Academia is a European network that has offered study visit opportunities for guidance practitioners since 1994. The purpose of Academia visits is to provide the participants a chance to get to know the guidance system and guidance practices of another European country, to update their knowledge in guidance, education and labour market systems in other European countries, to share best practices within the study visit group participants, and in turn, to develop their own work as well as home region's guidance and counselling practices based on what they have learned during the study visit.Currently there are 16 European countries as members of the Academia network, each country having one coordinating institution that is responsible for the Academia activities in the country. In Finland, the coordinating institution is the Euroguidance Centre which is part of the Centre for International Mobility, CIMO. The Euroguidance Centre, in close cooperation with regional institutions around Finland, has organised study visits in Finland since 2000. In turn, Finnish guidance practitioners have participated in the study visits in Europe in 2004, 2006, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014. During these years, the official sending institutions have been the University of Jyväskylä, Educode and in 2012 and 2013, and 2014 JAMK University of Applied Sciences - Teacher Education College (JAMK-TEC). It is planned that in 2015 and 2016, JAMK-TEC would send altogether 48 guidance practitioners (in pairs of two representing different administrative branches or other guidance and counselling service providers) from Finland to Academia exchanges in 9 European countries. The exchanges last one week between March and May 2015 and 2016.The themes of the Academia study visits in 2015-2016 are as follows:• guidance in a multicultural society: guidance for integration due to the demographic context in some countries where there exists a need for workers;• greater cooperation in guidance;• purpose and place of guidance in today’s world and its international dimension;• life-long guidance, counselling for adults;• guidance for people with special needs;• e-guidance;• prevention of drop-outsWe a propose that developing career planing skills will be added as a theme of the study visits.

"The mobility project ""Career counselor exchange in Europe"" envisages cooperation among nine partners who have agreed to organize a week-long introduction to their national career guidance system and working methods as well as practical approaches to the challenges of European education policy priorities from the career guidance aspect. The exchange programs will be run in spring of 2015 and 2016.The goals of the project are to promote the European dimension in career guidance, to exchange good practice, to provide professional development opportunities and mobility experience to career guidance practitioners. The exchange programs will explore the themes ""youth unemployment"", ""early school leaving"" and ""adult guidance"", each partner hosting a program on the theme which is most successfully dealt with in his country. The group of nine partners includes national career guidance associations, Euroguidance centers and career counselor training providers. In order to avoid an unnecessary administrative and financial burden on a single organization, all partners will simultaneously submit a KA1 project application in their country of residence. The partners have agreed to host an exchange visit even in the case that they do not succeed in acquiring funding for out-going mobility. Following a competitive selection process, the Latvian Career Development Support Association (LKAAA) plans to send eight of its members - career guidance practitioners - on the exchanges. Four persons will take part in the exchanges offered in 2015 and four in 2016. As a result of the project, knowledge will be accumulated on good practices in the career guidance field for meeting European educational policy challenges. The results will be disseminated through seminars where the experience of the participants will be presented, as well as through analytical articles and detailed participant reports. The Latvian text and photos will be disseminated via the LKAAA homepage and the Euroguidance Latvia publication ""Career News"". The involved guidance practitioners will gain mobility experience and improve their intercultural skills. Implementation of the project will promote the professional development of guidance practitioners and the capacity-building of a sectoral professional association and will also contribute to the creation of a civil society and the European dimension in career guidance."

The main objective of the Foundation Innove is to coordinate the lifelong learning development activities and implement the relevant programmes and projects and the EU structural aid in a targeted and efficient manner. National Resource Centre for Guidance (NRCG) aka Estonian Euroguidance (EG) Centre, operates in the foundation with the aim to support guidance practitioners in promoting mobility and the European dimension within education and training and in the field of lifelong guidance. NRCG has become the main partner of Ministry of Education and Research in developing the Estonian lifelong guidance services system. As the Estonian EG centre, NRCG belongs to the Academia network, which has been operating for over 15 years with the aim to support career practitioners to become familiar with relevant developments and trends in Europe in the field of lifelong guidance. There are no regular accredited basic training programmes offered to the career specialists in the public universities, therefor it is essential to provide a consistent possibility of different high quality courses.The main goal of this project is to provide an opportunity for the specialists working in the field of lifelong guidance, to gain new experience and knowledge from other European countries and to disseminate best practices among other practitioners in Estonia. With this project we aim to improve the professional abilities of the practitioners and the quality of guidance services provided by them. The multinational study visit groups are of added value – this provides the opportunity to learn from several counties’ practices all at once. Last but not least, all the other participants benefit also from Estonian experiences, shared by Estonian guidance specialists. It is also essential to raise the awareness of the practitioners about mobility as one possibility in lifelong learning. By providing this opportunity to the practitioners, they can have a personal mobility experience and this helps to better realise and promote the value of mobility to others. Besides that, the communication abilities and growth of professional network, along with improved language skills, can be seen as the benefit of this project.Main target group of this project are specialists working in the field of lifelong guidance. As are no accredited basic training programmes for career specialists, our practitioners have various educational backgrounds; most of them are either psychologists, information specialists, youth workers or teachers. During the study visit in spring 2015, ten specialists from the field of lifelong guidance will be visiting their colleagues in different European countries. As the first step in implementing the project, we will launch a call for application among our target group. Based on the application, the selection procedure will be carried through, with the main criteria for successful applicants being working experience in the selected field, language skills and dissemination plans of the project results. There will be an information day organised for the participants, where they learn about practicalities, conditions and the project in general. Then we will sign contracts with the participants and carry on with practical arrangements. The participants have to prepare a personal development plan at least two weeks before the study visit, where they state both their personal goals and methods how to reach them along with planned dissemination activities. In the II quarter of 2015, one-week study visits will take place. After the visits, all participants must fill in relevant feedback forms and reports and foundation Innove will produce compendiums in order to disseminate the results of this project. There will be also a dissemination seminar organised, which is open to everybody.The promoter provides participants practical and logistical support during the whole project. Foundation Innove will make most of the travel arrangements. To solve possible problems during the study visit, all parties involved in this visit (the promoter, hosting partner and the participant) will exchange contact details. During the study visit, the project coordinator in foundation Innove, will be in contact with the hosting organisation and if necessary also with the participant.

Context, objectives, activitiesAcademia is a European project that offers a catalogue of placements for guidance professionals. The main objectives of the project are : the acquisition of professional competences in the context of European LLL guidance, the development of language and intercultural skills, the sharing of knowledge about education and training systems in Europe, and the promotion of the benefits of a mobility week in a hosting partner structure. These mobilities are based on the exchange of practices on common themes. In the end the counselees will also benefit from the mobility of the guidance professionals.This project is proposed by a European partnership of institutions working in various and evolving contexts in the field of LLL guidance. The catalogue offers placements on transversal themes related to guidance. Guidance is at both a European and national level an important issue and a lever for achieving European goals concerning mobility, training and employment, above all for employment and education which are two of the five EU objectives in the Europe 2020 strategy.Participant ProfilesParticipants come from structures involved in LLL guidance. Guidance professionals must provide information and quality counselling to all target groups, especially to those who are furthest from training and employment. They work in a globalized economy, with a permanently changing European labour market that is in crisis, and where information technology and communication have grown extremely important. Information sources have multiplied, the number of guidance structures has increased, an so have the requests for counselling and support. At all levels professionals are asked to network and to be reactive in the implementation of training, employment and integration policies. If professionals need constantly updated information, they also raise questions regarding their identity, look for new ideas and feel the need to share and learn about other professionals. Methodology for the management of the projectThe partnership includes a European coordinator and national coordinators, hosting and sending institutions in each partner country. Together they define the themes that will be developed in the placements. Each coordinator organizes the placement(s) in his country, with hosting institutions that have expertise in counselling and guidance. The coordinator is responsible for the placements and the quality of their contents (information, exchange of best practices, placement periods, conviviality, evaluation). The coordinator also organizes the selection of the national professionals to be sent abraod.Expected results and impactsA Europass Mobility is given to each participant, describing the contents of the placement in terms of knowledge and skills (professional and intercultural knowledge, exchange of best practices , initiation and implementation of professional networks, information on the European dimension of guidance, linguistic skills, knowledge in new tools, ... ).After the placement, the participant will become a multiplier of mobility. The participant will disseminate the results of the mobility experience with colleagues so that they can also benefit from the mobility and the Erasmus + activities .Through the sharing of innovative practices at a European level, the counselees of guidance professionals (youth, students and adults) will receive practical information, tips and counselling that take into account the European dimension and the benefits of the mobility experience.The results for the partnership are : a further development of transnational and national cooperation, and a strengthening of expertise in the field of guidance professionals' mobility.Potential long-term benefits- the development of the European dimension in guidance activities should benefit both the structures and their clients,- the implementation of new networks of professionals,- the evelopment of new mobility projects (multiplication and innovation),- the exchange and dissemination of innovative practices implemented in Europe should help to reduce drop-out in education and training,- the promotion of mobility, especially among the most vulnerable populations, should enable them to enhance their skills and improve their employability.