Wallonia is investing €2.75 million to fund grants to help young people and jobseekers learn languages as part of the Walloon recovery plan.
With so-called "language plans," the French-speaking region has for several years been working to improve language skills — specifically of the country's other main languages, Dutch and German, as well as English — however, many people still lack the knowledge needed to get a job or further evolve in their careers.
Walloon employment minister Christie Morreale argued that these plans have to better respond to the actual needs of people. As part of the Walloon Recovery Plan, it launched a new language project which links foreign language learning and professional projects and offers financial support for this purpose.
"It aims to improve the training of people, increase the employment rate and allow everyone to find a job that fulfils the training," says Christie Morreale.
More than 1,000 scholarships are already available for this year, and several hundred more will be added later in 2023, the government confirmed.
Types of grants
The new scholarships will be made available to young people who recently left secondary school, and to jobseekers.
For young people over 18 years old, some 800 immersion scholarships (between €350 and €2,000) can be used for an apprenticeship (Dutch, English or German) in a language school in Belgium or Europe, or in a company, with a particular focus on those who have had less language learning in their curriculum.
The majority of grants (600) are for short-term projects, from two to four weeks, but there are also 175 grants for long-term experiences (one or two semesters). "Priority access is given to young people who are enrolled in or have completed a training or qualification programme and/or who meet the conditions for a scholarship," the minister noted.
For job seekers, some 230 initial language scholarships are already available with a particular priority for those experiencing financial difficulties.
From now on, these scholarships are now accessible regardless of the level of study (before, people without a bachelor's degree weren't able to access these), but they must be linked to the person's "professional project."
"The amount of the grants has been increased, while new opportunities for internships in companies or language schools have been developed with Flanders and the German-speaking Community," a statement from the Walloon Government explained.
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These new scholarships are also linked to other actions underway to improve language learning in Wallonia, from the reinforcement of the "Wallangues" platform and new language modules linked to a series of professions such as reception functions in the hotel and catering industry and tourism and administrative staff, as well as customs agents.
