The Hellenic Student and Alumni Society (HSASN) is organising a trip to Brussels from 3 to 5 May. Co-organiser and Architecture and the Built Environment alumnus Theodore Klouvas, half-Dutch and half-Greek himself and raised on Rhodes, wants to show the students taking part (particularly those from Southern European countries) that they have real opportunities on the job market.
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What do you hope to achieve with this trip to Brussels?
“The aim is to show young people that there’s more to Europe than just devising policy. Despite all the red tape, there are plenty of programmes that you can take part in if you want to find a job. We want international students and recent graduates to get a better idea of the great opportunities that are open to them. Many of them are totally unaware of what the EU has to offer.”
What sort of opportunities?
“Take Erasmus placements. They allow you to spend six months working in a European company at the EU’s expense. The students and recent graduates coming on this trip (many Greeks, but also Spaniards, Italians, Portuguese and people from non-European countries) will be given information about programmes like this as well as information about working for the EU. There will be a speed-date session with Greeks who work in Brussels, and a panel discussion with Euro MPs about what Europe is and isn’t doing to turn the brain drain into brain mobility.”
Aren’t those two terms much the same to a country like Greece, when you consider all the young talented people who do a degree in another country and never return?
“Brain drain occurs when there are too few opportunities. But thanks to programmes like those funded by the EU, brain mobility is now making it possible for people to go and work in Greece and other Southern European countries again.”
Some three hundred Greek students are currently taking a Master’s degree in Delft. I can imagine that a lot of them will not return in the foreseeable future.
“Most of them will look for work in the Netherlands, Germany or England. However, over the last 18 months, I’ve noticed that more and more Greek students are finding their way home. It’s still a minority: the specialists are the ones that manage to return. It’s more difficult for a generalist like me.”
You’re an architect, but you do lot more besides that.
“I’ve set up an architectural firm together with a friend; it’s doing quite well. In addition, I’ve been commissioned by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to look into whether and how Dutch embassies could set up programmes for budding entrepreneurs in countries such as Ghana, Uganda and South-Africa. This would make it easier for people from these countries to trade with the Netherlands, and for young Dutch entrepreneurs to offer their services and products via the same channels. Two years ago, I helped to set up something similar in the Dutch embassy in Athens: Orange Grove. It’s doing well.”
Will you ever go back to Rhodes?
“I’ve no plans to return at the moment. There’s not much you can do on an island. Rhodes is a long way from Athens and the journey is still very expensive. I shall continue to do my best for Greece, but not in the political sense. I do my bit through the Hellenic Student and Alumni Society.”
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