Chronicles of VET Internationalisation in Western Balkans

Chronicles of VET Internationalisation in Western Balkans

After success of the INTERVET WB project, a new capacity building project has just started!

Three years ago INTERVET WB, the first pilot project for the internationalisation of VET systems in Western Balkans, was launched. Since then, many VET students and staff have experienced international learning mobility and the partnership has started new initiatives with the aim to meet the needs that the project has unveiled. Developing Capacity for VET Systems in Western Balkans is one of the most important ones and it focuses on how to improve the WBL experience of students in the IT, electronics and automation sectors.

Thanks to the INTERVET project, coordinated by Uniser, around 250 schools from Western Balkans allowed more than 500 students and staff to immerse themselves in an international environment. In order to be able to continue the process of strengthening and developing the vocational education and training systems of the Western Balkan countries, Uniser together with other 6 partners designed a new capacity building project. The partnership includes Louvi Vocational College (Finland), VET High School IES Pedro de Tolosa (Spain), non-profit association Albanian Skills (Albania), Chamber of Economy of Montenegro, International University of Sarajevo Lifelong Learning Center (Bosnia and Herzegovina) and NGO Prishtina REA (Kosovo).

This new Capacity Building project will last for three years and it aims at innovating VET systems in Western Balkans through the exchange of practices and a pervasive capacity building action.

It is addressed to the IT, electronics and automation sectors and its specific objectives are:

  • Strengthening collaboration with companies for increasing the quantity and quality of work based learning experiences of students
  • Equipping teachers with more didactics strategies dedicated to young people with fewer opportunities
  • Improving the internationalisation strategies of VET schools in Western Balkans

To achieve these objectives, the partners will pursue some research, develop tools and methodologies for VET practitioners and will provide learning mobility opportunities to teachers and students in the Information Technology (IT), electronics and automation sectors. In the first stage, partners will focus on improving the WBL practices in Western Balkans and strengthening the collaboration with companies. They carry out a comparative analysis of WBL applications, collect the most relevant ones in an online repository and produce a video gallery of companies to be used as didactic materials in classrooms.

Luovi will lead the work package related to the upskilling of teachers on inclusive didactics that will include a research of the state of art of methodologies, tools and methods and the creation of a toolkit. Finally a E-learning on internationalisation will be produced and it will focus on the set up of virtual, physical and blended mobilities for students. Learning mobilities are an integral part of the project as they allow teachers to increase awareness on the different WBL solutions, to discover relevant business realities and acquire new skills on inclusive didactics. On the other side, students coming from all partnering countries will test a methodology of blended mobilities, by joining a project that will start in their own countries and will conclude in Albania.

During the kick-off meeting held in Bologna at Uniser on the 31st January and the 1st of February, partners could get to know each other and start working together on the project activities. They drafted the guidelines for the comparative analysis aimed at analysing the state of the on Work Based Learning in their countries and worked on the school call for teachers who will then participate in some mobilities in Finland, Italy and Spain. They also did a city tour of the city centre of Bologna, including an inspiring visit to Archiginnasio Library, which stores thousands of ancient volumes and the magnificent Anatomical Theatre. For the next three years, partners will work together to reach the project objectives and develop the project results: a fruitful cooperation has just started!

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