Our vocational school has been committed in the European mobility for its learners since 2000. The first partnership started with Finland (Savonlinna). Then it spread with Spain (Teruel), Sweden (Tibro, for a year), Denmark (Skive), and since 2013 with Germany (Beckum). Thanks to the mutualisation of its means, the partners of our partners eventually became our partners : indeed, Denmark was already the partner of Finland before it became our own partner, and Germany was already the partner of Denmark before it became our own partner in 2013.Our school is recognized in its surroundings and has many partnerships with some firms of the region in the fields of woodwork and boat-making. Some of them (which welcome our student for work placements) belong to international companies.Each year, between 8 and 12 students of Terminale Bac Professionnel from the three specialities (cabinet-makers, computer-aided joiners, carpenters) are selected to go on training periods in firms abroad.The teachers of each speciality of Bac Professionnel take in charge the professional part and the preparation of the students' files; documents. They exchange the technical documents with their foreign partners and realize some of the administrative tasks before the students go abroad.The English teachers take in charge the linguistic preparation of the students. They organize the contacts with the foreign partners and the companies which welcome our learners, as well as the monitoring of the students during their training abroad. One of them launches the project and federates the school teams.The administrative manager deals with the material logistic (transport, boarding, payments...) and the relations with institutional partners (Poitou-Charentes Region...).All the members of our staff are definitely convinced that work placements abroad are very positive for our students who become aware that they are European citizens. They also find jobs more easily than other students.

EPICS (Enhancement of Professional, Intercultural and Communication Skills) offered trainees in the dual system of vocational training the opportunity to develop several important competences by spending some time abroad. The requirements in different occupational areas have changed. Besides professional competence, language and intercultural competences have become more and more important in a Europe that is continuously growing together. A lot of companies in Berufskolleg Beckum’s commuting area cooperate with European partners or have their own subsidiaries there. Therefore the ability to communicate in a foreign language is gradually developing into a job requirement.The intercultural competences of a lot of our students in our rural environment tend to be rather underdeveloped. Some of them have been abroad on holiday, but their experience is limited to a touristic perspective. During the work experience the students had the opportunity to experience being an individual and a representative of our country abroad. It enabled them to see and reflect the German everyday working life from a different perspective. The students‘ way of looking at things in Germany has become more reflected, they drew comparisons between the countries, realized different values and evaluated them more consciously. An extended knowledge of the command of the English language could be acquired, especially as basic communication in the foreign language was guaranteed by everyday communication with their English-speaking contacts.The participants of this projects were apprentices in the dual system of vocational training who train in the technological area of trade and industry. They train to be IT specialists – application development and system integration -, IT management assistants, joiners, electricians or mechatronic technicians. There were 39 students from these areas participating in the EPICS project. The companies where those apprentices are trained are small and medium-sized enterprises from different branches of trade and industry. At the start of the work exchange the apprentices were between 18 – 22 years old. Further participants were students of the Technical College for wood technology and metal engineering, who completed their compulsory 6 - 8-week project work in their second phase of training abroad. As future managers their stay abroad means a diversification of their potential area of work.The implementation of the project began with the selection of the participants. For that reason there was an information meeting for apprentices and companies in May/June of that year. The project objectives and overall conditions were introduced and explained. The responsible project managers subsequently selected the participants according to their personal and professional suitability. There were preparatory language courses during English lessons at the vocational college as well as a workshop about country-specific characteristics and peculiarities around one month previously to the departure. The responsible project managers organized and monitored the stay of the students. This includes organizing flights, accommodation in host families and the provision of a work experience placement. Europasses were awarded to the students to certify the work experience abroad.The project aimed at goals on different levels. On the one hand apprentices were given the chance to gain an insight into the world of work of companies abroad. This way, contacts to colleagues could be established and work processes of these companies became familiar. This knowledge and experience provide the students with an advantage in the competition on the labour market. Another important goal was the improvement of the students' foreign language skills. Outside the classroom, students were forced to use the foreign language in their living environment to make themselves understood. Additionally, for some students it was the first longer absence from their familiar environment, which was a challenge for a lot of them. To accept this challenge, discover new and unknown things and to cope with anxieties and concerns is a further goal of this project. Solving problems without the support of their parents, to find their way around in an unfamiliar environment and to organize their everyday life were necessary steps or learning processes on their way to more self-confidence and assurance. The students who came back after their work experience were altered and have made good progress in their personality development. Additionally, through their stay abroad the students have developed more tolerance for other cultures which made them question their perspective and sometimes caused them to revise it.

Duration of mobilities has now with ERASMUS+ become more flexsible which will be considered when planning the needs in actual mobilities. But experience is that you can have a lot of outcome from a 1 week visit. And as a rule this will be the duration. Skive Technical School has a tradition of participating in international projects. As part of the school's strategy against drop outs and for internationalization, we have sought funds to provide exchange with Finnish, French, Swedish, Czech and German cooperative schools. This year we also include HMCollege from Amsterdam who we look forward to work with. Through the deployment of teachers in collaborating schools abroad we know that they get skills and insights they can use; at the same time it motivates them to 'sell' the exchange of students. Through their own experience and contacts they get a more intimate relationship with the places and persons we could send students to. Moreover, our teachers during visits to other countries that do things differently, has a different professional culture etc. gets a feeling for what concerns students and their parents in connection with an upcoming exchange. Finally they train their communication skills in a foreign language and can classify their own professional skills in an international perspective that students can benefit from. The mission will last one week during which visitors get: • A deeper introduction to the visited country's education system • Opportunity to study the teaching practices of the organization they are visiting • Opportunity to visit other social partners in the country• Companies in the local area which could be relevant to their professional horizons • Opportunity to discuss their experience and work on developing educational tools that can make teaching and learning better • Knowledge of training and organization of education in the country visited • Possibility to develop and train teachers to be more successful with their education and avoid drop-out; drop out appears to be a growing problem in all countries • Opportunity to practice and get better at communication in a foreign language about a foreign culture and about one’s own cultural property and academic tradition • Insight into the country's production in the respective disciplines • Insight into the country's culture and history • Good experiences that will motivate teachers to make students more interested in acquiring knowledge gain new knowledge, experience, practice communication and a lot more through an exchange visit to another country with a whole different story and other professional and educational traditions, which it can be healthy to gain insight into whether they are better or worse than the traditions you come from. We have in the period 2013 to 2015 had teachers in Sweeden, Finland, Czech Republic, and Germany and been visited by Czech, Finnish, French, and Spanish teachers from different professions. It has given our teachers a boost and opened their eyes to give students internationalization in a completely different way than before.In teaching it counts much more that you can tell from your own experience / anecdotal on experiences in other countries as well professional from school and company visits as private from dinners and hospitality in private homes in a manner that is foreign to most Danes!Partners are selected in order to be able to provide input on the professions and education we have in Skive Technical Institute and in order to inspire us in the educational field and the use of renewable energy as we have staked a lot on the last years.Teacher mobility to some extent have to take place outside the 'student season' for both parties and implemented in concert with partners to fit both our and their due dates.Wood teachers are sent primarily to partner schools in France and Italy, carpenters also Finland. Here they also have excellent El departments and partners are very interesting for renewable energy topic sun / water.Upholstery teachers like France, also Italy and auto saddlers go to Sweden.For our metal and toolmaker teachers Germany is very interesting, but also Sweden. Visits can be part of creating networks for future cooperation and exchange of students.

Our vocational school has been committed in the European mobility for its learners since 2000. The first partnership started with Finland (Savonlinna). Then it spread with Spain (Teruel and Barcelona), Sweden (Tibro, for a year), Denmark (Skive), and since 2012 with Germany (Beckum). Thanks to the mutualisation of its means, the partners of our partners have eventually become our partners : indeed, Denmark was already the partner of Finland before it became our own partner, and Germany was already the partner of Denmark before it became our own partner. Our school is recognized in its surroundings and has many partnerships with some firms of the region in the field of woodwork and boat-making. Some of them (which welcome our student for work placements) belong to international companies. Each year, between 8 and 12 students of Terminale Bac Professionnel and Brevet des Métiers d'Art (cabinet-makers, computer-aided joiners, carpenters) are selected to go on training periods in companies abroad. The teachers of each speciality of Bac Professionnel take in charge the professional part and the preparation of the students' documents. They exchange the technical documents with their foreign partners and realize some of the administrative tasks before the students go abroad. The English teachers take in charge the linguistic preparation of the students. They organize the contacts with the foreign partners and the companies which welcome our learners, as well as the monitoring of the students during their training abroad. One of them launches the project and federates the school teams.

EPICS (Enhancement of Professional, Intercultural and Communication Skills) offers trainees in the dual system of vocational training the opportunity to develop several important competences by spending some time abroad. The requirements in different occupational areas have changed. Besides professional competence, language and intercultural competences have become more and more important in a Europe that is continuously growing together. A lot of companies in Berufskolleg Beckum’s commuting area cooperate with European partners or have their own subsidiaries there. Therefore the ability to communicate in a foreign language is gradually developing into a job requirement.The intercultural competences of a lot of our students in our rural environment tend to be rather underdeveloped. Some of them have been abroad on holiday, but their experience is limited to a touristic perspective. During the work experience the students have the opportunity to experience being an individual and a representative of our country abroad. It enables them to see and reflect the German everyday working life from a different perspective. The students‘ way of looking at things in Germany will become more reflected, they will draw comparisons between the countries, realize different values and evaluate them more consciously. An extended knowledge of the command of the English language could be assumed but basic communication in the foreign language is guaranteed anyway by everyday communication with their English-speaking contacts.The participants of this projects will be apprentices in the dual system of vocational training who train in the technological area of trade and industry. They train to be IT specialists – application development and system integration -, IT management assistants, painters, wood- and metal technicians or mechatronic technicians. There will be 26 students from these areas participating in the EPICS project. The companies where those apprentices are trained are small and medium-sized enterprises from different branches of trade and industry. At the start of the work exchange the apprentices will be between 18 – 22 years old.The implementation of the project begins with the selection of the participants. For that reason there will be an information meeting for apprentices and companies in May/June of this year. The project objectives and overall conditions will be introduced and explained. The responsible project managers subsequently select the participants according to their personal and professional suitability. There will be preparatory language courses during English lessons at the vocational college as well as a workshop about country-specific characteristics and peculiarities around one month previously to the departure. The responsible project managers organize and monitor the stay of the students. This includes organizing flights, accommodation in host families and the provision of a work experience placement.