Deadline:
As soon as possible
Program Starts: March 01, 2025
Program Ends: July 31, 2025
Location(s)
Belgium France Luxembourg
Brussels, Strasbourg, Luxembourg
Overview
The European Leadership Programme is a five month long formation where the Fellows receive leadership training and support in their vocation discernment during their time in Brussels. The Fellows live and work in the heart of Europe, they help marginalized communities, receive coaching and professional mentoring, and meet weekly current and former leaders from the EU ecosystem.
The European Leadership Programme (ELP) opens an application period before each semester, however interested participants are welcome to apply all year long for upcoming cohorts. ELP is a residential post-graduate formation programme which requires the applicants to be based in Brussels to undertake the Fellowship.
Details
We believe that Europe will grow into an ever-stronger union of hearts and minds. This will be accomplished in part through the professional training of committed Europeans to guide our European society with political virtue and Christian principles.
Designed as a training programme on EQF-level 7, continuing from Bachelor programmes on level 6, the ELP is interdisciplinary, as contributions from fields of political science, European studies, economics, law and other social sciences and humanities converge in it.
“We offer committed young Europeans a fellowship experience of professional training that will help them learn to guide our society with political virtue and Christian principles,” Peter Rožič SJ, Director of JESC, comments on the programme.
The activities consist of five interrelated segments:
- immersion in the administrative and political life of E.U. institutions, with the opportunity to meet with political leaders in Brussels, Luxembourg, Strasbourg and beyond;
- participation in modules and workshops presented by high profile academics and practitioners in order to develop personal leadership skills and stimulate reflection and discussion;
- a voluntary experience of living in and serving a marginalised community;
- spiritual guidance and discernment training;
- living and enjoying a community of friends that is located in the heart of Brussels.
The goal of ELP is to contribute to the formation of spirituality and to build on own calling, this way gaining tools for managing the life of a leader.
Thanks to retreats, on-going formation, spiritual direction, sharing of experiences in groups and community life, those chosen will enhance their self-knowledge so as to understand others in a deeper way.
An essential element of ELP is the experience of living together under one roof as a community. This experience will focus on building character through community life and common policies, such as spiritual training, environmental vigilance and international hospitality.
“The Programme’s final aim is no less than to help reform the spiritual, social and political life in Europe, reorienting it towards an ever-greater quest for the common good” says Fr. Martin Maier SJ, JESC’s Secretary for European Affairs.
The ELP Programme takes place for a period of five months:
- Fellowship period from October 1 to February 28/29 (Fall cohort)
- Fellowship period from March 1 to July 31 (Spring cohort)
ELP Fellowship Timeline
Below is a general timeline for the ELP Fellowship Programme.
- May/December: Applications Open
- Continuously: Evaluation of application documents
- Continuously: Selection interviews conducted on a rolling basis
- Continuously: Notifications of selected Fellows via email
- September/February: Onboarding of the selected Fellows
- October/March: Beginning of the cohort
Opportunity is About
Eligibility
Candidates should be from:
Description of Ideal Candidate
Eligibility
- Be aged between 22-35.
- Hold a Bachelor’s Degree diploma.
- Present an English proficiency certificate (min. B2 or equivalent) or a proof that at least 1 semester of studies were carried out in English.
- Submit a CV, motivation letter and letter of recommendation.
- We advise you to be enrolled in a traineeship/job/volunteering activity at any organisation in Brussels, but we also consider your application if you currently do not have an occupation or if you pursue a postgraduate study such as PhD. However, please be aware that by signing the Fellowship Agreement you commit to stay in the programme for the five month period, with or without an occupation.
You should apply if…
- You value human-spiritual guidance and appreciate having a group to reflect on your own vocation.
- You feel yet unconvinced about the job you do and prefer to discern your career direction and goals.
- You feel somehow trapped between the academia and the labour market.
- You are ready to invest into your personal development in order to become a leader for the European Common Good.
- You have the curiosity to listen to other leaders and how they found mission and sense in what they are engaged in.
- You are ready to appreciate the 500 years of experience of Jesuit tradition in formation.
- You want to belong to an international Ignatian-affiliated community built on diversity, dialogue, acceptance, and open-mindedness.
Then we invite you to apply to this unique post-graduate non-accredited residential formation program.
Dates
Deadline: As soon as possible
Program starts:
March 01, 2025
Program ends:
July 31, 2025
Program Starts: March 01, 2025
Program Ends: July 31, 2025
Cost/funding for participants
The total value of the European Leadership Programme (ELP) is 13,500€ per Fellow for the full period of the five-month Fellowship. Thanks to the generosity of our donors, we are currently able to subsidise this fee. The amount payable remains the rent including utilities (living in the ELP community is a mandatory element of the programme) which is subject to yearly indexation and varies according to the size of the allocated room. Additionally, there is a one-time administrative fee of 250€ to be paid at the beginning.
Un-save Opportunity
Internships, scholarships, student conferences and competitions.
