The MapIE project aims to identify mechanisms causing educational inequalities and policies or interventions compensating for them. We do a systematic review of how these have been studied internationally using longitudinal designs. We map existing longitudinal data that we describe in a public metadata database, and we analyse them to describe the mechanisms of inequalities and to identify effective policies and interventions in different local contexts. We focus on the contextual differences between the Nordic and Central European countries that have structurally different education systems. Within national contexts and using comparative research designs, we look at system-, regional- and school-level policies and practices and individual-level factors (e.g. socioeconomic status, immigrant background, gender, special educational needs) that are associated with the development of educational inequalities and the successful prevention of achievement gaps. We publish and disseminate the empirical results of the project through multiple channels to scientific audiences, policy makers and the wider public. At the end, we create a public framework for studying educational inequalities longitudinally in future studies, acknowledging the role of local contexts but aiming for comparability at the European level. We implement the project in seven work packages. Our consortium consists of internationally acknowledged experts in large-scale educational assessment research from Finland, Sweden, Norway, Hungary and Luxembourg/Germany. The partners have a long-standing history of collaboration with each other, European researchers, and national and international education policy makers, and they bring extensive longitudinal datasets to the project. The project will considerably strengthen the knowledge base of what shapes educational outcomes over time, how to best support the learning of all students and how to reduce education inequalities in the short, medium and long term.

While the high influx of asylum seekers poses an enormous pressure on the host countries (nearly 3.8 million new asylum applications recorded in Europe in the years 2015-2017), studies of previous large-scale migration movements reveal insights into positive effects of welcoming refugees and significant economic returns of investments into refugees. Although exact figures are missing, there is some evidence indicating that a significant part of the refugees is highly skilled. This suggests that a substantial number of refugees could potentially contribute to the European Research Area as well as the economies and societies of their host countries and the European Union (EU). It is therefore of utmost importance to provide the job seekers with coordinated and needs-based support in job search and match making with the employers seeking work force of their competence and expertise. The CARe project (Career Advancement for Refugee Researchers in Europe) is a 21-month project that aims to support the labour market integration of refugee researchers through coordinated and tailored provision of information needed for their entry and integration in R&D market. It targets 10 European countries with high numbers of asylum seekers, the absorption capacity of the R&D labour market and proven political will to support the labour market integration of refugee researchers (Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and the Netherlands). The project objectives will be achieved through a set of research and dissemination activities that will on the one hand, provide needs-based and country-specific information on the labour market conditions and requirements for refugee researchers, and on the other, provide Europe-wide platforms for results dissemination and exploitation on a much larger scale by involving EURAXESS centres and dissemination through the EURAXESS portal.

Increasing global competition for natural resources poses major challenges to the Arctic. ArcticHubs will develop sustainable solutions for reconciliation of competing livelihoods and land-use modes in key Arctic ‘hubs’—important socioeconomic nodes in a geographical network—and their surroundings, considering in particular the needs and cultures of local communities (incl. indigenous people). This will be achieved by applying multi- and interdisciplinary, multi-actor participatory approaches to systematically map, identify and analyse global drivers and pressures with high environmental, societal and economic impacts affecting 33 key hubs examining sustainability of fish farming, multiple use of forests, tourism, mining and indigenous cultures. The outcome of ArcticHubs will be the provision of solution-oriented tools, such as improved public participatory geographical information systems, guidelines for ‘social license to operate’, and future scenarios to Arctic communities, industrial stakeholders, decision- and policymakers, and other relevant actors. This will enable creation and implementation of regional development strategies that reconcile new economic opportunities with traditional livelihoods, and increase the resilience of both new and existing industries and livelihoods against environmental, economic and political changes in the Arctic. The impact of the project will be long-term sustainability and resilience of future environmental, socio-cultural, economic and political factors in the increasingly competitive and globalised Arctic, enhancing social acceptance of increased economic activity. These impacts will contribute to the implementation of the new integrated EU policy for the Arctic, IPPC assessments and other major regional and global initiatives, provide support to the EU Arctic Research Cluster, and enhance engagement of and interaction between local (incl. indigenous), national and global actors.

CARESS project involved 13 partners form 4 EU countries. It was was aimed to overcome a “skills gap” identified in the field of older adults homecare, i.e. a gap between skills demanded by end-users and their families and those offered by Home Health Care Practitioners (HHCPs).CARESS offers a clear picture of the main roles, competences and curricula of 9 categories of homecare professionals working both in health and social care at older adults’ own homes in 31 EU countries. For the first time this information have been collected and systematized in an EU Framework available for free in a web-based system, allowing to: 1)DESIGN AND DEVELOP VET COURSES a) BASED ON INFORMATION about professionals’ ACTUAL competencies, roles and skills gaps; b) integrating EXISTING CURRICOLA in a “compensative” bottom-up approach2)SHARE BEST PRACTICES through countries and professionals;3)ENHANCE the COLLABORATION and the COORDINATION among professionals and thus coordination and integration among social and healthcare services.The EU Framework provides a fundamental help in order to identify the actual skill gap which characterize an homecare professional in a specific country. The Framework is endowed with an interactive Wizard interface allowing for its integration and update and with fundamental “training design tools” supporting VET teachers to design effective compensative modules, able to address a specific skill gap. The Framework and its tools have been tested during the project through the DESIGN AND THE IMPLEMENTATION OF 3 NATIONAL PILOT COURSES, targeting 3 different HHCPs in 3 different countries: Social-Health operators (IT), Registered Nurses (SP), Practical nurses (FIN); pilots were based on different educational methods, on presence and distance learning, and on formal and non-formal/informal learning. To support pilots implementation a number of outputs have been produced, such as:a)3 E-LEARNING MODULES about HHCPs transversal competences in 4 languages (EN, IT, SP, FIN): e-learning materials consists of 3 main types: 93 interactive materials, for individual self-fruition (SCORM 1.2 compliant); 3 video-pills, focusing on specific skills/practices or the use of technologies; 60 materials supporting Collaborative Learning in Virtual Classrooms: different learning strategies are implemented, such as role playing, case studies, etc.b)an INTEGRATED PLATFORM FOR E-LEARNING and for supporting VIRTUAL COMMUNITIES OF PRACTICE (VCP), for trainers, professionals, associations, The Integrated platform has been used by pilot students and then opened to any registered user who would like to join communities of professionals in the field of homecare. The VCP platform is an important example of how to manage non-formal learning in a professional curriculum, being endowed with specific functionalities allowing for its recognition. Any VET designer and teacher could use the VCP environment in order to support non-formal learning in a specific course; professional associations can adopt the VCP system as a common environment where members could share their own practices, documents, opinions, etc.Results of pilots evaluation and tools validation took to the refinement and the final release of the EU Framework. CARESS Framework can be updated even after the end of the project, since external contributors, after a registration process, can integrate/revise/update the information included in the framework; the reliability of information is assured by filtering rules integrated in the system.The main project results are accessible for free from the project website, at http://www.project-caress.eu/ Both the CARESS EU Framework and the Integrated Platform will be accessible for free to the public for at least one year by the end of the project. Students can access the e-learning materials on the Integrated platform for self-fruition and teachers can download them from the project website.

There is a consensus that universities have an important role to play in the reconstruction of conflict-torn societies, and that is where competent scholars are needed. However, very often, not enough attention is placed on the important role of universities and academia in emergencies. Integration of recently arrived refugee students and scholars into the European academic community serves thus long-term capacity-building in their home countries. Universities in different European countries have been active in initiating support measures for threatened students and scholars and in some countries, such as in Finland and Germany, national level actors have also been active in coordination of the support measures. However, a European-level forum for the higher education sector to focus on this specific field has been lacking. The GREET project addresses this need by providing a platform for actors on institutional, national and international level to join their expertise. GREET's main goal is to strengthen European cooperation and information sharing on existing and good practices in the integration of highly skilled refugees in the higher education system and labour market in host countries. It aims to achieve this goal through providing networking, training and mutual learning opportunities for refugee support structures at national and institutional level in 9 European countries. Taking as its basis the existing good practices from Germany and Finland, the project will scale them up to the European level through peer learning activities and a series of webinars, which will serve for dissemination, exchange and mapping different support needs in Europe. The project results will be disseminated to the wider European higher education community through a big stakeholder forum and an online repository, targeting both practitioners and policymakers at European and national level.