"In line with the objectives of the Europe 2020 Strategy and ET2020, through ""InTerra"", the consortium, led by the Agricultural VET Institute Fratelli Agosti, Bagnoregio (VT), aims to improve the quality of education and vocational training, giving a European dimension to the educational paths and thus providing the young participants the opportunity to test and improve their skills: professionalism in the specific areas of vocational education (viticulture), cultural knowledge and language preparation. This general objective, in line with the ET2020 strategy is pursued through a mobility experience that consists of a learning mobility internship abroad of 1 month for 132 students/learners (including 20 disabled or with special needs students) and a 3 month internship for 110 recent graduates from the 11 participating VET schools. The training programme includes an internship in selected companies in the viticulture and wine production fields, to acquire knowledge and skills within the sectors and compare the various professional techniques, and activities aimed at the inclusion and integration in the context and for the improvement of language skills and to better know the culture of the hosting country. The main expected results from the project include: the rise of the personal and professional skills of the participants and the promotion of key competencies related to the real exercise of active citizenship; increasing the employment potential of the participants, the introduction of innovative training methods as a complement to existing practices and pathways and the improvement of the educational level of technical and vocational schools, the development of relations between the transnational partners and the promotion of processes of cooperation and exchange of good practices between the partners involved, with a significant impact in improving the educational and vocational guidance. The construction of a permanent network of transnational public-institutional organisations and not only, therefore, is one of the main objectives of the project and allows the exchange of experiences and best practices at various levels (technical excellence, best practices in educational policies and governance of the system). The Consortium, with this proposal, therefore, aims to give momentum to the internationalization of institutional relations and cooperation at European level. The opportunities for economic and social growth cannot be separated from the desire to create strong interdependence and synergy between educational and training institutions and strong partnerships with local and foreign business realities. The project is, besides, implemented in an European context considering the European priority and thematic approached such as ""ECVET for transparency and recognition of learning outcomes and qualifications"". The development of ECVET began in 2002 after the Copenhagen Process emphasizing the need for a credit transfer system for VET. ""InTerra"" is a project based on the concrete responses to the questions of developing ECVET in the European member States and corresponding to the 2009 EU Recommendations on the establishment of the European Credit system for VET. The project works in particular to realise an European area for Lifelong Learning in the viticulture and wine production sector. The whole activities are implemented by regarding a strong European perspective which is reflected in all project activities and results. The project aims to increase the knowledge of ECVET and its technical specifications and ensuring that the added value of ECVET is understood and perceived all over Europe. To represent knowledge, skills and competencies acquired by the participants during the mobility, the Consortium, shall adopt, finally, the OPEN BADGE STANDARD (OBI-Open Badges Infrastructure), which is a technological open source standard, defined by the Mozilla Foundation, to identify, collect and enhance persons' knowledge, skills and competencies. The Open Badges are essential as the labor market and the training systems need more and more dynamic and innovative systems that recognize knowledge, skills, competencies and quality of human capital."

"There is no story without a wine, a work of art without the smell of typical food products, music without the aroma of a story.The Buds Budding Mobility Plus project has strengthened the collaboration between the IVF systems in Southern Tuscany, connected to the three Technical Professional Poles ""Agribusiness and cultural heritage"" of the areas of Grosseto, Siena and Arezzo, pursuing objectives dictated by the Europe 2020 strategy that aims to re-launch the EU economy in the next decade in a smart, sustainable and inclusive manner. The excellence of agribusiness in Tuscany, which are part of the very image of Tuscany in the world, and the valorisation strategies put in place by the territories, are in fact a way of how we can achieve them. In Tuscany indeed Quality, traceability and certifications, enhancement of typical and local productions are cornerstones of the economic and social development of our territories, they constitute a renewed employment lever for young people who have a growing desire and energy to reinterpret the traditions and riches of the territory keeping a firm sustainable growth model inherent in our culture, which finds further confirmation in the green economy. BBuM + has in fact developed actions to apply THE GREEN CONCEPT IN AGRIBUSINESS IN CONNECTION TO THE EUROPEAN SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT CONCEPTS.As indicated in the candidacy, we organized 90 mobility for students and 31 mobility for new graduates from all the already identified Technical and Professional Institutes that have implemented a personal and professional growth path useful for their employability.The structure of the project was this:- information actions and meetings with young people and families;- selection of recipients and their psycho-pedagogical and linguistic preparation (through the OLS platform);- experience and training / internship abroad in SMEs in Spain, Malta, France, Germany, Portugal, UK;- return to Italy and transparency / recognition of skills, knowledge and skills, also acquired as a training credit;- sharing of results with the territory and businesses.Students' experiences were configured as an alternation between school and work, while the experiences of newly graduated students have in fact anticipated the introduction of ErasmusPro, having a duration of over three months and being essentially oriented towards the employment of young people. Output competences have been identified with the Chambers of Commerce and partnership companies, taking care to enhance cross-cutting aspects of local development sustainability:- INNOVATIVE TECHNICAL-PROFESSIONAL SKILLS AGRICULTURE, AGRO-FOOD and TOURISM / CULTURAL HERITAGE SECTOR- GREEN SKILLS in reference to the agri-food / agribusiness sectors- KEY COMPETENCES for lifelong learning.BBuM + has thus contributed to responding to the competitiveness and internationalization needs of our businesses and, at the same time, offered young people tools to grow as individuals and enter the world of work with better prospects and with a portfolio of experiences and validated competences that are clear and recognizable, readable in the context of education, training and work. We have indeed identified, described and evaluated the learning outputs in harmony with the EU Recommendations, in particular EQF and ECVET.The objectives fully achieved by BBuM +, the very few deviations recorded with the design phase, have shown a stability and continuity over time of the Leonardo da Vinci and Erasmus Plus projects carried out by the Province of Grosseto in synergy with the other two provinces of Southern Tuscany, Arezzo and Siena, and with the local Chambers of Commerce. The effects of the successful outcome of the project go on beyond the term of the Convention, they represent consolidated results achieved through a continuous work of the leader with schools, companies, institutions. We have acquired a 'habit' in considering transnational educational experiences as an integral part of the growth of our young people and their qualification pathways, an indispensable enrichment to foster the competitiveness of Tuscan agribusiness businesses and production chains.We are now so aware of the benefits that Erasmus + brings, that this project has constituted a key turning point in setting ourselves more structured and systemic objectives in the logic of a better European development plan and of the request of the VET Charter for the part that concerns precisely the professional training in European learning contexts."

The main difficulties encountered today by Italian companies in the Agricultural sector and in the Agri-food and Agro-industrial sectors (especially those located in the Center-South) concern the adoption of sustainable production processes, technological innovation and the adoption of targeted marketing and communication strategies to inform and sensitize the final consumer (even today not fully aware) about sustainable productions and transformations. To meet these important challenges, Italian companies must be able to count on highly qualified and specialized personnel, in possession of: - Knowledge and innovative technical skills, such as to guarantee high quality productions and transformations (DoP, Docg, Igt), with sustainability features (Biological and Biodynamic) and traceability of supply chains; - Linguistic and marketing skills, which allow to identify the best information and communication strategies to be adopted to ensure greater competitiveness of companies on national and international markets. It is in this context that the BIOTECH project is inserted, proposing to provide the STUDENTS and the JUST GRADUATED of the Agrarian Institutes involved (located in geographical areas where the production and the agricultural and agri-food transformation with sustainable techniques is lower than the national average) the opportunity to specialize their skills through a training internship in EU companies that are distinguished by TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION, PLANTS and SUSTAINABLE PRODUCTION TECHNIQUES and QUALITY BRANDS, useful to test and STRENGTHEN THE SECTOR KNOW-HOW and the KNOWLEDGE of A SECOND LANGUAGE, as well as to stimulate the SELF-ENTREPRENEURSHIP and the start up of BUSINESS NETWORKING. At sectoral level, the SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES of the project are, therefore: - Train qualified professional figures, able to promote progress and sustainable development and able to enter with competence and awareness in the entrepreneurship world of the AGRICULTURAL, AGRO-FOOD and AGRO-INDUSTRIAL sectors; - Promote the transfer of skills and innovation in the sectors in order to enhance their competitiveness and positioning on national and international markets. GENERAL OBJECTIVES of the project are: increase, in line with EU 2020 STRATEGY and ET2020, the mobility of young people and introduce the transnational dimension as a basic element for their qualification and professionalism; enhance their transversal and communicative skills in a foreign language; qualify students through an EU internship that makes them more competitive on the labor market; contribute to the consolidation of the system for transferring and validating learning outcomes in an ECVET-compatible framework. These objectives are pursued through an experience of mobility in ES, PT, FR, UK and MT of 1 MONTH for 120 students of classes IV and 3 MONTHS (ERASMUSPRO) for 96 new graduated of the 12 Agrarian VET Institutes involved. In summary, the activities envisaged by the project are: 1. Cross-cutting activities: Management; Dissemination and exploitation of results; Follow up; 2. Mobility preparation: Communication and cooperation plan; Selection and preparation of participants; Definition of learning plan; 3. Mobility: Internship in the company; Monitoring; Evaluation of traineeships and projects; transparency of the LOs. From the methodological point of view the project includes: - continuous and active involvement of all project staff figures; accompaniment, tutoring and monitoring interventions; teaching methodologies based on involvement, participation, the high integration between theory and practice, the development of practical skills that can be immediately spent, the validation of acquired skills; - a system of intermediate and final checks to monitor progress in learning achieved by the participants, as well as to evaluate, certify and validate them; - the preparation of a final report focused on identifying the effective functioning of the activities and the elements that can be reproduced, transferred and integrated within the Consortium and in other contexts. These, therefore, the expected impacts: AT THE END OF PROJECT: -development of the specialized skills of the target groups involved (216 young people between students and new graduated); -realization of models and training tools of innovative value. IN THE MIDDLE TERM: - dissemination of the results and training models between the subjects of the relevant macro-sector and of vocational training; - provision of results and training models for institutions and professionals of local / regional territories; IN LONG TERM: - orientation of the policies of the public partners involved based on the results of the project; - use of procedures as a standard model.

"The Erasmus+ project TastER (Training agro-food students from Emilia-Romagna to Europe) stems from a deep knowledge of the Emilia-Romagna region and its needs, with an integrated approach aimed at promoting, enhancing and protecting biodiversity, food and wine excellence and regional agri-food businesses, with pragmatic references to operational tools which, through the European comparison, will allow participants to acquire professional skills that can be immediately used in the labour market.The project, carried out from November 2018 to February 2020, was promoted by a large National Consortium led by the ""Magnaghi-Solari"" school of Salsomaggiore Terme (PR) and composed of 18 other VET hospitality and agro-food schools and training centres of Emilia-Romagna: Bartolomeo Scappi, Arrigo Serpieri (BO), Lazzaro Spallanzani, Ignazio Calvi (MO), Motti, Convitto Corso, Zanelli, Mandela (RE), Galilei-Bocchialini, Zappa-Fermi (PR), O. Vergani - F.lli Navarra (FE), Pellegrino Artusi (RA), T. Guerra (RN), ENAIP Reggio Emilia, La Cremeria, ENAIP Parma, FormaFuturo, IAL Serramazzoni.TastER gave the opportunity to 195 young people (135 students and 60 newly graduated and newly qualified) to carry out a professional internship experience in the tourism, agricultural, hotel and catering sectors, in the following destinations: London (UK), Tralee (Ireland), Bordeaux (France), Lisbon and Braga (Portugal), La Coruña and Valencia (Spain), Leipzig (Germany), Prague (Czech Rep.), Amsterdam (Netherlands) and Malta.The young participants (17-20 years), selected from the VET schools and training centres of the TastER Consortium, thus had the opportunity to improve their technical, linguistic and transversal skills, in a path of growth professional and staff full of challenges and satisfactions.Typical agro-food products and rural development represent a distinctive combination for the Emilia-Romagna Region, also a partner of the National Consortium, which, thanks to this project, has been able to enhance its great heritage of traditions and agro-food production excellence, focusing on the effective effects that TastER has been able to guarantee, in terms of protection and promotion of food and wine excellences, while promoting knowledge and affirmation of the typical specialties of the area, in order to increase their diffusion, appreciation and consumption.In this way, the project has contributed to meeting the competitiveness and internationalization needs of Emilia-Romagna companies in the sector, offering young participants useful tools to grow as individuals and enter the professional level, with better prospects and with a portfolio of experiences and clear, recognizable and legible validated competences in the contexts of education, training and work.TastER was in fact able to respond to the need to increase the quality of the individual members of the Consortium and mobility, facilitating the creation of an increasingly accessible European labour market and able to guarantee the recognition of the skills and qualifications owned."

The European Section has existed in our college for the last 10 years . This year 2 NVQ level 3 classes ( Agricultural Vocotional ‘A’ Level) comprising of 42 pupils studying either winegrowing or landscape gardening are concerned. 21 of those pupils will have the opportunity to carry out a 4-week internship in companies in Spain , Malta, Ireland and Slovenia from 10/08 to 04/09/15 or from 21/09/ to 16/10/15.This internship answers the following aims :The internship , whether abroad or in France , is part of the frame of reference of the French Agricultural Vocational ‘A’ level and is assessed as such , with a mark for the internship report counting for the final exam mark. In the case of an internship abroad, a « Section Européenne » major appears on the exam certificate , which is rewarding for students entering the working world.It allows young men and women , sometimes facing school failure , to regain confidence and pass their final exam and even continue studying for an HND , with a strong wish to re-do a foreign internship during their next course.It allows our college to offer an innovative opportunity in its prospectus.It allows our foreign partners to become acquainted with the courses we offer, the level they correspond to in order to open the possibility of professional integration in Europe .It is part and parcel of our college mission statement under the heading of international cooperation and professional integration. both at home and abroad.A dedicated team of teachers has been contacting companies and different types of accommodation , either in person in the case of new partners or by email and phone since January 2015 and will continue to finalise up to June 2015. This also includes exploratory trips .Meetings are held regularly by the coordinateur ( who also deals with the Erasmus and French Ministry of Agriculture files) ; meetings with the team, pupils and sometimes parents.Then come the departure dates, with teachers leading the groups , as our pupils are , generally , under age.This project should improve the pupils academic and exam results as well as allowing them to join the working world more easily. It acts as a catalyser for the teaching teams , adding a valuable dynamic, develops international cooperation and conveys an image of quality innovative courses within our college.