The funding received within the framework of the project was used to finance stays abroad for a total of 417 individuals in vocational training and 69 vocational training specialists. 316 apprentices completed a 2 to 52 week internship specifically suited to their profession, individual level of training, knowledge and skills in a company abroad active in their professional field. 17 apprentices and students absolved a long-term mobility of duration of more than three months as part of the ErasmusPro initiative.IFA organized internships in small groups between September 2018 and August 2019. Participation was open for apprentices from all professions and industries from all over Austria. The applicants were selected based on their technical, linguistic and personal skills. IFA organized the travel, internship, accommodation and insurance for the participants as well as accompanying language courses. IFA also prepared the apprentices and companies with respect to organisational, cultural and linguistic aspects for the stays and ensured that the internships were recognized as part of the apprenticeship training in accordance with the Vocational Training Act (BAG). Given that a many of the apprentices were minors, the apprentice groups were accompanied by an IFA tutor during the first week abroad. The tutors helped the apprentices to get settled in the host country and visited all the participating companies to ensure that the content and processes fulfilled the objectives. Contact persons at thereceiving institution and IFA were available to support the participants throughout their entire stay abroad.101 students from full-time vocational schools and colleges also completed an internship relevant to their professional field that was suitable for their training and level of knowledge. The internships were organized in close cooperation with the sending schools in order to ensure they were recognized as part of the compulsory internship. Most student internships took place in the summer of 2019. The duration of the internship ranged between 2 weeks and 5 months. The content of the internships were defined in terms of the occupational and training profiles and curricula as well as the individual skills of the participants and were specified before the internship in a learning agreement between IFA, the participants and the sending and receiving institutions together with the learning objectives that were to be achieved during theinternship.Within the framework of this project 69 experts in the field of VET staff from companies and vocational schools as well as vocational training experts participated in mobilities to exchange their experiences in order to learn about VET systems in other countries, compare them with the Austrian system and exchange ideas amongst each other and with colleagues from abroad. The goal was to promote the quality, innovation and the European idea in vocational education and training through cross-border exchanges. The participants were multipliers and could share their experiences in companies, part-time and full-time vocational schools and throughout Austria and thus contribute to a Europeanisation of the Austrian VET system.During their mobilities participants acquired technical, linguistic, social, intercultural and personal skills and expanded theirpersonal and professional horizons. Work placements abroad contribute to the strengthening of important key skills such as teamwork ability, personal responsibility, flexibility and much more. Experiences abroad promote career opportunities and ensure the future career of the participants and thus the competitiveness of Austrian companies. International exchange increases the overall quality of the Austrian VET.IFA is a non-profit association that has been organizing internships abroad since 1995 for apprentices, professionals and training officers. Since 1995, IFA has helped more than 9.500 people take part in an EU-funded stay abroad. As the applicant and co-ordinating institution, IFA was therefore responsible for ensuring the quality and proper organization of the project. IFA works with a network of experienced partners in the target countries with whom partnership agreements (Memoranda of Understanding) defining the conditions and quality criteria already exist. IFA has been successfully working together with most of the partner institutions for many years. Throughout the entire stay abroad, mentors from the receiving institution, the host company or IFA supported the participants to supervise their progress and ensure the quality of the internship. After completing the internship, all the participants received a “Personal Transcript” outlining the activities completed and knowledge and skills acquired with confirmation from the receiving institution and host company. All internships were recognized as part of the vocational training in Austria.

The funding received within the framework of the project was used to finance stays abroad for a total of 573 individuals in vocational training, 16 vocational training specialists and 1 accompanying person. 334 apprentices completed a 2 to 11 week internship specifically suited to their profession, individual level of training, knowledge and skills at a company active in their professional field. IFA organized internships in small groups during summer and fall of 2015 and spring and fall of 2016. Participation was open for apprentices from every profession and industry from all over Austria. The applicants were selected based on their technical, linguistic and personal skills. IFA organized the travel, stay abroad, internship, accommodation and insurance for the participants as well as accompanying language courses. IFA prepared the apprentices and companies organizationally, culturally and linguistically for the stays and ensured that the internships were recognized as part of the apprenticeship training in accordance with the Vocational Training Act (BAG). 193 students from vocational schools and colleges also completed an internship relevant to their professional field that was suitable for their training and level of knowledge. The internships were organized in close cooperation with the sending schools in order to ensure they were recognized as part of the compulsory internship. Most student internships took place in the summer of 2016. The duration of the internship ranged between 2 and 13 weeks. The content of the internships were defined in terms of the occupational and training profiles and curricula as well as the individual skills of the participants and were specified before the internship in a learning agreement between IFA, the participants and the sending and receiving institutions together with the learning objectives that were to be achieved during the internship. Given that a majority of the apprentices were minors, the apprentice groups were accompanied by an IFA counsellor during the first week abroad. The counsellors helped the apprentices get settled in the host country and visited all the participating companies to ensure that the content and processes fulfilled the objectives. Contact persons at the receiving institution and IFA were available to support the participants throughout their entire stay abroad. One participant with special needs was assisted by a qualified accompanying person throughout the entire stay in order to secure help with day-to-day activities and with internship-related issues. Furthermore, within the framework of the project, 16 training officers from companies and vocational schools as well as vocational training experts participated in a 1 or 2 week-long workshop to exchange their experiences in order to learn about VET systems in other countries, compare them with the Austrian system and exchange ideas amongst each other and with colleagues from abroad. The goal was to promote the quality, innovation and the European idea in vocational education and training through cross-border exchanges. The participants were multipliers and could share their experiences in companies, schools and throughout Austria and thus contribute to a Europeanisation of the Austrian VET system.While abroad, the participants acquired technical, linguistic, social, intercultural and personal skills and expanded their personal and professional horizons. An internship abroad contributes to the strengthening of important key skills such as teamwork, personal responsibility, flexibility and much more.Experiences abroad promote career opportunities and ensure the future career of the participants and thus the competitiveness of Austrian companies. International exchange increases the overall quality of the Austrian VET.IFA is a non-profit association that has been organizing internships abroad since 1995 for apprentices, professionals and training officers. Since 1995, IFA has helped more than 7000 people take part in an EU-funded stay abroad. As the applicant and co-ordinating institution, IFA was therefore responsible for ensuring the quality and proper organization of the project.IFA works with a network of experienced partners in the target countries with whom partnership agreements (Memoranda of Understanding) defining the conditions and quality criteria already exist. IFA has been successfully working together with most of the partner institutions for many years.Throughout the entire stay abroad, there was always someone from the receiving institution, the host company or IFA at the participants’ side to supervise their progress and ensure the quality of the internship. After completing the internship, all the participants received a “Personal Transcript” outlining the activities completed and knowledge and skills acquired with confirmation from the receiving institution and host company. All internships were recognized as part of the vocational training in Austria.

The Project MUCEX I is a mobility project for trainees and trainers of the Flughafen München GmbH, the trainee system of the professional training is the German dual system. For the past 20 years, Flughafen München GmbH has been benefiting from deployment supported by the EU. We also want to continue holding on to this success story. For that reason, annually new projects have been planned, applied for and performed. The stay abroad takes place during the third year of the trainingship. The period that trainees stayed abroad was two weeks (excluding arrival and departure day). The following professional training groups were sent to the following partner airports:Athens International Airport: Office Managers and Real Estate SpecialistsFlughafen Wien AG: MechatronicsCopenhagen International Airport: Qualified IT-specialist in Application Development and Qualified IT-specialist in Systems IntegrationMalta International Airport: Aviation Service Specialist and Office ManagersWithin two years, a total of 37 trainees have had the possibility to take part in such a program. The nomination is an internal process in which 50 % of the trainees have been nominated because of their effort (grade of professional school, rating sheet and the intermediate examination result) and 50 % have been nominated by fortune, so that weaker trainees had the chance to participate as well. After the nomination process, a workshop for preparation in the fields of language, intercultural understanding and organizational issues regarding the upcoming mobility took place. During the program, the participants were assisted by the senders and receivers facility. As a conclusion after the program, a wrap-up workshop and a presentation about the mobility took place at Munich Airport. After intensive pre-discussions between the two partner Airports, the trainees were deployed in diverse occupational departments. There they had self-contained tasks and projects, ideally in departments/areas that Flughafen München GmbH was not able to offer them. The participants gained an overall insight into a different European airport (beyond one’s own nose), developed their language skills (English, basic knowledge in another foreign language), improved their intercultural competences (which contributes to the internationalization strategy of the Flughafen München GmbH) and had several projects such as the creation of a handbook which might serve as a method of knowledge transfer for other future trainees, trainers and staff of the Flughafen München GmbH. During the mobility, the sending and receiving partners worked together closely in terms of monitoring. This ensured the learning success of the trainees. For certification of the new gained skills and knowledge, they received the “europass Mobilität” and a comment in their professional training certificate. Furthermore, we have gained the experience over the past years that trainees would be preferred over others by the potential takeover department. This shows that this is a distinct takeover advantage of having participated in mobility. Furthermore, mobility measures also contribute to positioning the Flughafen München GmbH as an attractive employer for trainees.The expert knowledge and learning from the time abroad was communicated and distributed by diverse usage of media, e.g. communicated to the management, recruiters and other staff by a final presentation. These presentations were uploaded to the Flughafen München GmbH Intranet as well as the career website (shorter version). Besides that, reports in irregular intervals have been published in Munich Airports newspaper “Motion”. This ensures a long term benefit for all staff of the company. Public relations for our Erasmus+ project were done via Facebook, the career website of the FMG and in the daily news. In Addition, our participants were interviewed e. g. for the magazine “Einstieg” and our experiences with EU Projects and the mobility certificate were cited in the magazine “bildung für europa”.

<< Objectives >>The main project objective is to improve professional skills of airport firefighters using digitalized approach for reaching the newest ecological standards imposed by the EU Directive EU/2020/784 in regards to the use of perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), its salts and PFOA-related compounds. The Directive imposes to substitute the regular extinguishing foam agents to Eco-friendly non-fluorine foam agents, by 2025. This environmental request also changes operational procedures for firefighters.<< Implementation >>Within the project we will develop new procedures and training programme for efficient use of new environment friendly extinguishing foam agents, which will be in line with the EU Directive. To achieve proposed project objective, we will setup new guidelines and digitally supported programme for practical training of airport firefighters using the eco-friendly foam agents. We will implement pilot training for the firefighter brigades from partner organizations and evaluate its results.<< Results >>Based on proposed activities the expected project result will be improved professional skills of airport firefighters as well as more environment friendly response at aircraft fires with modern and environment friendly approach. By introducing digitally supported firefighting training, the project is expected to also contribute to improved digital capacity of partner organizations and their staff, to environment protection and to innovative practices in vocational education and training.