The kick-off meeting of the project INTERVET Western Balkans
Intervet Western Balkans is a pilot project for the internationalisation of vocational education and training systems in the Western Balkans awarded €2 million which EfVET enthusiatically joined as a partner.
The 3-year project, led by the Italian organisation Uniser, an EfVET Member, aims at creating opportunities for learning mobility in the training centers of the Western Balkans and improving the culture of learning mobility in the field of VET. At this purpose, Intervet Western Balkans foresees activities at two levels: on the one hand, 400 mobilities of VET learners (56 3-month mobilities for recent graduates and apprentices, and 360 1-month mobilities for high school students), and on the other, the competence building of VET staff (54 job shadowing experiences and participation of 36 teachers in summer schools).
The objectives of the project are also twofold: it will allow participants to have better access to resources related to international training mobility and to learn more about already existing opportunities.
The consortium includes associations, SMEs, VET centers, chambers of commerce and a university from 6 regional partners: Albanian Skills (Albania), International University of Sarajevo (Bosnia and Herzegovina), Pristina REA (Kosovo), National Centre for Development of Innovation & Entrepreneurial Learning (Republic of North Macedonia), Chamber of Economy of Montenegro (Montenegro), Chamber of Commerce & Industry of Serbia (Serbia), as well as 5 partners from EU Member States which represents European VET Excellencies: Uniser (Italy), SEPR (France), MCAST (Malta), ROC Da Vinci College (The Netherlands), EfVET (Belgium) and finally 3 hosting partners: MODE (Poland), ZNI (Slovenia), INCOMA (Spain).
The kick-off meeting of INTERVET Western Balkans was held online on 24-25 March 2020 and it was attended by all 14 project partners, connecting over 50 people together. Moderated by Uniser as coordinator of the project, the two-day web event was opened with the welcome speech by Albert Sese-Ballart, Policy Officer for the Western Balkans in DG EAC, and was followed by the presentation of Andrea Lombardi, CEO of Uniser, focusing on the reasons why the project is going to change VET systems in Western Balkans.
Annalisa Palano, Head of the Unit Outgoing Mobility at Uniser, then provided an overview of the whole project, whose main goal is to introduce the culture of learning mobility in Western Balkans VET systems to improve the employability of students, thanks to over 500 mobilities which will be implemented overall. The meeting continued with panels from Western Balkans partners and the presentation of the GANTT and organisational chart of the project.
The second day was opened by the presentation of the project website, followed by parallel working groups discussions on sending partners, hosting partners, VET excellences, and administration. During the afternoon session, Paola Saini, Uniser R&D Officer presented the Quality plan, followed by Valentina Chanina, EfVET Project & Office Manager, who outlined the Dissemination plan of the project. Before the conclusions, partners had time to exchange views, ask questions and learn about the next steps.
EfVET is very proud and enthusiastic about this project since it gives the opportunity to play a major role in advocating and committing to invest in young people, education and skills, and as Mariya Gabriel, EU Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth – said referring to Intervet Western Balkans project – it is a “concrete example that meets the needs of the enlargement countries”.
For more information please visit the website and follow the Facebook page of the project.
