This action supports physical and blended mobility of higher education students and staff from EU Member States and third countries associated to Erasmus+ to any country in the world. Students in all study fields and cycles can take part in a study period or traineeship abroad. Higher education teaching and administrative staff can take part in professional development activities abroad, as well as staff from the field of work in order to teach and train students or staff at higher education institutions.

This action supports physical and blended mobility of higher education students and staff from EU Member States and third countries associated to Erasmus+ to any country in the world. Students in all study fields and cycles can take part in a study period or traineeship abroad. Higher education teaching and administrative staff can take part in professional development activities abroad, as well as staff from the field of work in order to teach and train students or staff at higher education institutions.

The ErasmusCentro Consortium, created in 2011, was the first regional Portuguese Erasmus Consortium. Covering the Central Region of Portugal, this consortium forms an extensive network of polytechnic HEI and business entities and others. The huddling capacity of ErasmusCentro allows, through its active members, the creation of an extensive network in a regional matrix, clustering a universe of more than 50,000 students of the eight polytechnics involved and over 40,000 companies in the Centre Business Council – Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Centre of Portugal (CEC-CCIC) and in various partner enterprises.The main mission is to strengthen and deepen the connection between the polytechnic higher education and the labour market, through international job placements (internships). The students’ internships and the training mobilities for the Consortium employees are the instruments for carrying out this primary mission. In the actual framework of education and internationalisation of professional activities, the Polytechnic HEI, included in this project, have a common strategic mission to promote an European vocational training for their students, even after their graduation, as well as to provide to their workers an experience and training in an European context. This priority is evident in the development strategies, which emphasises the need for internationalisation by promoting employability of their graduates with effective links with the business world. This goal will be only fully achieved with the support of a collaborators body also prepared for the internationalisation and endowed with powers for its implementation. The ErasmusCentro Consortium constitutes an answer to this determination.This project allowed the Consortium members to provide practical training for the beneficiaries in European enterprises/institutions in order to develop and implement an internship under the distance guidance of a tutor from the sending institution and the direct supervision of a person in charge in the host institution.Regardless of the academic background or professional qualification of the beneficiary, the following have always been targets of the mobility:•allow a transversal approach of the mobility central theme;•grant a transnational dimension to the academic education and labour skills;•establish a correlation between academic degree and internships;•boost the linguistic and cultural competences of the beneficiaries;•improve employability and adaptability/flexibility of students/graduates and workers to the labour market requirements.All mobilities were recognised by the sending HEI and a mobility certificate was issued. The studies were all recognised in the study plan. The Europass Mobility was issued for all the students, which clearly shows the skills and qualifications in an easily recognizable form.The staff also saw their mobility reflected in the internal evaluation of their annual performance.

In the current framework of education internationalisation and professional activities, as well as the required strong binding to the labour market, it is a central goal for the Polytechnic Institute of Castelo Branco (IPCB) to promote the internationalisation of students and lecturers. The purpose is to contribute to improve student language skills and techniques, as well as facilitate their employability in the labour market, which is increasingly not only a national resolution but also European.It is also with the prospect of the always-desirable education quality and the constant updating of teacher training, who leads the IPCB to invest in the teacher mobility with European institutions. This policy of teacher mobility and exchange is also essential to facilitate and promote student mobility.The focus on internationalisation is evident in IPCB´s development strategy, expressed in the IPCB’s Evaluation and Responsibility Framework (QUAR) that elucidates the perspective of teaching internationalisation. This Erasmus+ project is therefore a response to this IPCB’s goal.The mobility results were remarkably positive, in some cases even superseding the original objectives. All the mobilities allowed establishing or strengthening the partnership and cooperation not only for the direct participants (students and lecturers) but also for the IPCB as general.All student mobilities were fully recognised by the IPCB through the recognition in the student’s study plans and in the Europass Mobility, which allows showing the skills and qualifications in a clear and easily recognisable form.Lecturers also saw their mobility reflected in the internal evaluation of their annual performance.