The power of non-formal education: insights from the Sibillini Europa Summer School 2025

What if sitting in a classroom with a heavy textbook no longer feels like an effective way to learn? What if what you actually want is to practice speaking up, leading a group, building real communication, and turning your ideas into reality? Or maybe you’re simply craving an experiment in your life – a taste of something sudden and new. Can your university really cater to those needs? Most probably not. And that’s exactly where non-formal education steps in. Non-formal education, often run by NGOs and community groups, offers exactly those skills and experiences that formal education skips. It broadens horizons, gives you a competitive edge, and helps you grow as a person. I suggest looking at the advantages of non-formal education through the example of the Sibillini Europa Summer School 2025, which took place in Amandola, Italy, on 27-31 August.

Inspiration and empowerment

Non-formal education brings you together with people from all kinds of backgrounds – professionals you’d probably never meet otherwise, and peers with completely different stories. Hearing those diverse experiences sparks inspiration and gives you the empowerment to act on your ideas. The story of this summer school is a great example. The Sibillini Europe Association was brought to life by passionate locals from Amandola who, after gaining international experience, chose to contribute to their community. Two prominent figures of the school, Pierpaolo Settembri and Daniele Calisti, who, on the back of careers in the European Commission, found an amazing way to transform professional experience and connections into a better purpose – to educate active youth on what they themselves believe in – the European project.

For anybody who comes from a small town with limited resources and visibility, the example of the Sibillini Europe Association is worth looking into because what its members are doing is creating opportunities for the community out of nothing more than their own enthusiasm and commitment. Personally, this story inspired me to conclude that whether you come from bustling European giants like Frankfurt, Milan, or Barcelona, or from a remote Ukrainian village, when you stand alongside passionate people, you have the power to bring change to your home community.

Unique travelling experience

European projects of non-formal education are usually held in places off the beaten track – true for many Erasmus+ youth exchanges, ESC volunteering, and for summer schools as well. Is this a logistical challenge? Yes! But are you getting unique experience and skills? Definitely! As soon as you figure out how to manage five changes between the airport and Amandola with only ‘buongiorno’ in your Italian vocabulary, you will become an invincible traveller. 

Italians will often say it’s a pity that tourists think they’ve “seen” Italy just by visiting Rome or Venice. Participating in the Sibillini Europa Summer School will let you discover a bit more, dive deeper into the heterogeneity of the EU – that ‘scary’ word you often hear in class. If, like me, you limit your perception of Italian cuisine to pizza and pasta, Amandola will surprise you with fried aubergines, lasagna made of zucchini, tarts with chocolate and jam, and cornmeal porridge with mushrooms. I will not lie if I say that I often couldn’t guess what exactly I was eating, ‘is it fish or is it a plant?’ – was a popular debate among Ukrainian participants. 

Coming from a modern sprawling city, I was impressed with Amandola’s medieval ‘everything-built-from-stone’ style and the picturesque mountains surrounding it. Another highlight was joining the Italian morning ritual and starting every day with a cappuccino accompanied by a cornetto or bombolone in a local place where grandpas gather to chit-chat and walk their cute dogs.

Knowledge and unique educational approaches

If I tell you that a lecture on enlargement is much better received after an hour-long e-bike ride in the mountains – interrupted by heavy rain that forced you to take shelter in a cow barn – you’d better believe me, because I speak from experience. The beauty of non-formal education is that it is never limited to boring cramming. During the Sibillini Europa Summer School, we had not only lectures but also a simulation exercise where we questioned an EU commissioner-designate, debated, and had a career coffee with different professionals. Non-formal education is varied not only in terms of the forms of exercises, but also in terms of the lecturers you meet: we had an opportunity to talk with officials of the European Commission, representatives from Italian and international universities, local authorities, MEPs, and journalists. You can see the programme of the school here.

Connections

Non-formal education projects, especially international ones, are a powerful way to bring very diverse people into your life. And while it’s obvious that you’ll meet interesting foreigners, what’s less expected are the surprising friendships you can form with your fellow nationals. This summer school, for instance, brought together many participants not only from Italy, but also from Ukraine, my home country, each from very different backgrounds – and it was a real privilege to meet them. Although more activities to encourage international mixing could have helped, it was still wonderful to connect with Italians – not only to share cultural experiences but also to debate political topics and realise that countries both inside and outside the EU may sometimes have different perspectives on the Union itself.

P.S. I finally have more than 5 connections on LinkedIn!