EARLALL Academy #16: Strategies to Make Less Attractive Sectors More Appealing

20/01/2026

The 2026 EARLALL Academy kicked off on 20 January with an engaging session titled “Strategies to Make Less Attractive Sectors More Appealing.” The session was structured in two complementary parts and brought together both policy-oriented and practical regional perspectives, making it especially insightful for participants.

The first part featured a keynote intervention by Cecilia Bruzelius, Professor of Comparative Social Policy and Migration at the University of Tübingen. Drawing on her recent policy paper developed in collaboration with the European Commission, “Competing for People: Public Policy Efforts to Attract and Retain Youth and Talent,” she presented key findings on how public policies can respond to talent shortages. Her contribution focused primarily on national-level approaches, while also offering broader contextual insights and general recommendations relevant for regions and local actors.

The second part of the session provided a concrete regional perspective from Sweden, with an example from the Gothenburg subregion in the Västra Götaland Region. Helene Stensson, Regional Process Leader for Teknikcollege in the Gothenburg subregion and Project Manager of the VOLTAGE Erasmus+ Centres of Vocational Excellence (CoVEs) project, presented the Teknikcollege model – Sweden’s largest collaboration platform dedicated to securing industrial skills.

Both presentations were highly engaging, and the contrast between the policy-level analysis and the hands-on regional experience made the session particularly interesting. Together, the two perspectives offered participants a rich and balanced understanding of strategies to make less attractive sectors more appealing.