Enhancing cross-border education and employability in the Allgäu region

Jana Reuß, Project manager for securing skilled labour at Allgäu GmbH - Gesellschaft für Tourismus und Standort, and her team are dedicated to promote a sustainable and innovative economic development along the German-Austrian border.

 “Our aim is to strengthen the Allgäu in the long term in order to bind companies to the region and remain competitive. In our view, a key building block for this is increasing employability, attracting people from outside the region and binding citizens to the region “,  she explains.

Even though the EU has ensured free movement of employees for decades, companies in the German-Austrian border region still face significant issues in finding qualified personnel in specialised areas such as wood carving.

The differing vocational education systems with incompatible school seasons and application deadlines and the long, complicated diploma recognition processes, which are outdated and not harmonised at the European level, contribute to this challenge. Additionally, varying regional competences and a lack of awareness about the value of foreign qualifications strain the education and labour market.

To address this obstacle, Jana applied to b-solutions and received advice from Erich Dalhammer and Roland Gaugitsch from the Austrian Institute for Regional Studies and Spatial Planning (ÖIR).

 “Thanks to the valuable work of the experts, we understood the challenges of cross-border cooperation and found solutions. We organized a workshop with stakeholders from both Austrian and German sides to exchange ideas and engage in discussions. We are grateful to the b-solutions project team and the ÖIR for their excellent cooperation,” she says.

The proposed solutions were divided into three categories:

• European Level: Re-evaluation and expansion of existing directives, for instance on professional qualifications, to benefit cross-border areas.

• National Level: Harmonising legislation on diploma recognition to overcome obstacles.

• Regional Level: Establishing information hubs and joint Interreg programs to raise awareness of opportunities on the other side of the border.

Navigating solutions often demands engaging multiple authorities across different governance levels, which can be a hurdle for those involved in cross-border cooperation.

Looking ahead, Jana remains optimistic. “Due to the geographical location, it is important to remain in constant dialogue across the border in order to use synergy effects. We hope to keep the lines of communication open in the future and ensure that stakeholders remain in direct dialogue,” she says.

b-solutions serves as more than just an analytical tool; it's a catalyst for dialogue, bringing together diverse stakeholders to engage, understand legal implications of a problem, and explore solutions to enhance cooperation across borders .