Aquaculture is forecasted to grow in the years to come (FAO 2014) and be a central part of the ever increasing need for food. A more effecient way of farming in the aquaculture industry is essential if we are to achieve the goals set by the European Union (EU) for water based food production. Aquaculture students and teachers therefore need updated knowledge about RAS (Recirculating Aquaculture Systems), so this can become a more integrated part at both Vocational Education and Training (VET) and higher education levels in the schools/universities.There is a need to further develop partnerships between education and industry to ensure that the students are updated about the possibilities for and challenges related to industrial growth based on a sustainable use of available water resources. This will, among other things, mean to create arenas for the exchange of knowledge and a renewal of some of the teaching methods. RAS is foreseen to be a central part of the aquaculture industry in the coming years. There is therefore a demand for a competence building in the educational institutes across Europe on RAS technology. This project will focus on RAS as a technology for the aquaculture industry, for present aquaculture species as well as possible new species. The partner countries have different traditions of how to use RAS, and we believe we have something to learn from each other. The introduction of ‘new’ species for farming and how this is managed is an exciting subject, as this varies in the regions represented in the project.The target groups for the project will be:1) teachers and instructors that perform teaching and training in subjects covered by the project;2) staff in businesses working with RAS;3) students in partner schools (indirectly as they will benefit from the project results and not directly be involved in the project activities).The Partnership is composed of universities, aquaculture organisations, upper secondary schools and businesses. The businesses will play a key role in making the content of the project more relevant and concrete. The Partnership is based on the idea of an increased cooperation between education and the aquaculture business world. At the same time we want to create links between VET and higher education institutes. The aim is to increase the awareness of, and knowledge about, aquaculture as a basis for a sustainable way of food production among students and teachers/instructors as a red thread through life-long learning. The upper secondary schools offers aquaculture as subjects for their students, and the university partners are involved with several aquaculture research projects, and at the same time they educate students at higher education level. The industry partners are experts in the field of RAS and have broad national and international networks. Some partners offer courses for students as well as the public, and innovate and develop digital tools and methods for personal follow-up and development.The project activities will focus on different subjects. The objective of LTT-activties is to increase knowledge about RAS, and how this knowledge can be transferred to students. By connecting industrial partners to education institutes we will make sure this is in accordance with the industry demands. The Intellectual Outputs in the project are the development of different kinds of teaching material and a E-learning platform aimed at different educational levels. This is directly linked to the aim of an increased knowledge among young people about RAS as an effective and sustainable way of aquaculture. The Multiplier Events connected to the Intellectual Outputs are open to stakeholders, and the aim is to increase the knowledge about the different aspects of RAS in accordance with national aims for increased aquaculture production and consumption of seafood.The most important result and impact of the project will be an increased knowledge among teachers and instructors about RAS. The development of updated teaching material will be very welcome among both schools and businesses, as this will benefit the further development of the RAS farming. The established partnership and the planned activities and deliverables will create a good foundation for future cooperation between education institutes and the aquaculture industry.At a local/regional level the desired impact will be increased knowledge among the participants about the opportunities in their own region when it comes to RAS. This will benefit municipalities in their management of their areas and resources, especially since young people will obtain this knowledge and experience through education institute. The project will hopefully be a positive marketing feature for the aquaculture industry as a central part of a forward-looking and sustainable part of the bioeconomy.

Aquaculture is estimated to be one of the fastest growing industries in the world and will be even more central in food production in the future. In the future industrial development of Europe, we see an increased focus on a sustainable use of our natural resources. When this is coupled with an ever-increasing need for food production worldwide and a corresponding increase in the amount of high-quality seafood being demanded and consumed, there is a need for improved knowledge to utilise the available marine resources in a sustainable way. Low-trophic and sustainable aquaculture is essential if we are to achieve the goals set by the European Union (EU) and/or each country for food production in (or from) the sea. More and more of this production must come from species that can utilise energy sources such as sunlight and plankton for growth and that do not need additional feed made from species that also can be used directly as human food. There is a common national goal to eat more seafood. Macroalgae as food is quite new or unknown to people in Western Europe, and this project aims to give basic skills on this subject to the students and teachers involved. In addition, it is a project goal to tell and teach the public about macroalgae. Farming of macroalgae is a stated focus area in the partnership countries Norway, Denmark and Ireland, and the ambitions is quite high. A report from SINTEF Ocean (October 2017) estimate the production potential for macroalgae to be 90 000 tons for Trøndelag county (Norway) alone.The 11 partners in this intersectoral two year partnership project have different approaches to macroalgae; teaching and training, natural science, research and development, seedling and farming of macroalgae, processing and distribution of products. This open up for a broad view on new knowledge, and how this can be utilized among the partners and also spread to other stakeholdres. The different approaches is a strenght when it comes to further development of the macroalgae industry, as there is a need for different competences at different levels.Macroalgae is an international industry, with a total production of 30 million tons a year. Asia is the main producer and consumer, and macroalgae is not so common in Europe yet. There is therefore demand for a common understanding across Europe of how macroalgae can be farmed, used in different ways and its environmental impact. To transfer knowledge among students – as future employees, stakeholders and decision makers – across borders is an excellent start for such an understanding. Students (as future employees) and teachers (as knowledge providers) need updated knowledge and competence about low-trophic aquaculture in general and macroalgae in spesific, to make it a more integrated part in the education programmes. At the Transnational project meetings and LTT activities a total of 150 students and teachers/staff will participate. The LTT activities will have focus on different aspects, such as macroalgae as food, the environmental impacts of macroalgae and macroalgae farming. In addition we aim to have at least 125 participants at four different Multiplier events, organized as open seminars with different topics related to macroalgae. At these seminars stakeholders and policy makers will be invited, along with media and the general public. The seminars will be connected to the presentation and launching of the four Intellectual outputs (IO) in the project. The IO will be in different formats, such as a publication on macroalgae and environment, teaching and training material as hands-on (paper), vodcasts and e-learning book, and macroalgae fact sheets in a populist format easy to read and use for educational purposes as well as information for the general public.The impact of this project will be an increased knowledge about macroalgae as low-trophic and sustainable aquaculture, algae as a sustainable and healthy food resource and the importance in an environmental perspective. The partners / participating organisations will increase their international network and obtain new knowledge which lead to ideas and strategies for the implementation of new teaching and training methods, as well as establishment of collaborative constellations and new partnership/projects. Through dissemination activities and Multiplier Events the project will reach the relevant audience for the Intellectual Outputs from the project and meet stakeholders that have, or develop, an interest in the topics covered by the project. Information about the project in general will be available on the partners’ websites and the project Facebook page, including the Intellectual Outputs produced. The project results will be made available on request. In addition to the project partners, schools in Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Ireland will get access to the project results and be able to use them for free in their organisations.

Background and overarching objectivesThe background of the project was the growing need of European people in turbulent and uncertain times for European cohesion and transnational cooperation to enable peaceful coexistence through the development of intercultural competence. For this it is necessary to deal with one's own regional, national and international history on the one hand and on the other hand to work out commonalities and differences together with foreign partners and to develop cooperation possibilities on this basis. We understand the work processes, which in our case refer to the partner country Norway, as universal, so that they can also be applied to other transnational contexts. Number and profile of participantsThe project lived from the close integration of teacher activities and student activities. The interested teachers organised themselves in a project group. At each school there was at least one coordinator who acted as contact person for SuS, teachers and other participants. At the German school, there was an Erasmus-club, which intermixed again and again (every six months), so that more and more pupils worked on the project. The working group was mainly concerned with research, brainstorming, teaching, surveys, contact with the partner school, etc. The Norwegian group of pupils consisted mainly of members of the German courses. By this, language promotion could also be promoted. The remaining tasks were carried out over the 24 months in various groups of pupils (courses, classes...). Due to this broad project it is not possible to give an exact number of participants.Activities and methodologyIn concrete terms, our students initially dealt in class with topics relating to their environment (regional/national historical aspects; social, geographical, political and economic topics). The insights from the research in their own country were prepared by the students themselves in the form of workshops as courses for the exchange students and were carried out during the first student activity (7 days each), which consisted of work phases as well as leisure activities. In concrete terms, this means that the German pupils first took part in the Norwegian workshops and the Norwegians attended the German workshops during the subsequent pupil activity in Germany. Not only was there a change of perspective, but didactic, pedagogical and methodological skills were also trained. When planning the workshops, the students were encouraged to prefer extracurricular learning venues. The decisions were reflected and evaluated by all participants after the workshops so that adjustments and improvements could already be made in the project itself. Each exchange student attended two workshops. The results from the other workshops were made available to all participants in plenary sessions. These presentations were held by the visitors themselves in English in order to make the yield measurable on the one hand and to enable activation on the other hand. At the end of the student activity, ideas were developed on the basis of the findings, which were then incorporated into the exhibition. The 2nd student activity (five days each) was dedicated to the preparation and opening of the exhibitions at both locations. In addition, other interesting extracurricular learning locations were visited, which further strengthened the partnership.Resultsintercultural competence, multilingual homepage, billboards, exhibition with exhibits, initiation of transnational contacts Long-term benefitsThe exhibits will be exhibited as long as possible in the schools (at least in parts), the homepage will be further maintained and the transnational partnerships will be further initiated. The benefit of European cooperation will be disseminated through the participants' experience reports.