The European Leadership Academy
Launched in 2021, The European Leadership Academy’s programmes aim to close the gender gap by equipping women with the skills they need to play an active role in a digital future and build a more equal, more sustainable Europe. The European Leadership Academy is a programme funded by Huawei Europe as part of ‘Seeds for the Future’, a global talent development and education initiative.
The European Leadership Academy is a collaboration between the European Association of Institutions in Higher Education (EURASHE), ImagiLabs, Women Political Leaders (WPL), LifeTerra, Mobile World Capital Barcelona.
The Academy works to close the gender gap and support women in leading the digital age via its two dedicated programmes:
- Schools for Female Leadership in the Digital Age
- Women’s Academy for Rural Innovation
Each programme of the European Leadership Academy is intended to feature a different European country and its culture. So far programmes have taken place in Portugal, France, the Czech Republic and Spain. The upcoming edition is taking place in Poland. The programmes target female students and recent graduates, as well as women from rural areas all across Europe.
Schools for Female Leadership in the Digital Age
The Schools for Female Leadership in the Digital Age explore the intersection between technology, politics and economics, with a strong equality component. They are aimed at young women over the age of 18 who are either still completing their studies or about to embark on their careers. The Schools offer a week long residential course where participants are taught and mentored by leading experts from the worlds of business, politics and beyond. The programme features a series of Masterclasses, Inspiring Sessions, Panel Discussions and Teamwork where students learn everything from Coding and AI Ethics through to Public Speaking and Sustainability Management.
Four Schools have been held since their inception in Summer 2021: three Summer Schools in Lisbon, Prague and Valencia, and a Winter School in Nice. A fourth Summer School will take place in Warsaw in July 2024. The Schools welcome one representative from each of the 27 EU Member States and have grown to now also include a representative from both the Western Balkans and Ukraine.
Women’s Academy for Rural Innovation
Women from rural backgrounds are often presented with a double divide – not only do they face the gender gap, but they are also disadvantaged by the urban/rural divide which prevents women in rural and depopulated areas from fulfilling their full potential.
In response to this, the Women’s Academy for Rural Innovation aims at empowering women from Europe’s rural areas. It focusses on entrepreneurship, the use of new technologies for green innovation and the digitalisation of SMEs, accessing funding and placing local products in global markets. The Academy was designed to help rural women harness the infinite possibilities of the digital era and leverage them to foster economic growth in their region.
The inaugural programme took place in Europe’s largest region, Spain’s Castilla y León, in October 2022 and gathered 15 women living and working in rural communities across the EU.
Reach of the initiative
Since the European Leadership Academy was founded in 2021, more than 9,000 candidates from all over Europe have applied to participate in its programmes. All selected candidates receive a full scholarship from the organisation to take part in each edition, in line with their equal opportunities policy.
So far, 128 women have taken part in the European Leadership Academy programmes, where they have had the opportunity to learn from over 200 lecturers and panellists on a wide variety of topics, including economics and policymaking through to climate change and cybersecurity.
Programmes have been held in 5 different countries. The Academy expects to broader their geographic reach even further within Europe, and beyond. This programme has widened its scope from young women to women of all ages, strongly encouraging the training of women coming from Europe's rural areas, and the Academy will continue to search for ways to reach other profiles and to strengthen outreach to offer opportunities to other audiences.
Why is this a good practice?
The European Leadership Academy not only contributes to the European Commission’s Digital Decade goal of fostering a digitally skilled population and highly skilled digital professionals, but also works to close the gender gap and support women in leading the digital age via its two dedicated programmes. The Schools give young women the skills, support and inspiration to take on careers in STEM, as well as leadership positions within ICT. The Academy for Rural Innovation empowers women of all ages to leverage technology to create opportunities for rural communities, bringing the EU's vision of equality closer to reality, and thus decisively aiding its mission.
The European Leadership Academy has become synonymous with a strong support network that empowers women to unleash their full potential and take a leading role in the digital world, equipping Europe with the talent and vision needed to harness the extraordinary opportunities brought by the twin transition.
By taking individual limitations into account, the Academy has been able to accommodate women with various mental and physical challenges during each of our programmes, including those with visual and hearing impairments, autism, and reduced mobility. Equal access is also a major subject of the workshops to raise awareness, with several speakers being people with disabilities.
Under their motto "nobody should be left behind", the European Leadership Academy offers full scholarships, opening this opportunity to women from all socioeconomic backgrounds. The Academy is working to build a more equal and sustainable future where the leaders of tomorrow can leverage technology to become the change that they want to see in the world.
