Cooperation models between the business world and educational providers

This publication on Cooperation Models highlits encompasses a broad sense of input and is meant for every sector and education. The cooperation between business in the labour market and learners in a (formal) education period can be seen as dual-apprenticeships, internships, work placements, lectures, or even the influence of business representatives in the development of educational programmes, qualifications.

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Europemobility Quality Development Tool

The Quality Development Tool is based on the Quality Charter for sending and intermediary organizations. It can be used individually to get insight in the state of the art of quality assurance for the process of sending learners abroad in your own organization, it can help you with setting up a quality assurance system, but the full potential of the tool would be exploited within the Europemobility community of coordinators of practical learning mobility. Thus the Quality Development Tool turns from an individual quality assurance exercise into a peer-learning-tool to further develop the practical learning mobility program of the organizations of the “peer-learning- club”. Engaging in a peer-learning group allows furthermore establishing useful contacts, which might turn into strategic partnerships.

The quality charter comprises of four parts, related to the four phases of quality assurance. For each phase, the most important criteria and elements are listed. The quality tool is based on that charter and designed as a questionnaire – by completing this questionnaire an organization can indicate its own progress in the implementation of each of the criteria and elements. Action points are based on those criteria and can have the status “Not started”, “In progress”, “Implemented” and “Documented/audited”. If you want to engage in a peer-learning group, please indicate the respective action point/s as your “peer-learning priority/ies”. This can be an action point, which has not started yet to be implemented and you want to exchange with colleagues your strategies to start the implementation or it could be an action point, which you have already implemented but you seek to exchange with other experienced colleagues for further development.

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Funding schemes for international mobility

This guidebook collects the most effective, used and attainable funding opportunities available at national, trans-national and international levels. The study examined three important aspects of funding schemes – functionality, impact, innovations – as they arise in the case studies provided by different mobility coordinators.

More specifically, the guide deepened the following issues:

• What available funding schemes support learning mobility projects?

• What activities and projects can be carried out thanks to those funding schemes?

• What weaknesses and strengths they show and what strategies may be used to address limits and produce innovations?

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Study on the impact of learning mobility on host organisations

This study wants to investigate the impact of international learners on host organizations. The study follows recent studies that show that host organizations can benefit from international learners, e.g. in terms of improving language skills, intercultural skills as well as new working methods and the access to new markets abroad.

That means the internationalization and exchange among European countries and their people can help to foster the strength of the European market and economy by networking and collaborations. That’s why mobility schemes have to promote the participation of host organizations in mobility programmes.

This study wants to investigate how host organizations can benefit from international learners and where are the potentials to improve the benefit and performances of each involved actor.

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Study on the impact of learning mobility on mobile learners

This study investigates the impact of learning mobility on language skills, intercultural skills, professional skills as well as the impact on a sense of “European identity”.

The study compares self-assessment data between learners, who have been abroad for at least one period for learning and/or working (mobile group) and learners, who have never been abroad for learning and/or working (control group).

The results of the data support the assumption that mobility can have a positive impact on the level of language, intercultural as well as professional skills. The results correspond with previous studies that were made to investigate the impact of mobility. Further, the data shows that mobility can increase the “Feeling as European”. In our study the mobile learners have a higher voter turnout for the European election (May 2014) compared to the control group.

Due to the fact, that this is a cross-section study design, we are not in the position to draw conclusions about the causality, as we do not know, if the skills are influenced by the mobility experience or if learners with a higher level of skills tend more to go abroad anyway. However, the study provides insight in interesting distributions of data in the mobility group and in the control group, and the study supports several assumptions about the impact of mobility on learner’s skills and competences as well as on learner’s “European Identity”.

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The Europemobility Benchmarking Club. Quality in Mobility

This Publication provides an introduction to the work and interim results of the “Thematic Commission on Quality of practical learning mobility”. The methodology and pilot implementation of the Europemobility Benchmarking Club “quality in mobility” is presented.

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The Quality Observatory & Toolbox for Mobility

This publication represents a tool to support and promote quality in transnational learning mobility.

Lifelong learning means that boundaries related to time, place, biography, institutional setting and forms of learning are dissolving. While the European Lifelong learning Programme (LLP) 2007-13 still contained sectorial boundaries of school (Comenius), vocational (Leonardo), adult (Grundtvig) and higher (Erasmus) education reflected in the respective sub-programmes , the new proposal for the follow-up programme “Erasmus+” 2014-2020 does not foresee such separate sub-programmes anymore.

Promoters of placement mobility used to stay within their sector – reflected by programmes such as Erasmus placements, Leonardo or Grundtvig mobility. However new network initiatives such as the “Europemobility Network” (funded by the LLP, www.europemobility.eu) attempt to cross the boundaries and work on a common objective: “How to ensure both quality and quantity of placement mobility for all learners?”.

This publication offers an overview on various initiatives and projects accomplished across Europe to support quality in learning mobility. This document is focusing on the Quality Observatory and Toolbox for mobility, developed by the following steps:

1. Collecting and analyzing good practices

2. Defining a framework to map the good practices

3. Selecting the quality criteria to define quality in mobility

4. Collecting the methods to realize quality in mobility

5. Selecting the indicators and benchmarks to measure quality in mobility

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The Validation of Learning Mobility. A tool to support and promote the validation and recognition of learning mobility abroad

Increasing the transparency of qualifications is an essential step in European lifelong learning policy to facilitate greater flexibility in individual learning pathways, thus fostering learner mobility both on an institutional and geographical level. Efforts have been undertaken by the Member States to connect their national qualifications to the European Qualifications Framework (EQF), a process that is still ongoing. In the context of the European Lifelong Learning Programmes, the European Credit Transfer System (ECTS) for the higher education sector and the European Credit System for Education and Training (ECVET) in the vocational sector were developed to allow for a greater transparency and comparability of degrees and qualifications. The publication presents the valuable tools available to promote recognition and validation of learning acquired abroad.

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Towards ET2020: positive action to enhance vocational education and training within a lifelong learning agenda

This publication presents the follow-up activities which have been carried out by EfVET and the other European VET Associations around the Bruges Communiqué. Within the launch of the Bruges Communiqué in December 2010, the four European VET Associations – EfVET, EUproVET, EVTA and EVBB – presented a Joint Declaration on the contribution of Vocational Education and Training to the EU 2020 strategy. The publication describes the main activities accomplished by the European VET Associations which include the management of experts and policy working groups, thematic conferences, workshops and online consultations with respective members and with other relevant stakeholders.

This document now represents the views of the four leading VET associations on behalf of all their members throughout the European Union. The four Presidents of EfVET, EVTA, BVBB and EUproVET, as joint signatories, present this document to the European Commission, with the intention that the recommendations identified by VET Stakeholders at all levels will be incorporated in the implementation of the objectives outlined in the Bruges Communiqué.

The five priority areas, as outlined in the Bruges Communiqué, have been considered by all four European VET Associations and the document presents the the key recommendations under each of the following dimensions:

1. Improving the quality and efficiency of VET and enhancing its attractiveness and relevance

2. Making lifelong learning and mobility a reality

3. Fostering Innovation, Creativity and Entrepreneurship

4. Promoting equity, social cohesion and active citizenship

5. Working in partnership at European, National and Local level

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