University of Western Macedonia (UOWM) received funding for the academic year 2016-2017 for 47 mobilities for students, teaching and training. The target of this number of mobilities was accomplished after the approval of additional funding. Among these 47 mobilities, 17 were allocated to students for studies, 13 for traineeships (2 participated in the program as graduates), 6 for teaching and 11 for training activities (2 of them as zero grant). Correspondingly, 3 incoming students for studies and 1 for placement were accepted.The UOWM International Relations Office organized 2 info days about the program, addressed to students, teaching and administrative staff. However, during the whole week IRO provides guidance and assistance for all issues relevant to the Erasmus+ program, to all members of the Academic Community.Celebrating the 30 years of the ERASMUS+ program, UOWM together with TEI W.M. organized the event “Mobility & Occupational opportunities in the E.U.” The event had an enormous success, in terms of the number of participants and it received extensive publication from the local media. UOWM recognizes the added value and opportunities of the ERASMUS+ program for the whole academic community and leverages its dimension to fulfill its internationalization strategy. To this end, UOWM participates in all actions (International Credit Mobility as well as those under the KA2 calls) and puts a lot of effort to promote the program not only among the academic environment but also to the local and regional community.

"For the academic year 2014-2015 UOWM was granted for 35 mobilities, in total. However, the final number of the participants in the program was 41. Specifically, 21 students were funded for studies, while 15 was initially foreseen. Part of the budget for placement was used. Respectivelly, the initial approval for placements was for 7 participants, while 5 students took advantage of the program. It should be mentioned that 2014-2015 was the first academic year that UOWM applied and received funding for placements.Regarding staff mobilities, 9 staff members were funded a for teaching lthough 6 participants were foreseen in the Institutional Grant Agreement and 6 for training. For these mobilities, part of the Organisational Support budget wasa used.The UOWM International Office, organised two Info Days for students and staff members for the Erasmus+ program, its actions, and the procedures for the participants. These Infor Days were organised in both cities were UOWM is located, Kozani and Florina.Finally, IRO together with its incoming students, participated in Actions organised by the Municipality of the city of Kozani. These actions named ""MULTILUNGUAL COFFEE"" were in the frame of intercultural and multilingual activities in order to promote languages and people living in the city of Kozani, coming form different countries."

University of Western Macedonia (UOWM) received funding for the academic year 2015-2016 for 41 mobilities for students, teaching and training. The target of this number of mobilities was accomplished and it reached 45 participants, after the approval of additional funding. Among these 45 mobilities, 16 were allocated to students for studies, 12 for traineeships, 12 for teaching and 5 for training activities. Correspondingly, 2 incoming students for studies were received while 7 teaching staff members, from partner Universities, visited UOWM for their teaching mobility.The UOWM International Relations Office organized 2 info days about the program, addressed to students, teaching and administrative staff. However, during the whole week IRO provides guidance and assistance for all issues relevant to the Erasmus+ program, to all members of the Academic Community.During the Congress ERACON 2016, UOWM participated at the Erasmus poster competition, where it was awarded with the 1st prize.UOWM and the IRO participated at the 32nd Commercial Fair in Kozani, where actions, challenges and opportunities of the Erasmus+ program were promoted. During the Fair, there was a direct contact with citizens and entrepreneurs of the whole Greece and they were informed about issues, of their interest, regarding the program. A significant interest was shown about providing traineeships for students outside Greece, as well as in investigating ways for cooperation, under the Erasmus program, with European Universities. Additionally, there was a lot of discussion with schools settled in the region of Western Macedonia, for common actions in the frame of the program.There is strong evidence that the increasing participation of UOWM in the Erasmus+ program, leads to the accomplishment of the main goals of Internationalization of the University with direct benefits for the whole Academic community.

The University of Western Macedonia, participated in the ERASMUS+ Credit Mobility program, form the first year of its implementation. The application, initially had foreseen 16 months of duration. However, and due to the demanding procedures for the coordination and the implementation of program, UOWM applied for the extension of the Initial Grant Agreement, and received approval till 31/5/2017. The initial motive for the cooperation between the two institutions (University of Western Macedonia and University of Fan S Noli) lies on the fact that both faculties are committed to the same academic fields, Educational Studies and perform the same task (Teacher education and Training). Moreover, the two institutions are geographically very close (<100 km) and they had fruitful cooperation in organizing 2 International Conferences in the field of Education. Among the top targets of UOWM’s Internationalization Strategy is to act as a leading Center of Education in the Balkan area, through competitive academic services, pioneer teaching and research methodologies. Cooperating with HEIs in the Balkan area enables UOWM to understand their educational needs in order for their European Integration. UOWM aspires to play a leading role to that direction and ICM program provides the means for this goal to be achieved. To this end, the formulation of the internationalization strategy of the University of Western Macedonia (UOWM) and the establishment of partnership with institutions of neighboring countries are of prime importance in relation to students, researchers and staff mobility.In total, 21 mobilities were approved. Among these, 2 were for incoming students, 3 for outgoing students, 10 for incoming teaching and training mobility and 6 for outgoing teaching and training mobility.The achieved number of mobilities was 13 and the participants were either teaching or administrative staff members. No students’ mobilities were achieved.

Artful Leadership, developing a new generation of workers and leaders through arts is a collaborative effort, joining HEI, Research and SMEs, in an effort to challenge the business and leadership education in Europe.The word is in turmoil. Globalization, technology, profound demographic changes, financial crisis, ethic dilemmas lead us to question the validity of our educational and management paradigms. The new generations arriving to the workforce have different expectations and demand for more ethical, people-centered management. The future leaders are growing - socially, politically and economically - in the digital era and through a profound social, financial and economic crisis. These future leaders demand for purpose, meaning and connection and they will be working in organizations also shaped by the globalization of knowledge, markets and customers and the information and communication technology.People management and leadership will be key leverages for Europe to assert in the global context and to take a strategic role as a knowledge based economy and an innovation space. Research has been showing that the traditional management and leadership paradigms are no longer answering the current challenges that organizations are facing and are not being able to answer the expectations and needs of the new generations.“With such changes have come new priorities and responsibilities and it is in this environment that the theory of servant leadership has flourished as a management style for the redefined business world of today, one that can serve as a cornerstone for organisations wishing to build corporate structures based on stewardship, empowerment and trust.” (Dirk van Dierendonck, RSM Insight 3rd Quarter, 2011)In order to deploy new learning contents and training activities about a new leadership paradigm, one must be also prepared to answer to the learning challenges posed by a generation of active learners, digital natives and graphically/visually oriented. The relevance of concepts such as web based, open access, collaboration and creativity for the success of any learning activity designed for the new generations at work is critical.Arts-based learning is defined as “a wide range of approaches by which management educators and leadership/organization development practitioners are instrumentally using the arts as a pedagogical means to contribute to the learning and development of individual organization managers and leaders, as well as contributing to organizational learning and development” (Nissley,N. 2010)Arts-based learning is intended to develop artful ways of working, knowing and perceiving and involves creative skills, capacities and capabilities that incorporate reflection, awareness, imagination, collaboration and adaptability (Darsø 2004; Gibb 2006; Turner2006). The main goal of Artful Leadership is to create innovative digital learning resources about Servant Leadership, supported by arts-based learning methods and deployed through different methods and techniques (e.g. digital storytelling, visual art, design thinking, etc.) to shape the future workers and leaders of Europe.Thus, the project’s value proposition can be summarized as follows:1. Ground-breaking research: research conducted in Europe, useful to organisations, HEI and key-actors in Education and HR, by providing:• a clear picture on the impact of demographic and economic changes to the European labour market on the current management and leadership paradigms• a clear framework of Servant Leadership to be used as the basis for leadership development programmes• means for HEI’s and VET providers curricula modernisation and for political decision making through a clear framework of arts-based learning2. New training contents: training contents will be developed upon research results and thus conveying new knowledge.3. Use of arts-based learning: this brings innovation and creativity in pedagogy and a new approach to learning, especially in HEI, supporting the learner centered models and strengthening the relevance of transversal skills development4. Accessibility of training: it will be available online, through digital media and in many different languages, thus facilitating access to a larger audience