Ursulinen Mechelen is offering the project ‘Capital Calling’ to Business Support students in their final year to give them the opportunity to spend a whole school year working on internationalization. The icing on the cake is a two week internship in London or Edinburgh during which they will be able to apply the knowledge and skills they have acquired during their course in a different but authentic environment and using a foreign language. This will present our students with the opportunity to push their boundaries and it will also motivate them to fully commit to their final year. Many vocational education students in Office Administration are starting to lose interest in school towards the end of their secondary school education and we feel this opportunity will give them an exciting final year to look forward to, work towards and complete successfully. In order to be considered to take part in the project, students must show that they are motivated, social, open to experiencing different cultures, prepared to spend two weeks abroad and aware of the added value of the opportunity they are given. In the lesson schedule of their final year provision will be made for one seminar lesson per week during which students will become acquainted with the language and culture of the internship locations. They will study life in the United Kingdom, in particular in London and Edinburgh. They will learn about the language, the food, the location, the customs, the currency, tourist attractions, etc. In addition, they will also be prepared on a personal level and will be taught many life lessons: communicating effectively, living together, resolving conflicts, planning, organising, improving their independence by living and traveling in a foreign city and in a foreign language which in turn will strengthen their social skills. This will enable them to achieve many curriculum specific goals (giving a presentation, researching information, self-evaluation, peer-evaluation, etc.) as well as more overarching educational goals. Concrete examples include lessons in communicating (British small talk), budgeting, resolving conflicts. They will visit the British shop in Everberg and take a cooking workshop. They will research specific information about their destination, as well as suitable accommodation and transport options. They will complete a Europass CV and Language Passport. They will make a short video highlighting their motivation for the project and they will clarify this in an interview in front of a jury of teachers and external experts. They will write a weekly blog detailing their most interesting experiences. They will write an assessment of their internship experience and will present their experiences to the students who will come after them. The highlight of the school year is the two week continuous internship in either London or Edinburgh where students will apply and strengthen the knowledge and attitudes acquired at school and where they will execute the tasks of an administrative assistant in an international context: making telephone calls, welcoming visitors, classifying documents, handling correspondence, conducting sales consultations. This will enable them to demonstrate a number of general and professional attitudes, such as punctuality, orderliness, politeness, adhering to dress code, self-reliance, self-confidence, motivation, pushing their boundaries. They will practise the language and experience the culture of their destination in diverse ways. They will become acquainted with company culture in the United Kingdom and will learn to execute the daily tasks at their internship in ways which refine and extend their job specific competencies. In this way they will greatly improve their future job opportunities, they will get a taste for moving around Europe, and they will become aware of their European citizenship. The teachers who accompany them will also benefit by updating and expanding their course specific knowledge, improving their English, strengthening the relationship with their students, establishing contacts with internship companies and expanding the project network. It is our expectation that this will enable us to attract new students to the Office Administration course and to expand the foreign internship to all students in Office Management and Communication year 6. In addition, we are establishing by means of a poll whether some of our teachers are interested in either job shadowing or undergoing further training abroad with a view to making a fresh proposal next school year for teachers within school education. We are also setting up a task force looking at internationalisation in order to join forces and get more fellow teachers involved. In the long term, we are seeking to expand this task force within the KITOS consortium of schools.

BackgroundMany European businesses & industries face great challenges in order to remain competitive players in the global arena. The Going far with European VET (GoEUVET) project has been designed to meet some of the challenges: Vocational training less valued by young peopleIn a recent survey, McKinsey & Company found that nearly 2/3 of the young people who participated in the study agreed that vocational training was less valued by society. Fewer than 40% of those who said they preferred vocational work actually sought out this type of training. In Sweden, only 28% of young people apply for vocational education. At the same time, youth unemployment in Sweden is 25%.Many companies still can't fill their vacancies There are a large number of young, educated people available for work, but many companies still can't fill their vacancies. In the above mentioned McKinsey & Company survey, 43% of the employers stated that candidates don't possess the skills they need. Yet 72% of educators believe new graduates are qualified to land jobs in the real world. In conclusion, educators don’t seem to be aware of what employers are looking for & students may have skills, but not the right ones. For instance, international experience is highly appreciated by the employers. Still few students are provided a transnational learning opportunity as part of their education.ECVET – still a well-kept secretFew VET providers in Europe have discovered ECVET as a mean to quality assure learning opportunities abroad & for VET development. Too few projects utilizing ECVET in practice have been conducted making it difficult to communicate the ‘real’ added value of ECVET. ECVET also needs further investigation, eg is still a challenge for VET teachers to describe & assess learning outcomes. Aim & objectivesAccording to the European growth strategy EU 2020, the EU member states should aim to deliver high levels of employment, productivity & social cohesion. In order to respond to this strategy, a new framework - Education & Training 2020 - has been created including strategic objectives, two of them concerning mobility opportunties & VET quality.The aim of the GoEUVET project is to organise transnational, transparent, transferable & recognisable learning opportunties for VET students in the Trade & administration, Hotel & turism, Car, trucks & Transport, & Restaurant sectors. The involved teachers will be introduced to ECVET & start to develop the mobility concept of the VET program utilizing ECVET. In doing so, the project aims to achieve the following important objectives in line with EU 2020, ET 2020 as well as local goals & strategies at Elof Lindälvs gymnasium & Kungsbacka municipality related to these objectives:Improve VET attractiveness & offer more learning opportunties abroadProviding opportunities to study or work abroad as part of a VET qualification has proved to increase the attractiveness of VET. An immediate effect of the ECVET based European classes at ELG was an increase of student applications. Transnational mobility opportunities also proved to attract more motivated students with better grades & students tend to achieve better results if they are offered an opportunity to study or do work placement abroad as part of their VET program.Improve VET quality by international cooperationInternationalization is often used as a synonym to high quality when communicating VET. Still, few VET providers use this mean to increase VET attractiveness or for organizational development. However, experiences from the previous EURIAC & ECT projects proved that international cooperation indeed had positive impact on the involved VET programs, eg competence development, opportunity to benchmark one’s own VET program, & increased understanding of the pros & cons of one's own & other educational systems in Europe.Reduce youth unemployment The job profiles of the involved VET programs are highly international & students could work anywhere in the world after graduation. To create transparent & transnational learning opportunities within these sectors would therefore blaze a trail to the European labour market for the 70 students that would be involved in the GoEUVET project.Some of the expected results, impact & long term benefits:- Increased attractiveness of involved VET- Increased number of transnat.mobility opportunities for VET students- Increased teacher readiness for international cooperation in the involved VET programs- Increased knowledge of how to utilize ECVET to organize transparent & transferable transnational learning opportunties- Improved student results & higher motivation - Decreased youth unemployment & increased EU labor mobilityIn conclusion, the GoEUVET project will contribute to the fulfillment of goals & objectives at ELG, Kungsbacka municipality, Gy2011, ET 2020, & EU 2020. Ultimately it promotes a European identity, European labor mobility, & European cohesion.

BackgroundMany European businesses & industries are facing enormous challenges to remain competitive in the global arena. One of these challenges is skills needs. At the same time, it is difficult for today's providers in vocational education & training to recruit students & many programs lack quality. The project GoEUVET 2 has been initiated to address some of these challenges:Vocational training less valued by young peopleIn a recent survey, McKinsey & Company found that nearly 2/3 of the young people who participated in the study agreed that vocational training was less valued by society. Fewer than 40% of those who said they preferred vocational work actually sought out this type of training. In Sweden, only 28% of young people apply for vocational education. At the same time, youth unemployment in Sweden is 25%.Many companies can't fill their vacancies There are a large number of young, educated people available for work, but many companies still can't fill their vacancies. In the above mentioned McKinsey & Company survey, 43% of the employers stated that candidates don't possess the skills they need. Yet 72% of educators believe new graduates are qualified to land jobs in the real world. In conclusion, educators don’t seem to be aware of what employers are looking for & students may have skills, but not the right ones. For instance, international experience is highly appreciated by the employers. Still few VET students are provided a transnational learning opportunity as part of their education.ECVET – still a well-kept secretFew VET providers in Europe have discovered ECVET as a mean to quality assure non-formal learning (eg work placement) & for VET development. Few projects utilizing ECVET in practice have been conducted making it difficult to communicate the ‘real’ added value of ECVET. ECVET needs further investigation, eg it remains a challenge for training professionals to describe & assess learning outcomes (knowledge, skills & competencies) achieved in the workplace and/or live projects in cooperation with the outside world. ECVET is a suitable tool for this.Aim & objectivesAccording to the European growth strategy EU 2020, the EU member states should aim to deliver high levels of employment, productivity & social cohesion. In order to respond to this strategy, a new framework - Education & Training 2020 - has been created including strategic objectives, two of them concerning mobility opportunties & VET quality.The aim of the GoEUVET project is to organise transnational mobility & develop a common concept for quality-assured transnational mobility so that the non-formal learning experience becomes transparent, transferable, and possible to communicate to potential employers. In this way, the project contributes to the fulfillment of a number of priority objectives at local, regional, national as well as European level.Overall objectives- Transnational mobility of students in vocational education- Concept development & quality assurance utilizing EQAVET, EQF, ECVET & EuropassActions- Introduction to the EQF, ECVET & Europass for involved personnel- Recruitment of vocational students for trans. mobility- Preparation for trans. mobility- Transnational mobility- Evaluation of trans. mobilities- Recognition of learning outcomes achieved during trans. mobility- Concept development for trans. national mobility- Project coordination- Communications & disseminationExpected results, effects & long-term benefits of the project- Upskilling (acheving extended VET competences), improved linguistic and intercultural competence, and personal development for VET students - Increased number of VET programs offering increased number of transnational VET mobility opportunities- Improved outcomes & increased motivation for VET students- Reduced youth unemployment & increased mobility regionally, nationally & at European level between VET programs/systems & labor markets- Increased attractiveness of the VET programs involved- Increased experience & preparedness for international cooperation among staff involved in vocational programs- Improved quality of the VET programs involved- Dissemination & continued experimentation on the European frameworks ECVET, EQF, EQAVET and Europass.In conclusion, the GoEUVET 2 project will contribute to the fulfillment of the aims & objectives at local, regional, national, & European level. Ultimately it promotes a European identity, European labor mobility, & European cohesion.

In an increasingly globalized world where changes in the international arena rapidly affect local and regional development, municipalities need to be active, changeable and keep abreast of the EU's goals and development, and have effective collaborations and networks. Sweden's membership in the EU offers great opportunities for our municipalities to gain international competence, develop and market the municipality. According to the EU2020, member states will have to work together to increase employment, productivity and social cohesion. Education and Training 2020, outlines the pathway with a number of strategic goals: create more mobility opportunities, utilise European frameworks such as EQAVET, EQF, ECVET and Europass to enhance the quality of education and increase the professional, intercultural and linguistic skills of the participants. Both the municipality of Kungsbacka and Skellefteå have a stated goal that the municipality should participate in international cooperation that corresponds to the identified needs of the organization and encourages the activities to utilize the opportunities offered through EU programs. The objectives of the project are primarily linked to the following strategic objectives in Education and Training 2020: 1. Realize the goals of lifelong learning and mobility 2. Improved quality and outcome of education and training 3. Improve collaboration school-world of work & skills match The aim of the project is also to meet the goals of Gy2011, emphasizing the importance of learning about international issues and promoting exchanges with other countries as a prerequisite for sustainable development. The National Consortium for the LLE project has also identified the following development needs common to all consortium members: 1. Increased awareness of the EU's governing documents and European education and training frameworks and their relationship with the local level (EU2020, Education2020, EU programs, ECVET / EQF, Europass) 2. Practical knowledge of how internationalization can be used as a lever for organizational development, 3. Get more students and staff to discover the opportunity for skills development through internships or job shifts abroad, 4. Strengthen the supervisors at the receiving organizations by using Skolverket's e-learning module for supervisors in the workplace to increase the quality of supervision, 5. Continue to introduce the teachers responsible for the mobility abroad to describe learning outcomes, 6. By offering opportunities for mobility abroad for students and staff create an attractive vocational education pathway for students and attractive workplace for staff. 7. Increased international perspective/knowhow for vocational teachers and supervisors about the needs and development in their specific sector 8. Increased range of skills and competences, 9. Increase the quality of workbased learning abroad by using ECVET in practice and by that inspire and support others locally, regionally, nationally and at European level to use ECVET. 10. Decrease the gap between school and the work place by organizing mutual job shadowing for teachers and supervisors. 11. Create opportunities for collegial learning, sharing of and disseminating best practices by creating a national consortium that further strengthen the quality of work of all the members of the consortium. Thus, the LLE project contributes to achieving objectives at many levels: individual, vocation program, school, municipality, state and commission level. Ultimately, the project promotes a European identity, mobility of European labor and European cohesion.

The project responds to the need that VET schools have to provide their students with the chance to increase and improve the quality of vocational training, by taking internships in European companies, and getting in contact with the single European labour market.This project stems from the successful cooperation of the previous partnership promoted by the IES Simarro, from the high rate of students’ employment that has been achieved (80%), from the interest and high level of satisfaction that have been expressed by both students and coordinating teachers that participated in the previous project as well as from the smooth and close cooperation, developed by partnership’s VET schools. It has propitiated the present project that has meet the demands of educational VET Schools, enhancing better relationships among them and national and European companies.The project has been addressed to 72 VET students and former students: second-year students of middle level vocational training of Tourism and Gastronomy, Computer Science and Administration or recent graduated (who graduated the last year), like mid-level technician of the mentioned professional sectors. The project has organized 9 mobility flows: 5 to Italy, 1 to France, 1 to Poland and 2 to United Kingdom. IES Enguera has selected 8 students, CIPFP Xeste has selected 15 students,CIPFP Ciudad del aprendiz has selected 8 students, el IES LLuis Simarro has selected 23 students, el IES Maria Enriquez has selected 9 students y el IES LLopis Marí has selected 8 students.In the project has participated 35 students of hospitality and tourism, 30 students of IT, 7 students of administration.The main objective of the ODEE project has been to promote student’s development of skills and competences through internships in companies in order to integrate the vocational competences they have already acquired and to efficiently enter the single European labour market. Therefore, students need, from one hand, to develop specific and technical skills in their professional sector, and from another hand, they also need to acquire and improve other key competencies, like cultural, linguistic, entrepreneurship, personal initiative, team, as well as to acquire knowledge about new different work environments. All these competences has enhanced student’s access to the EU labour market, both as self-employee and/or hired worker.The main ACTIVITIES that partners of the project will carry out are:- PREPARATION - IMPLEMENTATION OF THE MOBILITY.- EVALUATION OF THE PARTICIPANTS. - MONITORING.- EVALUATION OF THE PROJECT. - DISSEMINATION. The DISSEMINATION activities and the mobility itself has generated an IMPACT at local, regional and national level. The impact on the partnership’s VET schools has been:- Improving qualifications and competitiveness of youngsters, enabling them to adapt to the digital era’s demands and to a global knowledge-based economy, enhancing , at the same time, the increase of the youth employment and a sustainable growth.- Consolidating and increasing contacts with European entities to modernise education, to share good practices and to develop new projects in the field of European cooperation- Improving the quality of the training, delivered in the school, and adapted to linguistic, social and cultural diversity. This has allowed schools to meet disadvantaged people’s needs in a more efficient way and to understand better what active European citizenship is.- Improving knowledge and the use of evaluation and certification tools (ECVET and EUROPASS). - Increasing the attractiveness of vocational training education, to make it the first selected option for students and enhancing the prestige of the participating VET schools.The project has been strictly related to the 2020 Strategy and the New Skills Agenda for Europe 2016; it is consistent with the strategic priorities for contributing the increase in employment, productivity and social cohesion in the EU and its member states.