The project “International mobility - opportunity to improve“ is designed for students and vocational teachers of Alytus vocational training centre and the people organizing educational process. It is seeking in this project to cover the widest possible range of training programs applied at Alytus vocational training centre, so the project has even seventeen host partners in ten countries. All partners are vocational schools or institutions closely associated with vocational training, the part of them has Erasmus + mobility charters. This project provides two inbound teaching visits, during which will be implemented aerography training sessions for students and vocational teachers of Alytus vocational training centre and other vocational schools, the next one will be for cook training program students and teachers to teach them the delicacy of the Italian kitchen. The aims of the project: - Improve students' technological knowledge and skills, to enhance the competitiveness of future professionals in the labor market introducing the quality of services, working innovations, the requirements of qualifications as well as national features applied in the other EU countries; - To improve students' social and general competences: intercultural communication, the skills of socialization, teamwork and a foreign language; - Develop students' international mobility, their ability to assess their own competences and integrate themselves into the international labor market; - Create opportunities for vocational teachers to develop their professional, technological competences, to take over the best educational practices and adapt them in their work; - Provide the possibility for each teacher to self-evaluate their professional activities, to plan professional development, to try new teaching (learning) methods creatively and new technological equipment; - Create opportunities for vocational teachers to develop the personal initiative, to improve their skills sharing the samples of the best practices with colleagues of other foreign countries. The students, participating in the project, have common aspects: to acquire new competences, to improve the professional foreign language skills, to train during the practice to use modern equipment and technology, to acquire the possibility to adapt to changing labor market needs. During the project, it will be ensured that pupils have the opportunity to improve their professional skills while working with the latest technology and equipment. During the internships, they will work in Spanish, Germany, Latvian, Finnish, Estonian, Italian, Slovenian, Danish, French and Polish vocational schools and business companies and will use the most modern equipment and improve their professional competences, will get acquainted with the highest requirements of work culture and health and safety, the history of a host country, culture and traditions, will develop their linguistic skills and professional motivation. The outcomes, achieved during the students international mobility, will be validated and recognized using elements of ECVET, which will provide the transparency of vocational training, mutual trust and mobility in the space of vocational training. Teachers will get acquainted with the curriculum of foreign vocational training, training programs and qualification requirements for employees, analyze the practical organization of the work process in companies, the services provided to customers. By participating in the activities of partner‘s organization they improve their professional and social competences, will take over the best educational practices and adapt them to their work. For each participant, who will successfully complete the internship in the foreign partner‘s organization, will be issued the Europass Mobility Document, which will reflect the acquired new skills during the internship. Host organizations will also provide them with their institutional certificates, which will confirm the internship, implemented abroad, and acquired competences. During the project and after it the information about the project and its results will be published on the website of Alytus vocational training centre. It will be arranged the dissemination conference in order to disseminate the results of the project participants and it will be invited the representatives of Lithuanian vocational schools, employers and it will be published an article in the media. During the implementation of the project‘s dissemination the information about the project and its outcomes reach a lot of students and teachers of Lithuanian vocational schools, the academic community of schools, society, the members of partners‘ organizations and members of practice institutions.

The project “Qualitative internship - step towards successful career“ designed for students and vocational teachers of Alytus vocational training centre and the people organising educational process. Within this project we were striving to cover the widest possible range of training programmes applied at Alytus vocational training centre, so the project had even thirteen host partners in five countries. All partners were vocational schools or institutions closely associated with vocational training, the part of them has Erasmus + mobility charters. This project provided the first teaching visit, during which aerography training sessions were implemented for students and vocational teachers of Alytus vocational training centre.The aims of the project:- to mprove students' technological knowledge and skills, to enhance the competitiveness of future professionals in the labour market introducing the quality of services, working innovations, the requirements of qualifications as well as national features applied in the other EU countries;- to improve students' social and general competences: intercultural communication, the skills of socialisation, teamwork and a foreign language;- to develop students' ability to assess their own competences and integrate themselves into the international labour market;- to create opportunities for vocational teachers to develop their professional, technological competences, to take over the best educational practices and adapt them in their work;- to provide the possibility for each teacher to self evaluate their professional activities, to plan professional development, to try new teaching (learning) methods creatively and new technological equipment;- to create opportunities for vocational teachers to improve their skills sharing the samples of the best practices with colleagues of other foreign countries.The students, who participated in the project, had common aspects: to acquire new competences, to improve the professional foreign language skills, to train during the practice to use modern equipment and technology, to acquire the possibility to adapt to changing labour market needs.With this project we strived that students would have the opportunity to improve their professional skills while working with the latest technology and equipment. During the internships, they worked in Spanish, Polish, French, Finnish, Estonian, Latvian and Slovenian vocational schools and businesses and used the most modern equipment and deepen their professional competences, got acquainted with the highest requirements of work culture and health and safety, the history of a host country, culture and traditions, developed their linguistic skills and professional motivation. The outcomes, achieved during the part of the students international mobility, were validated and recognised using ECVET, which provided the transparency of vocational training, mutual trust and mobility in the space of vocational training.Teachers got acquainted with the curriculum of foreign vocational training, training programmes and qualification requirements for employees, analysed the practical organization of the work process in companies. By participating in the activities of partner‘s organization they improved their professional and social competences, took over the best educational practices and adapted them to their work.For each participant, who successfully completed the internship in the foreign partner‘s organization, the Europass Mobility Documents were issued, which reflects the acquired new skills during the internship. Host organizations also provided them with their institutional certificates which confirmed the internship, implemented abroad, and acquired competences.During the project and after it the information about the project and its results were published on the website of Alytus vocational training centre. Dissemination conference was arranged in order to disseminate the results of the project participants – projects participants, Alytus vocational training centre community members and employers' representatives were invited into the conference. Article about implemented project was prepared and published in Alytus region newspaper. Also TV reportage about Erasmus+ carried out activities in Alytus vocational training centre was broadcasted on Alytus region TV. This project participants also shared their experience and impressions about implemented mobility activities.The project and its results reached the following target groups:- school‘s students and teachers;- educational institutions and community of Alytus region;- employers' organizations.

In all Baltic Sea Region countries there is a great shortage of entrepreneurs and managers, so that growth in SMEs is severely limited and innovation capacity is much lower than it could and should be. For demographic reasons, this shortage will increase sharply in the future. In most Baltic Sea Region countries, the number of younger workers will fall by up to 25% by 2030. In view of this sharp decline on the one hand and the high aging of current company owners on the other, it is becoming increasingly difficult to attract enough business successors and start-ups. The shortage of entrepreneurs is particularly noticeable in countries with predominantly school-based vocational training and a lack of further training. In addition to the high demand for entrepreneurs, SMEs also have at least the same demand for managers with sound professional and technical qualifications as well as leadership and management skills. In countries with school-based vocational training to date, SMEs also urgently need personnel with pedagogical qualifications and trainer aptitude in order to carry out training in companies within the dual vocational training.In Germany and Norway, for example, training to become a master craftsman is of outstanding importance in securing the next generation of entrepreneurs and managers in SMEs. However, the qualification level of the master craftsman training varies widely in the Baltic Sea Region countries. The aim of the project was to gain company successors, start-ups and managers by means of a comparable master craftsman qualification at a high level in the Baltic Sea Region, to increase the efficiency and competitiveness of SMEs and at the same time to promote the realisation of dual vocational training. On the basis of the German master craftsman training and experiences from other Baltic Sea Region countries, a concept, curricula, teaching materials and examination regulations for a uniform master craftsman training in the entire Baltic Sea Region were developed. The curricula were tested and evaluated in Denmark, Poland, Lithuania and Latvia in order to gain experience with different regional/national conditions and to ensure high transfer and implementation success. The developed master craftsman training also includes a pedagogical part, which leads to an entitlement to vocational training in companies. The qualification programme was classified in the European Qualification Framework and assessed with credit points according to ECVET, so that a cross-border transfer of acquired competences as well as the international recognition of the qualification was ensured.In addition, a comprehensive concept was developed and coordinated in order to enable the integrated attainment of master craftsman qualification and Bachelor's degree within the dual Bachelor's study programmes.Target groups of the master craftsman training are: a) persons employed in companies; b) unemployed persons with good professional qualifications and experience, who use them to significantly improve their chances on the labour market or to become self-employed;c) students and graduates who will have good opportunities to take on management roles in SMEs or who will achieve outstanding preparation for self-employment. Beneficiaries are also SMEs that attract much-needed managers or business successors.In order to constantly attract qualified lecturers to carry out master craftsman training, a training programme for teaching staff has been developed and implemented, which will in future be offered on an ongoing basis by colleges and universities. Target groups are teachers from chambers of commerce, industry and crafts, other vocational training providers, colleges and universities who are specifically qualified as trainers. This benefits all providers of master craftsman training.Under the leadership of the Hanse Parlament, the project consortium consisted of altogether eight partners: chambers, associations, further education institutions, vocational schools and universities from Denmark, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Norway. In addition, 68 chambers of commerce, industry and crafts with their educational institutions, other vocational training providers as well as colleges and universities from 13 countries were involved as associated partners. All project results were published in a handbook and transferred to the 68 associated partners, who received needs-oriented implementation advice. The results were presented and comprehensively discussed at meetings and international advisory and transfer conferences. At the same time, politicians, administrations and other stakeholders were involved. This ensured that the master craftsman training in education and economic policy was anchored at local, regional and national level and that the project results were extremely sustainable and used on a broad basis.

SMEs account for 99% of all entrepreneurs, nearly 70% of all jobs and create around 80% of all new jobs. The further development of SMEs is most limited by a large and growing shortage of entrepreneurs, managers and skilled workers. By 2030, the number of younger workers will decrease by up to 25% in most Baltic Sea countries. In addition to quantitative problems, qualitative bottlenecks are increasingly emerging due to rising, dynamically changing qualification requirements. In Germany, dual VET has proved very successful. In the participating countries Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, training is provided in vocational schools, partly with supplementary work placements in companies. Here participation in vocational training is very low, the qualifications achieved are inadequate and youth unemployment is very high. Particularly in the countries with school-based vocational training, the relevant skills and competences must be significantly improved and high quality achieved. For example, according to a survey in Lithuania, 96% of enterprises would like to see better practical skills and 74% better theoretical skills and abilities. In all the countries participating in the project, there is also a need for a strong improvement in participation in continuing training and the skills and competences acquired in it. According to the EU's objectives, at least 15% of adults should participate in lifelong learning every year. In 2016, this rate was significantly exceeded in Scandinavian countries with up to 29%, whereas in the project countries it was only around 4% (PL) to around 9% (DE). While good company and inter-company training capacities exist in Germany, there are insufficient capacities in vocational training in the other participating countries. Vocational schools and companies have hardly any experience with dual VET and also with company and inter-company further vocational training.Against this background, the project pursued the ambitious goals of further developing the VET systems in the participating countries in a future-oriented way, improving qualifications, making VET more attractive in the long term and reducing the growing shortage of qualified skilled workers.The project was implemented by 7 partners from Germany, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. The internationally active lead partner is particularly experienced in the training and promotion of SMEs and in the implementation of complex training projects. The partners were three experienced vocational training centers and three chambers of commerce, industry and crafts which are responsible for vocational training and operate inter-company training centers themselves. The project comprised 7 work packages with the following main activities.1. project management and implementation of 6 workshops and 2 international multiplier events.2. development, establishment and operation of a sector competence center with realization of dual VET in Slupsk, Poland, on the basis of the Polish reform law, and preparation of implementations in two other countries.3. development and implementation of further training for vocational school teachers, namely for the implementation of dual training and training of lecturers for a technician training4. adaptation and implementation of two different trainings for trainers in SMEs in countries with school-based vocational training so far.5. development and implementation of a two-year further training course for technicians and obtaining the right to study at a University of Applied Sciences.6. development and coordination of concepts for the implementation of dual Bachelor's programs combining dual VET with a Bologna-compliant degree course, and concept for the expansion of the two-stage sectoral competence centers into a three-stage system (VET, CET, higher education) of VET and innovation promotion.7. transfer of the project results to 70 chambers and higher education institutions/universities from 13 countries, which are involved in the project implementation as associated partners and received implementation advice, and implementation of further dissemination measures.For the six products of the project- Blueprints for the implementation of two-tier sector competence centers and dual vocational training courses with curricula- Two curricula for the in-service training of teachers, - Two curricula for the training of trainers in SMEs, - Blueprints and curricula for a two-year further training course to become a technician,- Blueprints for the implementation of dual Bachelor's programs by three-tiered sector competence centers, - Manual with distribution via bookstoreshigh sustainable uses were secured with a process-oriented expansion of the implementation regions including financing.