A strong digital skillset is considered an essential part of a contemporary education. However, even in 2020, a digital gender gap exists and is strongly felt by women from migrant/refugee backgrounds. The digital gender gap is most acute among migrant/refugees who, as both migrants and women face a double disadvantage that is consistently confirmed by research.” Barriers include the disruption that migration poses to their learning process, cultural gender stereotypes as to the role of women, and discrimination (conscious and unconscious) that limits access to education.Yet, women that migrate are more likely than men to have tertiary degrees, and so while the obstacles are significant, improved digital skills could have a greater effect on their ability to integrate, especially in the labour market, but also as active citizens in society.“Include Her” will enable Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) to improve the provision of digital skills’ education for women from migrant backgrounds through continuing or outreach education.The Include Her project is therefore focused on the development and mainstreaming of an innovative approach to empower female migrants in higher education to attain higher levels of digital competence. Based on the recognition of gender differences in motivation and engagement with digital technology, our resources will better equip HEIs in all participating countries to improve the digital skills of migrant women, helping redress the gender imbalance in the digital sphere.The first tangible results of the project will be the intellectual outputs which will be used by HEIs in their programmes with female migrants: a.IO1 DIGITAL ROUTE MAP. This interactive, online tool will present indicators of digital competences in easy-to-understand language with clear illustrations, thus helping Migrant women to identify their current level of digital competence in each of the five DigComp areas. Educators will be able to use the tool in online and blended formats, and results will be presented visually. As a result, participants can acknowledge their relative strengths and weaknesses and thus understand their “path” to improved digital competence, and teachers and educators can create a path through the subsequent resources that tailors their activities to suit groups’ specific needs. b.IO2 DIGITAL DEVELOPMENT RESOURCES. These will be a focused yet flexible set of OERs which adapt existing best practice in digital skills education for use with migrant women in continuing education settings. Resources will include pedagogic guides to help teachers and educators use innovative approaches (Experiential Learning, Collaborative learning, PBL, visual approaches) and ready-to-use activities which reflect women’s’ areas of interest, and are thus more likely to ensure higher engagement and completion rates.c.IO3 MOOC. This output will enable the OERS to be transferred into a state-of-the-art open access online course to allow women migrants to develop their digital skills in a friendly but effective digital environment. It enables the project to achieve even greater scalability and wider impact because of the unlimited access and participant led learning. Through our rigorous user testing and dissemination process, the project will then produce the following results:a. At least 228 women from migrant/refugee backgrounds will participate during the project as learners (and testers of the materials). 120 will test IO1, 60 will test IO3 and 48 will be involved as classroom learners in the testing of IO2. b. At least 30 teachers, especially from continuing / outreach education, will participate by using IO2 and IO3 (12 and 18 respectively), Over time and as the outputs continue to be introduced and implemented in participating countries and further afield, the project will create lasting impact:a. Hundreds of teachers will develop their digital pedagogic skills in line with the broad competence approach of DigComp and will increase their capacity for addressing diversity in the classroom.b. HEIs will be better equipped to offer inclusive continuing education and to become Digitally Competent Organisations, providing higher quality education and support for the female migrants they serve. c. Thousands of female migrants will be more motivated to engage proactively with digital skills training. They will become more digitally competent, helping them access improved employment opportunities and accelerating their overall integration.d. Partner organizations will better fulfil their missions, and will use the new knowledge and collaborative networks they have acquired to fuel further innovation in the field of digital wellbeing and skills for students, especially female migrants.

<< Objectives >>The project objective is to increase the sense of initiative and entrepreneurial competences of young people so that they can better achieve their goals in work and life. This involves developing the Experiential Entrepreneurship Labs model, equipping youth educators with the motivation, knowledge, skills and resources to implement it and sharing the results so that more youth-serving organisations can use the approach.<< Implementation >>We will implement 4 main activitiesDevelop the Experiential Entrepreneurship Starter Kit, a publication that introduces the experiential approach via review of up-to-date studies, guidance on tools and strategies to implement it and good practice. Create the Experiential Entrepreneurship Labs (EELs) Model - a set of OERs and Digital HubRun a series of 8 Experiential Entrepreneurship LabsUndertake Sharing and sustainability activities including 6 showcases and learning events<< Results >>The development of Experiential Entrepreneurship Labs will improve youth entrepreneurship as over 240 young people will take part in immersive events to strengthen the entrepreneurship competences through practical problem solving and teamwork.To achieve this, we will work with youth educators to help them innovate in their teaching. As a result, the project contributes to broader innovation in youth entrepreneurship education to engage young people in entrepreneurial competence development

<< Background >>The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the digital transition within HEIs, leading to a steep rise in online/remote teaching. The shift to education online could be seen as adding flexibility to both teaching and learning. In reality, however, it would be fairer to say we are assisting to a distance learning movement rather than online learning one, or more accurately an emergency remote teaching (ERT). The outcome of this led to lecturers using the same methods as in face-to-face formats while asking students to perform more tasks with less support and explanation. It opens a lot of questions about how to master the burdens of distance working without negative consequences on well-being of both sides of teaching process. Lecturers in particular face a higher risk of digital overload or burnout than ever before. Long hours sitting in front of artificially lit screens, improvised home settings, the challenge of communicating effectively online and the constant flow of communications from bosses, colleagues and students present them with a radically new set of challenges. Thus, the project grew out of discussions on the impact of the pandemic on lecturers and colleagues it became clear that so many of them have been exposed to grave cases of digital overload with poor or no organisational HR support. Having seen the extent to which these issues are affecting our educational institutions, we reached out to our fellow HEIs, who confirmed a similar situation in their Institutions.Therefore, Digital Wellbeing for Higher Education Lecturers (DWEL) has been carefully designed to meet the needs of our partners and two main groups:a) HE lecturers whose work has changed dramatically over the last year because of remote working and teaching which the majority of whom do not feel well prepared for. b) HE management and department heads. They need to know how to optimise digital teaching without compromising staff’s performance and wellbeing. They need greater awareness and knowledge to lead change in organisational policy and practice.In focussing clearly on these needs and producing training resources that meet them, the project also aligns with the needs of our partners.PARTNER NEEDS We realised that since the pandemic, the effects of digitally intense activity on lecturers’ own working lives was highly detrimental, particularly concerning was the stress of having to deliver practical based learning in virtual environments, as so many of our teaching programmes would normally occur in a laboratory setting. This was confirmed via our own partners and EUCEN’s consultations - we received multiple feedbacks in a similar vein, for example: “Lecturers at UCT feel they have a lack of know-how and support for preventing health and social risks stemming from distance education, e.g., some of them have musculoskeletal disorders, visual impairment, suffer from insomnia. Furthermore, it is evident that at the individual Department or Faculty level we have no effective practices applicable for prevention of risks emerging from distance education. We need to design and implement measures to educate lecturers for healthy distance teaching and provide support/mentoring to university staff and students in the field of digital well-being.”TARGET GROUP NEEDS (HE lecturers & HE management and department heads) The 2016 DigComp 2.0 framework introduced “digital safety”, and within it, a specific competency relating to health and wellbeing: “To be able to avoid health-risks and threats to physical and psychological well-being while using digital technologies.” While in the 2020 September communication on the Digital Education Plan, respondents specifically requested “more support for mental health and well-being.” DWEL will build on the NEED to develop these competences within HE institutions so that leaders & lecturers have the knowledge & skills to exercise digital wellbeing as part of their daily work.<< Objectives >>The overall objective of Digital Wellbeing for Higher Education Lecturers (DWEL) is clear: design, develop and implement a new approach to train HEI lecturers and managers in digital wellbeing. The end result will be to improve educators’ own digital competences, while also boosting the capacity of HEIs to manage the digital transition in a way that marries high quality teaching with the wellbeing of those involved.Our smart objectives are:a) Produce 3 new resources that enable the integration of policy and practice to support digital wellbeing for lecturers and encourage proactive behaviour at personal level.b) Rigorously use, test and refine the resources in collaboration with 72 managers/department heads and 96 lecturers, optimising their effectiveness and preparing our consortium partners for immediate implementation.c) Ensure strong uptake of the resources with a persuasive promotion campaign so that 240 HE managers, department heads & lecturers use the resources in the project lifespan, with hundreds more after completion.In doing so, we contribute to two important European priorities. The first is SUPPORTING THE DIGITAL CAPABILITIES OF THE HE SECTOR. In the rush to online teaching, the spotlight has too often centred on our hardware, software and infrastructure. Yet professors, lecturers and teaching assistants are the heart of any educational institution, and their lives have undergone a huge transformation: the new demands of online classroom environments, long periods of screen time, improvised home offices and “always on” communications from students, are all new challenges which can increase stress and affect teaching performance and quality. For this reason, all of the project’s results focus on the professional development of lecturers providing them with the skills to offer high quality digital teaching without compromising their wellbeing: the Digital Wellbeing Report (R1) will ensure a sound understanding of the basic issues, the DWEL Resource Pack (R2) will help their employers to improve policy and organisational culture around digital wellbeing and, above all, the DWEL Online Course (R3) will directly develop lecturers’ knowledge and skills to be proactive in safeguarding their own digital wellbeing in order to maintain high quality teaching performance over time.The project will also address the wider digital transformation by developing DIGITAL READINESS, RESILIENCE AND CAPACITY in HEIs. We believe that today, digital capacity must refer not only to the digital infrastructure and/or technical skills, but also to the professional knowledge and personal skills needed to engage with digital technology safely and responsibly. This is recognised in the EU’s framework: DigComp 2.0 introduced a specific competency relating to health and wellbeing: “To be able to avoid health-risks and threats to physical and psychological well-being while using digital technologies.” The project will thus make a significant impact on our main target groups, HEI lecturers and Managers. As a result of using the DWEL resources, Lecturers will benefit from:- New knowledge of the physical and psychological effects of digital overload- New skills to help them manage risks to their wellbeing and adopt a balanced work-life. Overall, this will increase their professional digital competences, not to mention the direct benefits on their personal health and wellbeing.While for HEI Managers, they will gain:- New knowledge of the practical strategies and examples of how to improve digital wellbeing culture and practice- New capacity to develop plans, policy and practice that are tailored for the specific digital wellbeing needs of their own department or institution.As a result of these changes, HEIs across Europe will be more equipped to proactively promote digital wellbeing in the daily work life of the organisation and this will lead to improved retention of staff, improved productivity and teaching performance.<< Implementation >>The project involves three key educational resources (results), as well as the horizontal activities required for successful project execution: management, impact evaluation, promotion and sustainability. RESULTS DEVELOPMENTThe resources will be developed sequentially and partners build on the content developed in previous resources and managers can find complementary knowledge and skills development in all three. R1 - The Digital Wellbeing Report (MONTHS 2 to 10) is an important introductory resource aimed especially at HE management, department/Unit heads and to be disseminated to stakeholders and policy makers. The goal is to update their knowledge regarding achieving a digital equilibrium in the HE workplace and why it must be acted upon. R2 - The Digital Wellbeing Resource Pack (MONTHS 6 to 15) is blend of case studies with downloadable and personalizable templates for plans and organizational policy documents focusses on managers, department heads working with teachers to use the knowledge they have gained. R3 - The Digital Balance Online Course (MONTHS 12 to 22) involves a new online training programme for teachers who wish to develop their own knowledge and skills in how to comply with greater digital teaching but safeguard their own physical and psychological wellbeing. This consolidates the change process by ensuring teachers are able to understand and exercise individual responsibility and is valuable for their own professional development.ROUTE TO IMPACTBuilt around the resources are the transversal and project management activities which enable us to ensure their introduction, effectiveness and longevity as resources for use in European education projects.Impact Evaluation is a key component to ensure Rs are translated into impact. We will use the Impact+ methodology that Momentum has developed to carry out an impact workshop in the first partner meeting to strengthen our understanding of the theory of change implicit in the project. Our commitment and ability to measure results and impacts runs throughout the project and will be an active feedback loop rather than a passive or post-hoc reporting process.Testing and training are merged in this project as 72 managers and department heads, as well as 96 lecturers, will fully test the resources. Their experience will contribute to improvements before the final dissemination push. The participants in this phase will also play an important role in our multiplier events, wider promotion and sustainability strategy as “ambassadors” to the project’s impact.Our promotion plan is robust and will be supported by 6 multiplier events are scheduled for month 23/24. They will ensure that our outputs are promoted, and that stakeholders actively understand their value and are motivated to introduce them in their own organisations.<< Results >>DWEL will create a series of interrelated results that raises the profile of digital wellbeing in the HE sector, equips HEIs to adopt policy and practice that supports digital wellbeing of their teaching staff and trains lecturers in the competences required to reduce the negative effects of the transition to digital teaching and learning. This will result in more productive lecturers and a more balanced and sustainable transition to digital education overall.During the project we will work closely as partners and with our target group to generate high quality results and outcomes.RESULTS- R1: Digital Wellbeing Report is an investigation, analysis and publication which introduces and analyses the challenges to digital wellbeing as experienced by HE lecturers and managers as part of the wider current digital transition.- R2: DWEL Resource Pack are a series of open resources in the form of case studies, guides and template documents which enable HE managers (particularly HR managers) and institute and department heads to better understand the options open to them and to develop concrete plans, policy and practice suitable to boost their own organisation’s digital wellbeing performance.- R3: DWEL Online Course is an online training course that provides lecturers with the knowledge and skills to be proactive in safeguarding their own digital wellbeing in order to maintain high quality teaching performance over time.OUTCOMES: WORK WITH TARGET GROUPSBased on our clear project objectives outlined above, the project will generate the following quantifiable outcomes:- 72 HE managers and department heads (many of whom are also lecturers) will be involved in the research and review of R1 – The Digital Wellbeing Study. Over 360 managers and department heads will download and use it within the project lifespan. They will become more aware and motivated to act on the issue of digital wellbeing.- 36 HE managers and department heads will develop Digital Wellbeing plans for their Department/Institute/Faculty using the DWEL resource pack (R2). Over 360 managers and department heads will download and use it within the project lifespan. They will learn good practice activities to enable lecturers to balance the demands of online working with the risks involved and develop new digital wellbeing plans tailored for the specific needs of their own department or institution.- 96 lecturers will trial the Digital Wellbeing Online course as part of a pilot test phase. A further 480 teachers will engage with the online course during the project lifespan. They will understand the physical and psychological effects of digital overload and how to prevent/reduce them so as to maintain a healthy digital balance in their work life. These numbers will continue to rise significantly after project completion thanks to the ongoing promotion.The project will also generate useful additional OUTCOMES for partner organisations: they will gain valuable insights into potential negative impact of online teaching particularly on staff teaching STEM subjects. In addition, STU are prioritising gender equality at every level of the University and it is now widely accepted that the pandemic has disproportionately affected women more than men, thus impact on female lecturers and interventions to mitigate these impacts will be a priority as part of the research and good practice phase of R1 – The Digital Wellbeing Study.

EMINENT addresses two key priorities in the EU: Social inclusion of migrants and increasing the number of female entrepreneurs. The contribution of migrant entrepreneurs is something that is becoming more widely recognized, as issues surrounding immigration become frequent and topical points for discussion. However, the important contribution of female migrant entrepreneurs is a factor that is mostly overlooked.The UK, Ireland, Germany and the Netherlands are among the countries that have introduced measures to improve the institutional framework for female enterprise – but much more needs to be done especially to overcome the specific individual barriers for female migrants. This applies especially as those countries are among the countries that show above-average numbers of migrants and refugees. The problem is that our VET institutions are ill-equipped to do so: most are unspecialized in the specific strategies that are shown to work best with female migrant entrepreneurs and their staff are especially not trained to implement appropriate culture-sensitive teaching methods.In this context, EMINENT has a clear goal: increase the number of female migrant entrepreneurs by transforming their access to and the quality of the training they receive from entrepreneurship VET institutions. To do so, we will: a) Develop a Compendium of Good Practice presenting good practice on engaging with women from minority groups and culturally appropriate and effective pedagogical techniquesb) Create, publish and trial a Curriculum and Classroom Course that provides the knowledge and skills needed for female entrepreneurs to gain the confidence, knowledge and skills needed to establish and successfully run their own businessc) Create an interactive knowledge platform acting as a multi-dimensional learning hub and exchange platform for female migrant entrepreneurs, VET and stakeholdersd) Design and implement innovative learning placements for 20 female migrants with start-up potential in successful (preferably female led) businesses.The project methodology is highly participative at all stages, involving our three main target groups (training providers such as enterprise centres, colleges and incubators; female migrant entrepreneurs and wider stakeholders) in the following ways: - At least 20 female migrants will participate in the pilot testing of the classroom course- At least 20 female migrants will participate in the EMINENT Placement Programme- At least 60 female migrants will participate in the trial of the Interactive Learning Platform and OERs- At least 35 experts in (female) migrant support and professional entrepreneurship teachers and trainers will be deeply involved in the resource development and testing. - At least 135 representatives of stakeholder organizations will participate in multiplier events. - Approximately 7,500 individuals will engage with the interactive online platform with OER.Thanks to improved exposure/availability and improved quality of entrepreneurship education opportunities, EMINENT will generate an increase in the overall number of potential and existing female migrant entrepreneurs engaged in continuing VET and it is more likely that early stage female migrant entrepreneurs grow their ideas into successful enterprises in the short term.As a result of the EMINENT educational resources, managers, teachers and trainers in VET institutions will overcome existing bias, update their own skills and modify service provision in their institutions to be more inclusive and better support female migrant entrepreneurs. At regional level, the project will create a more enabling environment for female migrant entrepreneurs and generate the knowledge sharing and feedback loops which will contribute to ongoing improvement and the development of further initiatives.(Female) migrant inclusion and female entrepreneurship are a particularly important areas of focus across Europe. For this reason, we believe EMINENT will not only generate significant impact at local level but will capture the attention of policy makers and actors further up the ladder nationally and across Europe. In addition, the project has been designed to respond to a genuine need experienced by partner organizations and their counterparts in the vocational education, entrepreneurship support and economic development, all of whom have a vested interest in using the outputs and sustaining the impacts in the long term.

In recent years, VET colleges have shown impressive progress in developing entrepreneurship programmes in their schools. The quality of these programmes is increasing. More and more entrepreneurship programmes are involving competence based learning and are aimed at active learning. Furthermore, many of the VET-institutions in Europe are aware of the importance of internationalisation and have developed approaches to incorporate international activities into their training and organisations. Internationalisation is a crucial response to the demands to develop graduates who possess adequate skills, knowledge and attributes to engage and perform in a globalised and intercultural world. Even though many colleges, besides entrepreneurial behaviour, also promote international experiences for their students, the connection between entrepreneurship and internationalisation is rarely made in VET. In short, existing entrepreneurship programmes in VET have no clear and high quality international dimension. The I-STEP project is initiated to address this issue and combines entrepreneurship and internationalisation by giving entrepreneurship students the opportunity to work with foreign students and explore possibilities for internationalisation. Therefore the main objective of the I-STEP project is to enhance international entrepreneurial skills, attitudes and mind-sets of teachers and students in VET by 1) creating an international dimension to the entrepreneurship programmes already in place and 2) strengthening the local and European (industry) network of VET schools. The I-STEP consortium consists of a variety of organisations with experience in entrepreneurship and internationalisation support including 2 VET schools, 2 HE institutes and 3 business representatives. These organisations form a strong consortium as it involves both education and business which allows knowledge, experience and expertise from both perspectives. During the 2 years of the I-STEP project we have undertaken the following activities:Intellectual OutputsIn total there have been developed 4 final Intellectual Outputs which are:-I-STEP Teacher Manual that guides VET teachers and trainers to get started with implementing International Entrepreneurship in VET-International Student Entrepreneurs Programme which is a training programme for VET students that highlights all aspects that are important in doing business internationally-International Entrepreneurship Platform & Community where all I-STEP materials can be downloaded for free and includes a communication and file share area for everyone interested in the subject to chat together and set up international cooperation and projects-I-STEP quality label which is an online tool (self-assessment) that helps schools to assess their performance related to international entrepreneurship activities. If a certain score is achieved, the I-STEP quality label certificate will be released.The I-STEP project has used a clear, complete and logical work programme to achieve the final results of the project and can be divided into the following 3 phases: Strategy, Development and Implementation. This is expressed in the approach to the development of the Intellectual Outputs as the phases contain activities for preparation, research, development, alpha testing, implementation, beta testing and dissemination.Learning/Teaching/Training activity – Blended mobility of VET learners (C1) 4 students and 1 accompanying teacher from LT, NL, UK and IE gathered in Birmingham for the I-STEP training week. The students formed mixed groups of different nationalities and under the guidance of the teachers they worked on the development of a new international business idea.Final Multiplier Event in Kaunas and national Multiplier EventsKSPMC organised the I-STEP final conference in Kaunas. Besides the final conference in Lithuania, all other partners organised a Multiplier Event by the end of the project to share and disseminate the final results of IO1, IO2, IO3 and IO4 amongst the stakeholders.I-STEP realised a major impact on the planning and development of the educational programmes and curriculum of the partner schools in the project as they have serious plans to (partly) implement the I-STEP materials in their curriculum (or are already doing so!). Mind-sets have been changed and networks expanded of all organisations and individuals that have been involved in the project. This has strongly enhanced the international entrepreneurial skills, attitudes and mind-sets of teachers and students in VET, improving transversal competences such as curiosity, flexibility, adaptability, resilience and teamwork but also competences related to internationalisation such as English language and intercultural cooperation. The I-STEP project serves as a strong and great example and will encourage other schools and organisations in the region to increase internationalisation in entrepreneurship education in VET.