<< Background >>The Connecting Europe partners, representing intermediary organizations and VET providers from Finland, Ireland, Portugal, Spain, Italy, Malta and Greece, have noticed that there is a lack of understanding of the realities and obstacles that intermediary organizations and VET providers face when it comes to hosting VET students. When planning the project and its project results (PRs) we noticed that although we have similar challenges, we have different solutions and ideas on how to cope with these challenges. Our partnership is based on the idea that we can learn from each other and improve the way we work with Erasmus+ mobilities as we all know the challenges of working with Erasmus+ mobilities and have the experience/skills of dealing with these challenges. Representing different kind of organizations will also the ability look at these challenges from different viewpoints and angles which will enable us to develop tools that helps not just us involved in the project but all actors involved in Erasmus+ KA1 mobilities in VET.To be able to provide students with successful and gratifying learning experiences we need to gain understanding in and accept the realities in which intermediary organizations and VET providers work. Doing this will enable us to improve the quality of collaboration between the sending and hosting organization & intermediary organizations and VET providers and establish and maintain the Connecting Europe Consortium.An increased and improved collaboration between intermediary organizations and VET providers is also needed if we want to make it easier to identify, evaluate, recognize and validate the formal and non-formal skills that VET students develop during their mobilities. The improved validation will have a positive impact on the employability of these students as they have proof of how their skills have increased and improved during their virtual/blended mobilities. The new Erasmus+ program stresses the importance of inclusiveness. To be able to provide ALL students with fair and equal opportunities it is important that all involved in the mobilities raise awareness by showcasing the benefits of including students with fewer opportunities in the mobilities. We need tools that enables VET providers and intermediary organizations to provide students with positive learning experiences and who will spread the word that Erasmus+ mobilities are for all regardless if the learning/social background. The PR2 will help to raise awareness of how Erasmus+ mobilities develop formal and non-formal skills and this will encourage more VET providers to implement inclusiveness and providing all students with equal opportunities to take part in a mobility. Europe needs habitants who are active European citizens who can work in multicultural environments and adapt to change. Developing tools that will enable this is needed. The project will address this need by developing a PR (PR1) that will provide students with realistic expectations of what living and working abroad is like and what opportunities Erasmus+ mobilities will give them.<< Objectives >>The Covid-19 pandemic made it clear how vulnerable current ways of organizing mobilities are and forced us to rethink the way we work with internationalization of our students. During the past year virtual mobilities have been piloted/implemented by several of the partners involved in this project and they have proven to be a valuable complement to the traditional Erasmus+ KA1 mobilities. By sharing existing practices obstacles and our experiences will allow us to create and evaluate (existing) tools and methods that enables us to deliver qualitative blended Erasmus+ mobilities and merge these experiences in the project results that will be developed within Connecting Europe. Doing this will enable us to make current and future Erasmus+ KA1 mobilities fit the requirements and quality standards of the new Erasmus+ program 2021 – 2027. Our aim is to improve the collaboration between sending and hosting partners and intermediary and VET providers. This is why we have involved an equal amount of partners representing these groups. By joining forces we will be able to modernize the way hosting and sending organizations deliver Erasmus+ KA1 mobilities and involve the hosting organization in the preparations students receive before the leave for a transnational mobility. By giving hosting organization a bigger role in the preparations of students, the students will receive accurate and first-hand information which will increase their preparedness and readiness to enter their transnational mobility with realistic expectations. This in turn will have a positive effect on their ability to adapt and work in a foreign company.To ensure that the skills that students develop and obtain during a mobility will be identified, evaluated, recognized and formally validated we will develop (self-)evaluation tools and skills matrixes that describes the informal and non-formal skills that students within the hospitality, healthcare and technical sector can develop during a virtual/blended mobility. The 2 project results developed and implemented in this project will help establish a collaborative, transparent and qualitative support service system for VET students in these 3 sectors which will encourage more students to want to take part in Erasmus+ mobilities and will encourage inclusion of students and internationalization at home. The increased collaboration and the support system will also enable and encourage the Connecting Europe Consortium to continue collaborating in the future and transferring into other sectors and VET provers and intermediary organizations in Europe.<< Implementation >>Connecting Europe will comprise of the following activities:1) 5 transnational project meetings where the partners will together and face-to-face work with developing the 2 project results of the project will be held. Spending time together face-to-face will enable the sharing of best practices and will allow us to build up a working relationship built on mutual trust and respect.2) 1 Learning Teaching Training Activity (LTTA) will be held approx. halfway of the project. During this LTTA the Steering Committee members will disseminate the PRs the LTTA participants that consists of VET students (incl. students with fewer opportunities) representing the Hospitality, Healthcare and Technical sector from the partners that are VET providers. The aim of the LTTA is to learn from the students, pilot the PRs, collect feedback and language and visual aspects of the PRs and thus make the outputs more user-friendly and sustainable.3) Virtual workshops working with the PRs will held regularly (at least 1 – 2 times between each transnational meeting) in which those involved in the development of the 2 PRs will participate. This to ensure that the collaborative work continues throughout the project and not only during the PMs4) National workshops to work with the PRs will be held regularly. The persons involved in the national workshops will consist of international coordinators involved in the project, teachers, students and employers. The aim of these workgroups is to ensure that the viewpoints of all beneficiaries will be addressed and taken into consideration when developing the PRs.5) Steering Committee meetings will be held at least every 2 months. The aim of these meetings is to work on administrative issues relating to the project and to monitor the progress and quality of the PRs and project work in generalAll activities above will use the Deming’s Circle methodology (Plan – Do – Check – Act) 6) Dissemination activities: All partners will actively disseminate the project internally and externally according to the Connecting Europe Dissemination plan7) Implementation activities: All partners are committed to take needed actions to implement the PRs and the other outcomes of the project in their organization and their daily routines of working with Erasmus+ mobilities and thus ensure sustainability of the project and its results<< Results >>The Connecting Europe partners will become an established Erasmus+ Consortium that will continue to collaborate beyond the project’s lifespan. Partners with whom the Connecting Europe Consortium collaborates with will be invited and encouraged to join the Connecting Europe Consortium and work to further improve the quality of Erasmus+ KA1 mobilities offered to VET studentsThe 2 project results; a) PR1: A virtual preparations course that prepares VET students within the hospitality, technical and healthcare sector for their Erasmus+ KA1 mobility and gives them the skills needed to work in a multicultural environment; and b) PR2: Tools that enable VET providers to identify and recognize 21st century skills and other soft skills that helps VET students succeed in the world of work but that are currently not identified and recognized formally due to a lack of tools, will be implemented by the partners and will be used beyond the project’s lifespan when sending and hosting students on Erasmus+ mobilities. Partners with whom the Connecting Europe Consortium collaborates will be encouraged to implement the PRs and develop similar online preparation units that the partners have developed and have begun using when preparing students for mobilities. After the project ends the Connecting Europe Consortium members will also begin the work of transferring the PRs to other sectors involved in VET and thus ensure that a larger number of students, sending and hosting organizations and employers will benefit from the outputs in the future. The self-evaluation tools and the skills matrixes focusing on formal and non-formal skills will be used by the Connecting Europe Consortium when preparing students for their mobilities and when (self-)evaluating the skills developed during the mobility so that these skills can be identified, evaluated, recognized and validated by the VET providers at the end of a mobility. We will also develop, implement and start using a Connecting Europe Certificate that will visualize the skills that students have improved/gained during the mobility. This Certificate can be used by the students when applying for work and showcasing their skillsets. The methodology of collaboration between VET providers and intermediary organizations that begins during the Connecting Europe project will continue after the project ends. The Connecting Europe Consortium are aware and in agreement that a transparent and genuine collaboration where knowledge and experience is shared is one of the cornerstones of being able to provide VET students with qualitative learning experiences.