy options and recommendations informed by Living Lab workshops.
6. Innovative Approaches in Living Labs: NEXT-UP will foster mutual understanding of challenges in youth transitions among stakeholders. It will develop and trial the "Stakeholder Foresight Game" and derive policy recommendations from Living Lab workshops.
7. Establishing a Collaborative Network: The project aims to be recognized among experts, policymakers, and youth associations. It will ensure that data and analyses are accessible in various formats and actively share methodologies, data, activities, and outcomes at conferences and clustering events.

The NEXT-UP project integrates multiple approaches, including traditional social science methods, computational methods, and co-creation Living Labs. 

The project focuses on creating evidence-informed, future-oriented policies and programs to support young people, particularly those from disadvantaged groups, in navigating the post-pandemic labor market. By generating robust and comprehensive scientific data on youth transitions the project will support evidence-based policies and optimized design, operation, and maintenance of educational and employment systems to minimize negative impacts.

The project employs an interdisciplinary approach and methodologically, NEXT-UP combines various innovative approaches, including the Living Lab approach, machine learning, psychometric surveys, systematic literature review, longitudinal and focus group interviews, statistical methods, agent-based modeling, and policy design.

The project aims to foster a social innovation model to facilitate effective interactions among diverse stakeholders, including policymakers, educators, employers, and youth organizations, to co-create and implement effective strategies for YTSTW. This collaborative effort is expected to lead to responsive and resilient educational and employment systems in Europe, innovative educational programs, and enhanced support for young people entering the workforce.

Tampere University