FIETE Partners
EPN Germany
EPN Germany is a SME created in September 2019 and based in Erfurt & Berlin in Germany. It is part of the European Placement Network, which includes EPN UK (created in 2011) & based in Bristol & Manchester; EPN Switzerland (created in 2019) & based in La Chaux de Fonds.
EPNG has 3 main activities.
Firstly, EPNG brings expertise in innovative learning solutions for adult learners & in-service solutions to companies. EPNG has been working local companies to improve their familiarity with remote-access communication tools & digital software programmes for communication & translation. EPNG also offers bespoke training solutions in Language Learning & developing entrepreneurial skills. In 2020 in response to the negative effects of the COVID pandemic, EPNG has been working with career advisory & adult learning centres in Erfurt developing soft-skills and positive thinking among VET trainees, job seekers & adults from difficult backgrounds. This will be of considerable value for the FIETE project.
Secondly, EPNG specialises in the management of European mobility programmes, internships & work-based learning in addition to the design, coordination & participation in Erasmus+ projects. EPN Germany looks to find innovative solutions, to organise personalised work-based learning projects & to develop quality home-based possibilities for accommodation.
Thirdly, EPNG has a rapidly-growing & diversified network of partner companies in Germany. This network includes large multi-national companies, PME's, non-profit organisations from the public & private domains and across all activity sectors. EPN Germany is an active member of local Business Networks, contributing to business conferences, meetings & discussion groups.
Working with a wide network of European partners such as local authorities, non-profit organisations, private companies and educational establishments, we arrange work placements for European trainees & adults not in employment all over Germany. This will help share & promote the results of this project and thereby increase the impact.
One of the most important missions of EPNG is to work with job seekers of all ages on a regular basis through contracts with Job Centres & career advisory centres in Thuringen & Berlin.
The FIETE project will produce resources to facilitate remote, variable-access learning. Because it seems unlikely that society & VET education will ever return to the situation that existed before COVID, the FIETE project should therefore make a contribution to the quality of the work that we do with our learners. We also work with educators, showing them how best to use digital technologies in the teaching & in the education sessions.
For the first time we have also noticed a reluctance on behalf of VET trainees & graduates to travel to gain new experiences. This is partly due to health concerns and worries about the pandemic, but also due to a lack of knowledge & experience working with people from other countries & making yourself understood. Here again, this project would make a considerable impact because all the participants would have the opportunity to exchange with participants from 5 other countries. We believe that this could be the kickstart that leads to exciting employment opportunities. Furthermore, THE FIETE post diploma internships would also be a huge value & could have a noticeable effect on employability & job market access.
The opportunity to participate in & contribute to the FIETE project enables EPNG to share current practice & experience as well as improving the capacity to send & host trainees with special needs. EPNG will also bring expertise in digital marketing & audio-visual competences for the production of the interactive learning tutorials.
APRECA FRANCE
APRECA is an accredited VET Training Provider created in 1990. It has offices in several French regions including Paris-Ile de France - Alsace-Champagne-Ardennes, Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes, Bourgogne-France Comté & Midi-Pyrénées.
APRECA’s training Missions include competence development initiatives for Students, VET trainees & Job Seekers – including linguistic, digital, personal & social, citizenship & entrepreneurial competences; innovative digital content for VET training & adult education programmes in a full range of business-related areas; digital solutions for the incorporation of ECVET into work-based-mobilities, the development of new methods & resources linking the digital world with the need to reduce the carbon footprint & contribute to sustainable development
APRECA’s European training dimensions emerged through the development of pioneering IT educational programme & digital solutions for adult educators, adult learners, educators & students from adult learning, schools & apprentice training centres in France & across Europe.
APFRECA also has language teaching department as a training and examination centre for the University of Cambridge (CIE) working for the regions of Champagne-Ardenne, Picardie & Bourgogne. APRECA became a pilot centre in France for the DIRECT ENGLISH method developed by the PEARSON group which integrated language learning into work-based learning.
APRECA also undertakes a range of international activities such as the organisation of internships across Europe; job-shadowing opportunities across Europe; hosting & sending of individuals & groups of pupils, students, graduates, trainees & adults. APRECA designs tailored Language Learning Solutions through partnership with Cambridge ESOL & in the UK, Ireland, France & Germany.
Finally, APRECA manages Erasmus+ KA1 Mobilities – Work-based Learning, Cultural Visits, Study Exchanges for several French regions, in addition to numerous schools, VET centres, universities & job centres. APRECA is also a member of the French Expert mobility network& is recognised as an official 'mobility developer'.
Working with a wide network of European partners such as local authorities, private companies & educational establishments, APRECA has facilitated mobility projects for more than 17,000 trainees (VET trainees, job seekers, apprentices, high school students & higher education students & graduates) all over Europe & also manages the hosting in France of trainees from other European countries & the organisation of linguistic training & work-based learning.
APRECA regularly participates in projects & partnerships with the aim of improving the quality of our processes. The combination of almost 30 years’ experience with adult leaning, IT & language training, work in past European projects allows APRECA a unique input into the FIETE project.
We have encountered particular challenges when working with VET trainees & even graduates who can lack the digital skills necessary to find a place in our digital world & the self-confidence or even motivation to push themselves towards potential employment opportunities. The FIETE project results would therefore be of particular value to us when working with these trainees
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we have had to undertake a considerable proportion of our training online, using remote virtual digital methods. The FIETE project would produce resources aimed at remote learning & which start off with developing the digital competencies necessary to undertake these learning activities & to connect to other learners & educators. Such resources would help to keep all participants motivated because we believe trainees enjoy working with digital technologies, as long as they have the necessary digital skills to do so. In addition, the availability of digitally-based resources for preparing, realising & valorising the internship experience would be of direct value to us & to the people we work with
We have also met difficulties since the start of the pandemic in persuading VET trainees & graduates to go to another country for a period of work-based learning. Improving their knowledge of Europe & giving them experience of working with people from other European countries, may well give them the confidence to travel & want to take part in these mobility opportunities. The combination of these factors should have a positive effect on employability
RISEBA
RISEBA University of Applied Sciences is a university-type private higher educational institution fully accredited by the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Latvia. RISEBA is one of the 10 largest higher education institutions in Latvia (both public & private) with almost 3000 students, including 200 international students, who attend 20 study programmes of different levels and specialisations, and more than 9000 alumni. RISEBA provides programmes which are either unique in the market or were first introduced to the market by RISEBA. It is one of the few institutions that offers full degree programmes in three languages – Latvian and English.
RISEBA is spread across five sites: three buildings of RISEBA main campus are located in Riga (the capital city), one regional branch is based in Daugavpils (the second largest city in Latvia). Guided by its vision RISEBA comprises three major academic components or schools:
• School of Business with Bachelor, Master and PhD programmes, which cover the areas of business, management and economics
• School of Media and Communication with Bachelor and Master programmes in arts and communications
• School of Architecture and Design, which currently offers a Bachelor programme in Architecture.
RISEBA is an inter-disciplinary, multicultural university providing the global labour market with intelligent, creative and independently thinking individuals. RISEBA stands for excellent education, internationally recognised degrees, high quality of graduates, excellent research base and highly qualified staff.
RISEBA life-long education centre also participates in different kinds of projects at national and EU level. During 2020 there already are more than 2000 adults trained in various educational programs. RISEBA delivers higher education in study fields such as business and administration, communications, audio-visual media arts and architecture. To implement RISEBA vision - “the place where business meets arts” RISEBA has created Creative Business Incubator to inspire, educate, mentor students and graduates from different sectors to speed up the growth and success of their business ideas, start-up and early-stage companies, to support students in the business idea and project development process and acceleration process of the new start-up companies. The main directions for RISEBA Creative Industries are areas are Creative Industries, Social Entrepreneurship and Innovation. One of RISEBA study programs is E-Business which teaches new professionals who can work as project managers in e-commerce, as website designers, managers in e-commerce departments in public institutions and private businesses. Also, they can work in e-health, e-government, e-education and e-business and welfare fields.
Our previous experience with the cooperation projects advances our core disciplinary knowledge and addresses key issues for the society such as creative methods in business and learning to innovate, strategic management and technology. We ensure programmes at RISEBA meet the expectations of the university sector by offering creative study programmes in the various fields: Business, Psychology, Communications, Audio-visual media arts and Architecture.
Within business and economics, art, communication and architecture sciences, research is carried out in a number of different fields, such as:
+ Strategic management, Public management, Strategic Business IT, Entrepreneurship and Social Entrepreneurship, Economics, Finance and Banking, Innovation Management, Creativity, and Innovation, Life-long education, Human Resource Development Research into Creative Industries, Architecture in transition towards new hybrid urban typologies, Social media, marketing, public relations, and communication
As a Lifelong Learning Centre RISEBA provides more than 50 different education programmes. During the year 2019 more than 2900 VET trainees have attended different kinds of education programmes in RISEBA learning centre. RISEBA runs courses for VET learners that range from key competences to degree level courses & we will contribute an ‘academic’ focus, helping to ensure the quality of the results. The centre also participates in different kinds of projects at national & EU level.
RISEBA delivers higher education in study fields such as business and administration, communications, audio-visual media arts and architecture. To implement RISEBA vision, “the place where business meets arts”, RISEBA has created a Creative Business Incubator to inspire, educate, mentor students and graduates from different sectors to speed up the growth & success of their business ideas, start-up & early-stage companies, to support students in the business idea and project development process & acceleration process of the new start-up companies. RISEBA therefore is one the main VETs in Latvia.
Nellija Titova PhD has extensive experience working with Erasmus+ projects & is currently working with some of the partners in the INTERGEN & PORTFOLIO FOR EMPLOYMENT projects. She will be responsible for the important role that RISEBA will play in the FIETE project.
EUAS
Estonian Entrepreneurship University of Applied Sciences (EUAS) is an international university with students from all over the world. The curriculas are developed in sync with corporate partners across borders and the teaching staff hail from an international network of like-minded universities. It is a university of entrepreneurs, by entrepreneurs and for future entrepreneurs. At EUAS, the students are offered intense contacts with the business world throughout their studies in the form of visiting lectures, regular informal meetups and internships. EUAS has 1600 students, 5000 alumni, and studies are held in Estonian, English and Russian.
EUAS is situated in the innovation campus Ülemiste Future City and is surrounded by the most innovative environment in Estonia. University has close cooperation with entrepreneurs and start-up companies and has a modern campus for students: student hostel, sport centre, study building, several cafés and restaurants, leisure centre, science park Tecnopol with advanced and modern ICT equipment inside auditoriums. EUAS belongs to the group, including EUAS and Ülemiste Future City, the core company Mainor brings together 15 subsidiaries and affiliates.
EUAS has 65 full-time employees and about 60 employees working under agency agreement. EUAS is a long-time member of different business-university networks. Long cooperation has helped to achieve the new knowledge and pedagogical approaches to be integrated into existing and new curricula. The cooperation has also helped students to gain new competencies especially in the field of internationalization, get practical experiences and knowledge in their field of studies.
EUAS has the previous experience as the leading partner and coordinator of NORDPLUS Horizontal projects:
● Building Educational Cooperation in Smart City 2018-2019;
● Teaching and Learning in Multicultural Classroom 2020-2023;
● Educational and Entrepreneurial Co-operation in Future City 2021-2023
● Platform for Co-operation Between Schools and Enterprises 2022-2024
EUAS has the previous experience as the partner of Erasmus KA2 Cooperation Partnership: European Future Citizens. EUAS has been a long-time member of the different business - universities networks. Long cooperation has helped new knowledge and pedagogical approaches to be integrated into existing curricula, helped students to gain new competencies especially in the field of internationalisation and get practical quality experiences and knowledge in their field of studies.
The close co-operation with Ülemiste Future City enables the wider dimension for the project and also to link the project's themes with future cities activities. Mainor AS who is the owner of EUAS is also the owner and a strategic developer of Ülemiste City business campus and a representative of all companies based in Ülemiste City in Estonia. Mainor AS business operations include training, consultations and development activities. Today 450 enterprises with 12 000 employees operate at Ülemiste City. The companies operating at the campus have a total annual revenue of 1 billion euros. The official web: ylemistecity.ee. The co-operation with Ülemiste Future City involves currently the different researches, internship possibilities, performance measurement, sustainability, educational platforms, mediation of experts and education, talents and the student research topics and study assignments.
All members of the EUAS team have good knowledge and experiences in the field of entrepreneurship, research, education and learning. EUAS team of researchers involved in the current project has a strong track record of coordinating and participating in national and European research projects in the field of education, entrepreneurship, social youth employment, supporting entrepreneurs and the self-employed, skills and qualification (vocational education and training), youth and future city topics. The team has experience in project management, technical and economical reporting of national and European projects.
Edu ja Tegu – entrepreneurship and business education, develop and provide methodology, study materials; conducting entrepreneurship research; support the implementation on entrepreneurship in higher education institutions; develop competences; rise awareness of the need for entrepreneurship design and education. Year: 2015-2021.
PRÕM – program for work-based learning. Year: 2018-2020
Internship Support of Foreign Students. Year: 2019-2020
Internship System of Foreign Students. Year: 2021-2022
Building Educational Cooperation in Smart City. Year: 2018-2019
Educational and Entrepreneurial Co-operation in Future City. Year: 2021-2023
KASAPT PORTUGAL
KASA|PT - Kapacity, Adaptability, Solidarity, Adventure is a non-profit association created in Portugal in May 2020 & operating in the fields of youth, education, & training. It is chaired by José Brito-Soares. The association has its headquarters in Amadora, a suburb of Lisbon, & in September 2022, the KASA|PT North delegation was opened, focusing on the northern region (Porto & surrounding cities).
The mission of KASA|PT is to contribute to the improvement of the people we work with & to support the development of our partner institutions. Being the best association for receiving & accompanying people. Being recognised by the sending & receiving institutions & by the learners. With the values to trust, respect, humility, integrity. It is only good for KASAPT if it is good for the other stakeholders. With a constant search for innovation.
Regarding the team members of our association, we are 3 to work on it José Soares: President of KASA|PT. Founder of the association KASA|PT (May 2020). Head of the association's international relations. João Teixeira: Chief Operating Officer at KASA|PT. Coordinates & leads the team of trainees & volunteers working for the association. In charge of administration, grant applications & obtaining donations (for instance, free tickets, equipment). Catarina Gouveia: Project Manager | Trainee placements in KASA|PT partner institutions. In charge of the hosting of trainees in the different structures: study visits.
The association welcomes trainees benefiting from the Erasmus+ programme. They are strongly encouraged to undertake missions which aim to help them develop their portfolio of key competences (professional, linguistic & cultural). We actually work on 3 different aspects :
Mentors: We developed a system in which trainees are accompanied by a person, a KASA|PT “godfather” or “godmother” who supports each one of them.
Training & study visits in the following fields: Graphic design, community management, creation of content for trainees (such as welcome booklets, magazines, publications on social networks & photo rallies).
Communication: Co-preparation/organisation of training & study visits.
We have an excellent relationship with over 100 partners. The partners are companies, associations, federations, municipalities etc. A very diverse catalogue of internships in all sectors: Economic, social, cultural, educational, sports, etc. Different functions: designers, influencers, waiters, bakers, pastry cooks, accountants, sales representatives, teachers, animators, translators, engineers, drivers, receptionists, gardeners, animators, etc. The main activity of KASA|PT consists of welcoming people with European mobility, either for work experience or for holidays. More concretely: Between June 2020 & December 2022 KASA|PT intervened (hosting &/or placing as mobility provider internships with partner organisations) more than 331 candidates participating in a long-term mobility between 1 & 11 months; more than 410 people participating in a short mobility (between a few days & one month).
The objective is to organise study visits or technical & vocational training. KASA|PT also offers structured English language courses. Since 2020, more than one hundred & thirty people have been able to follow English courses, some of whom are teachers from French public schools. KASA|PT works daily with more than one hundred partner institutions, as they are the ones who welcome our foreign trainees.
KASAPT is an association that is involved in the fields of action of European learning mobilities through the Erasmus + programme type KA1 (Key Action 1). Our work consists in accompanying & supporting all the candidates benefiting from an Erasmus + grant in their experiences that live through European mobilities. To be more precise, the professional activity of KASAPT is to be an intermediary organization (mobility provider), that is to say, to find a host organization (Portuguese company), accommodation & other services offered while securing their study or professional pathways during their mobilities that they live in Portugal.
Also, in the course of the actions carried out by KASAPT for the last two & a half years, we are attached to the principle of "social promotion". Since June 2020, we have been receiving both short- & long-term inbound mobility. Each candidate that we meet & receive through the sending partner organisations abroad (France & Spain), allows us in turn to enrich both professionally & personally. We strongly believe that each candidate we welcome can bring his or her own professional & personal experience to others. This allows us (KASAPT) to build up our own person in a professional way every day. The participation in this KA2 (Key Action 2) mobility project gives complete meaning to our professional action. This is the first time that our organisation will experience a KA2 cooperation partnerships project. We are really proud & committed to contribute to it because of our previous professional experiences in mobility actions
KASAPT is new in ERASMUS + to Erasmus+ cooperation partnerships. The FIETE project would be our 1st experience as such of considerable potential value to us as an organisation. Working with experienced partners such as EPNG, RISEBA & APRECA will allow us to learn from these organisations so as to be in a position to design our own proposals & submit applications in the future.
Associated Partners
To increase the reach of the project in terms of countries, type of partners, & impact, there are 15 ASSOCIATED PARTNERS FROM 12 COUNTRIES, who have each completed a letter of Interest.
These partners include universities who run lifelong learning courses, associations, adult education training centres, business associations, mobility service providers, a cultural body & chambers of commerce. This will help to INCREASE THE BREADTH & IMPACT OF THE PROJECT. They will be invited to meetings, focus groups, evaluation workshops & conferences in their neighbouring countries & have agreed to cover costs from their own funds. The associated partners will provide a precious detached view of the tangible results & have also agreed to play an ACTIVE ROLE IN THE SHARING & PROMOTION OF INFORMATION ABOUT THE PROJECT & its results, thereby making a significant contribution to guaranteeing the widespread impact of the project.