The Improving Skills project was promoted by EFTA - School of Professional Training in Tourism of Aveiro, Lda., Constituted in 2006 and currently the only school in the region dedicated exclusively to the areas of Tourism and Leisure and Hospitality and Catering. EFTA promotes a professional and academic qualification of excellence and stands out today as a Vocational Training School of reference.With this new project, EFTA pursued its clear objectives in the educational project and strategic plan of internationalization and training / employability, tourism and leisure dynamism and organizational learning.The participants of this project were 16 trainees for 11-week Curricular Internship and 6 newly graduates for a 14-week Professional Internship from EFTA Level 4 vocational training courses in the areas of Tourism, Catering and Hospitality. The mobility period included the sending of 4 companions (1 per flow of participants) for 4 days.The 5-day shadowing program allowed 6 faculty members to be sent with peer training and bridge-building missions with which EFTA schools can engage in dialogue and exchanges on a permanent basis .The countries of destination were: Austria, United Kingdom, Italy, Luxembourg and Spain.In terms of certification all participants received the EFTA Certificate, Certificate of Internship and Europass-Mobility CertificateThe main NEEDS of the target audience were: Creating opportunities for audiences with problematic socio-economic situations Reversing trends in school drop-out and failure Strengthening social and personal skills Creating curiosity by knowing and contacting other peoples and cultures Improving mastery of languages and raising awareness of other languages Qualify and certify human resources in the tourism and leisure sectorThe general OBJECTIVES were:- STIMULATE TRAINERS TO BE INVOLVED IN THEIR OWN TRAINING- GUARANTEE A QUALITY TRAINING THAT GOES TO THE MEETING OF TRAINERS AND SOCIETY- CREATE COOPERATIVE NETWORKS THAT THINK / AGE ON TRAINING AND EMPLOYABILITYThe registered IMPACTS were:Students and alumni:- Continuation and completion of courses by the students (currently in the 12th year)- Former students in the labor market- Facilitator of integration in the national and international labor market- Reinforcement of the taste for the professional area through the learning of new techniques and knowledge in general- Recognition of the importance of constant technical and professional updating- Cultural interest fostered by multiple trips- Greater ease in contact with other cultures, greater openness, tolerance and acceptance of diversity- A greater taste for learning and, by sharing their experience, transmitting the same taste to other trainees / young people- Recognition of the internationalization experience as positive in the development of their personal and professional competences- Proficiency in a language other than the mother tongue- Development of skills in the interpersonal relationshipStaff:- Increased pedagogical competence of the faculty and more motivation to invest in the level of quality and excellence- Increased work capacity and increased involvement in the dynamization of school activities- Greater sense of belonging to the EFTA community- Increased ability to work in teams (face-to-face and distance) and in interdisciplinary and intercultural environments- Greater evaluative capacity on the work developed- Contact with practices and trends of tourism and leisure at European and international level who have practical effects in the classroom, with students- Improving language skills- Greater proximity to other cultures, greater ability to tolerate acceptanceEducational Community:- Motivation and enthusiasm for participation in future mobility programs- Cultural curiosity- Ability to work at intercultural level- Domain of the instruments and mechanisms used with the ERSMUS +- Recognition of the competences and capital gains of the teaching and non-teaching staff in international project management- Impact on strengthening self-esteem, by recognizing impacts on work done- Development of skills in the interpersonal relationshipSchool Community:- Contribution to the strategy put forward in the EFTA European Development Plan and consequently to the removal of identified needs- Teachers learn to trust their students- Reducing dropout rates- Creation of new dynamics in school management

The cooperation of the last year is continued 2015. It is a cooperation between the Rural Youth Lower Austria and the agricultural chamber of Austria. Their initiative is called “Gutes vom Bauernhof”. The project title is “Vertical and horizontal diversification in Agriculture”. Vertical diversification means expansion within a special part of the concept – for example direct marketing: presenting a special product in another way. Horizontal diversification stands for expansion and integration of a complete new idea in the existing system. Diversification in Agriculture plays an important role in the Austrian agricultural section. Especially in the tourist areas farm stays in apartments or bed & breakfast is offered. Many farmers also work in the field of direct marketing and offer their own local products in own farm shops. Agricultural additional acquisition and diversification measures provide more development opportunities for the agricultural sector. The Rural Youth Lower Austria has developed a project in cooperation with higher agricultural schools for students to expand their experience abroad. The pupils should work on specialized farms with diversification measures in Switzerland, Norway, Denmark, Germany, Ireland and France and thus gain international experiences and implement new ideas for their own farms at home. In higher agricultural and forestry colleges 14 weeks practical traineeships are compulsory between the 3rd and 4th grade forms (see curricula for HLFS in Austria). The curricula for HLFS recommended in view of the development of linguistic skills to complete the internship abroad. The present project of the Rural Youth Lower Austria provides the opportunity to implement these compulsory internships on specialized diversification farms in other European countries. The Rural Youth Lower Austria has access to the expertise of the Rural Youth Austria, which is experienced in the processing of Leonardo da Vinci PLM or IVT for many years. With the new mobility project under Erasmus+ up to 150 students from Austria’s HLFS can gain specialized experience abroad until 2016.The Rural Youth Lower Austria implements the ECVET system for the agricultural traineeships. The approval of the training activity abroad will be thus unified according to the European standard.The project objectives are to improve language skills, personal development, intercultural and social competences, the appropriation of agricultural expertise and building work-related contacts abroad, as well as an insight into agricultural labor in diversification sections and perspectives in another European country. The students are better qualified by these competencies and strengthen the agricultural sector in Austria and its touristic areas.Activities: Trainees seek for internships on specialized touristic or direct marketing farms throughout Europe for about 14 weeks. Through partner organizations abroad and together with the agricultural colleges, the Rural Youth Lower Austria organizes for the project 2015 internships in 6 countries at the moment such as: Germany, Denmark, Switzerland, Ireland, Norway and France, thus the main language during the internships will be English.The independent organization Rural Youth Lower Austria is working for the project with partner organizations across Europe in order to provide a high quality of internships. The support from the partner organizations contains the selection and control of traineeship placements, the farm descriptions in advance, internship contracts, arrival support, orientation seminars in Austria and in the host country, site visits, personal advices, insurance, evaluation, etc. The services of the partner organizations are agreed in the Memorandum of Understanding.The objectives of the measure are actually following:• Increase of foreign language skills and agricultural terminology• Personal development and self-independence • Appropriation of agricultural knowledge in the diversification section such as agritourism or direct marketing• Social competence, intercultural competence, tolerance of other cultures and perspectives• Getting to know the diversity of European agriculture, various labor and perspectivesThe students from the agricultural sector acquire through this measure, higher qualifications and strengthen the overall agriculture and rural areas. More European cooperation and understanding in agriculture should be gained.The topic of the project is supported by the initiative “Gutes vom Bauernhof” of the agricultural chamber of Austria.By many public relations measures of the rural youth Austria Lower Austria this mobility initiative is getting public nationwide.

The funding received within the framework of the project was used to finance stays abroad for a total of 417 individuals in vocational training and 69 vocational training specialists. 316 apprentices completed a 2 to 52 week internship specifically suited to their profession, individual level of training, knowledge and skills in a company abroad active in their professional field. 17 apprentices and students absolved a long-term mobility of duration of more than three months as part of the ErasmusPro initiative.IFA organized internships in small groups between September 2018 and August 2019. Participation was open for apprentices from all professions and industries from all over Austria. The applicants were selected based on their technical, linguistic and personal skills. IFA organized the travel, internship, accommodation and insurance for the participants as well as accompanying language courses. IFA also prepared the apprentices and companies with respect to organisational, cultural and linguistic aspects for the stays and ensured that the internships were recognized as part of the apprenticeship training in accordance with the Vocational Training Act (BAG). Given that a many of the apprentices were minors, the apprentice groups were accompanied by an IFA tutor during the first week abroad. The tutors helped the apprentices to get settled in the host country and visited all the participating companies to ensure that the content and processes fulfilled the objectives. Contact persons at thereceiving institution and IFA were available to support the participants throughout their entire stay abroad.101 students from full-time vocational schools and colleges also completed an internship relevant to their professional field that was suitable for their training and level of knowledge. The internships were organized in close cooperation with the sending schools in order to ensure they were recognized as part of the compulsory internship. Most student internships took place in the summer of 2019. The duration of the internship ranged between 2 weeks and 5 months. The content of the internships were defined in terms of the occupational and training profiles and curricula as well as the individual skills of the participants and were specified before the internship in a learning agreement between IFA, the participants and the sending and receiving institutions together with the learning objectives that were to be achieved during theinternship.Within the framework of this project 69 experts in the field of VET staff from companies and vocational schools as well as vocational training experts participated in mobilities to exchange their experiences in order to learn about VET systems in other countries, compare them with the Austrian system and exchange ideas amongst each other and with colleagues from abroad. The goal was to promote the quality, innovation and the European idea in vocational education and training through cross-border exchanges. The participants were multipliers and could share their experiences in companies, part-time and full-time vocational schools and throughout Austria and thus contribute to a Europeanisation of the Austrian VET system.During their mobilities participants acquired technical, linguistic, social, intercultural and personal skills and expanded theirpersonal and professional horizons. Work placements abroad contribute to the strengthening of important key skills such as teamwork ability, personal responsibility, flexibility and much more. Experiences abroad promote career opportunities and ensure the future career of the participants and thus the competitiveness of Austrian companies. International exchange increases the overall quality of the Austrian VET.IFA is a non-profit association that has been organizing internships abroad since 1995 for apprentices, professionals and training officers. Since 1995, IFA has helped more than 9.500 people take part in an EU-funded stay abroad. As the applicant and co-ordinating institution, IFA was therefore responsible for ensuring the quality and proper organization of the project. IFA works with a network of experienced partners in the target countries with whom partnership agreements (Memoranda of Understanding) defining the conditions and quality criteria already exist. IFA has been successfully working together with most of the partner institutions for many years. Throughout the entire stay abroad, mentors from the receiving institution, the host company or IFA supported the participants to supervise their progress and ensure the quality of the internship. After completing the internship, all the participants received a “Personal Transcript” outlining the activities completed and knowledge and skills acquired with confirmation from the receiving institution and host company. All internships were recognized as part of the vocational training in Austria.

Notre Dame Du Roc High School is located in La Roche Sur Yon in Vendée in France and it is a secondary school for initial vocational training in cooking, service in restaurant (in front of house), hotel business, bakery and pastry-making, clothes-making (clothing industry), as well as accounting-management, trade and welcoming users service.Our settlement project is based on 4 fundamental axes, whose: “to broaden student's minds in order to better understand the world”.For many years now, our school has developed and broadened our contacts abroad and different partnerships have been signed with foreign schools. This has enabled us to send regularly students for a training period abroad in foreign companies. For the catering Department, we could send 26 students instead of 28 scheduled (preparing a vocational or technological high school diploma) in Europe through our different partnerships composed of catering schools in four different countries in the European Union which are situated in:- Guayente in Spain,- Carmarthen in Wales,- Namur in Belgium.- Hilversum in Netherlands.The different branches of industry in catering, hotel business, bakery and pastry-making, as well as clothes-making (clothing industry for entertainment) provide a tremendous opportunity of jobs in different European countries, jobs for which employers need a qualified staff. Our school is constantly aiming at developing this aspect with its different foreign partners so that our students could benefit from a long-term integration in these branches of industry.Relating to the vocational school (accounting-management, sales and welcoming users service), we have proposed training periods to 21 students (instead of 32 granted in our application form). Here is the distribution: in Ireland (Dublin), 20 students from the European Section (12 in the 2nd year and 8 in the 3rd year), with our new partner MOBITRAINEE. The German students are quite few in our vocational school and not really interested in a European mobility. Indeed, we could organize our partnership with Burg (Germany) for only 1 student instead of 4 as initially scheduled. We also wanted to extend to a new destination: Spain (Caceres) for 16 students, in partnership with our local organization “AEIN” (International Exchanges Partnership in our city). That is why we asked for additional European funds nearby your agency, in June 2019, for 4 students who were scheduled to do their internship in Spain, from 15h March to 11th April 2020. Unfortunately, the mobility could not take place owing to the COVID 19.This difference between the number of students initially scheduled and the number who realized their European mobility can be mostly explained by the fact that, some of them were demotivated, or showed a real fear to go abroad (just to note that most of them are minors), or move to other studies or jobs at the end of the 1st year or 2nd year of their studies. We have signed a welcoming contract with our new partner MOBITRAINEE relating to Ireland and AEIN (International Exchanges Partnership in our town) relating to Spain and Germany. Those two organizations were in charge of finding companies, welcoming families and dealing with the needed support for the students during their training period.The purposes we developed with our different partnerships were the following:- Using foreign languages as a tool to communicate in a professional way : tourism is the first economy source in our region, so it is necessary for the students applying for a job to master the English language skills, more particularly for students in catering,accounting-administration, sales and welcoming users service. Young students from our region must be the ambassadors and must promote our county to develop the economic potential while accommodating the new strains of the local and international labor markets nowadays, - Favoring the practicing of foreign gastronomy and promoting and handing down the values of French gastronomy and cuisine,- Strengthening the professional abilities and skills (concerning the jobs in catering and clothes-making, as well as accounting-management, trade and welcoming users service),- favoring the synergy between our different trainings (catering, clothes-making and sales).The educational, linguistic and cultural preparation of our students took place in our school : CV and cover letters, booklet on the host countries, booklet to present our school, city and county, meeting with English people, role plays (work and daily life situations)… :-in English for our students attending courses in European section, with 2 additional hours of English-in Spanish or German, with language teachers, during the lessons time, or during specific times to assist more especially the students.All the training periods spent abroad were validated with an official assessment grid and an official placement certificate. The trainee had to make all the different activities reported then in an internship report they could set out during the exams. Besides, each student reported and shared his experience during the oral examination “Euromobipro”. At latest, what a great recognition to receive the Europass!In the longer term, we have noticed that some of our former students who went for a training period abroad have gone back to the host country where they performed (or in another foreign country). All of them told us that the Leonardo or Erasmus+ programs enabled them to broaden their mind and offered them future prospects for their personal and professional life they had not considered before. Finally, it is an obvious fact for us that establishing and implementing the principle of cofinancing (the school, families and the European Union) through the Erasmus Programs, allows to give a sense of responsibility to each actor of this partnership.To end this resume, we would like to underline that because of the COVID 19, 4 students of our catering school couldn’t realize their entertainment abroad, as well as 2 teachers who had planned to do the assessment. So, our number of European funds granted could have been used.

Landjugend Austria has 90000 members all over Austria. Landjugend Austria would like to enable agricultural traineeships for teenagers of rural areas with this project called “Diversity for European agricultural traineeships”. The participants are between 15 and 18 years old and are attending an agricultural vocational school or a higher agricultural school of Austria. The project runs for 24 months. The goal of the project is to promote diversity in Europe as the title says. The students are very determined and eager for knowledge. The curriculum of the agricultural vocational school says that students have to do an obligatory traineeship. These traineeships are of different length. There are 122 students that are known by name who want to do their traineeship abroad. There will be 20 more students who will also do a traineeship abroad. There are 38 ErasmusPro mobilities to Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands and Norway for this project “Diversity for European agricultural traineeships”. These mobilities last between 91 and 350 days. The destinations of the short mobilities are Denmark, Germany, Finland, United Kingdom, Ireland, Iceland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and Spain and last between 28 and 84 days. Each type of school has a different agricultural focus and therefore it’s possible to do the traineeship in different agricultural sectors. Students can decide between the following sectors: Dairy farms, cattle farms, pig farms, poultry farms, sheep farms, arable farming, mixed agriculture (mixture of arable and stockfarming), fruits and vegetable farms, landscaping, agri-home (mixture of household and agriculture), agri-tourism (mixture of tourism and agriculture). Landjugend Austria is cooperating with five European partner organizations (Norway, Ireland, Denmark, Netherlands, and Germany). They are responsible for placement advices and for support service during the traineeship. There are also nine vocational schools and nine higher agricultural schools mentioned as project partners of Landjugend Austria. They are responsible for preparation before the traineeship starts. The organization EUROPEA Austria (organization for agricultural education) is also a project partner. They are representing the other vocational schools of Austria who aren’t mentioned as project partners. Landjugend Austria also gives support with orientation seminars, insurance (health and liability insurance), group flights and support service during the traineeship. Landjugend Austria is applying for funding for many years. By experience the traineeship is an improving factor for the professional and personal/private life of the students. The participants learn to communicate in a foreign country in a foreign language. The spoken language is English, in most cases. The English is improving and the international horizon is broadening. Students will learn to organize their free time independently and partly deciding on their own. Landjugend Austria would like to promote the intercultural understanding of young people of rural areas. The students will experience the country from a point of view that is not a touristic one. They will get an insight into daily life of agriculture. They will improve their competences. The competences and qualifications are approved in Europe through ECVET and so it’s supporting the professional future of the students. These qualifications and competences are understood in Europe and you can easily compare them. Landjugend Austria is certified with the international quality standard ISO 9001:2015. Landjugend Austria is the first organization in Austria who is certified with this standard. So this project “Diversity for European agricultural traineeships” has a project management lead by that quality standard.