"Snoezelen is now regarded as an innovative method whose aim it is to encourage a person with disability or disadvantage to the activity based on sensory stimulation thanks to a unique environment created. Snoezelen uses and combines numerous therapeutic, educational and relaxation activities which enhance the quality of life and purposefully promote human development. The concept was already created in the 1970s in the Netherlands and its spreading is evident throughout the world. Snoezelen is expertly suspiced by the International Snoezelen Association (ISNA-MSE).The proposed project Support of Snoezelen and its Integration into University Education is focused on the development and expansion of Snoezelen in university level. Specifically, the project relates to the inclusion of the Snoezelen course in the education of students of special education, pedagogical psychology, and social, therapeutic and rehabilitative fields. The main objective of the project is to prepare comprehensive instruction methodology, instruction material and syllabus of the course ""Snoezelen"" at an international tertiary-educational level so that the course is applicable in international student mobility. For the goals of social policy and inclusion of people with special needs, developing the fields of helping professions is currently essential. Strategic partnerships of the proposed project will bring about, apart from outputs related to the creation of innovative instruction of a course, further comparative discussion, experience and possibilities of scientific research activities of the participants. The created course Snoezelen will expand the possibilities of inbound and outbound students and scholars from and to abroad, promoting the internationalization of lesser regional universities. Sharing large amounts of information about Snoezelen is a driving force for further development of the fields which implement it. The individual output items of the project which are related to its objectives include:•publishing a professional monograph and individual scientific papers on the issue of the Snoezelen and its teaching;•creating video-recordings and a set of supplementary case studies for instructions•designing the ""Snoezelen” course for student mobilities.The target group are university professors/teachers and students. The outputs of the project activities will most affect future students of the subjects who will have a newly conceived course in the fields of helping professions, and scholars/university teachers who can increase professional competence and through cooperation with foreign partners broaden the adequate outputs, such as articles and professional publications, influencing further the theory of Snoezelen.The three cooperating universities who constitute the proposed partnership include a team from the Czech Republic from the Faculty of Public Policies, Silesian University in Opava, a team from the Republic of Poland from the Faculty of Rehabilitation, University of Physical Education in Krakow (Akademia Wychowania Fizycznego im. Bronislawa Czecha w Krakowie) and a team from the Kingdom of Spain from the Faculty of Education, Psychology and Social Affairs, University of Lleida (Facultat d’Educació, Psicologia i Treball Social de la Universitat de Lleida). The international partnership undoubtedly brings specific value to the proposed project, as the unification of contents of instruction the course at the university level will help create a methodically structured instruction model focused on Snoezelen, which is currently missing completely. Consequently, it is possible to further develop the subject and strengthen, clarify its content and make it more transparent throughout the European area.The anticipated positive outcome is the elaboration of methodological materials, professional publications, and providing comparative outputs, which will of course be available to all students and scholars of the partner coalition. As part of the project, we expect the newly created partnership to also bring about innovative increase in competences of the participating university teachers, connected to both their professional profile in science, and their approach to the students. As part of the project, comparative outputs associated with the process of instruction in the field of Snoezelen are expected to be based on feedback and intensive use of the results for further development."

"""Interdisciplinarity, multiculturalism and non-standard situations - the use of medical simulation as an educational tool in the field of medical sciences and health sciences"" is a project aiming at supporting students of medical and health sciences, in particular nursing, obstetrics, medicine and medical background students. The project stems from the need to continuously modernise and upgrade the educational offer, adjust it to the needs of both the society and the economy, improve the quality of education, make education more attractive in the case of majors in medical and health sciences as well as to develop and strengthen occupational and scientific professionalism of students. The project addresses the need for educating students in a multicultural environment characterised by the presence of groups of various origin, following different normative systems and holding different religious beliefs, which have become common in the work with patients. Non-standard situations related to the work with patients happen on daily basis, where a health care professional has to deal with a given situation for the very first time. The project uses the medical simulation method intended for teaching clinical skills and forming the basis for solving complex clinical situations as well as making suitable decisions accordingly. In line with the applicable educational standards, students of medical and health sciences should acquire not only relevant knowledge, but also practical skills and social competences. Education in simulated conditions corresponds perfectly to the applicable educational standards, as it:- offers the opportunity to perform and repeat certain procedures depending on individual needs of a student, without fear or stress on the part of both the students and their patients;- makes students highly competent in terms of their skills necessary for communicating within a therapeutic team and cooperation within an interdisciplinary team;- makes students highly competent in terms of responding to non-standard and challenging situations and implementing standard medical procedures in such situations.The following three partner universities have agreed to jointly implement the project: Opole Medical School (Poland), Medical University in Plovdiv (Bulgaria) and Silesian University in Opava (Czech Republic). The added value of the project is the joint involvement of experts in medical sciences, health sciences and cultural anthropology from the three partner universities. This provides an opportunity for developing the first international course book describing scenarios for working with patients in non-standard situations characterised by interdisciplinarity and multiculturalism. As a result of the project, the curriculums being developed will be modified, according to the major, in such a way as to make sure they reflect the specificity of particular medical professions. Sustainability and effectiveness of the project will be ensured in the long run. Therefore, the project specifies that its implementation will be a starting point for a long-term strategy of competence support at our school. The intellectual outputs will be used directly by the universities involved in the project, they will be also used after the project end through, inter alia, development of common procedures for working with patients in non-standard situations in the context of giving classes devoted to medical and health sciences at Medical Simulation Centres, incorporation into the course book, available in hard copy or digital form, containing scenarios used during classes given at Medical Simulation Centres, introduction of an obligatory course for students of medical sciences and an optional course for students of health sciences devoted to the procedures to be followed by a therapeutic team when dealing with patients in difficult and non-standard situations and with patients from different cultures, as well as a common area of courses offered at partner universities to facilitate easy exchange of academic teachers, experts and students."

<< Background >>The main reason for creating the project titled TRAIN-e-HOTEL is the need to increase and expand the career readiness of tourism students in accordance with the requirements of real professional practice. The main idea of the project arose at the time of the global pandemic of the Covid-19 disease when students of relevant fields of study could not be provided with professional practice in accommodation facilities. In order to find a possible alternative form of professional practice, an analysis of the available resources and opportunities at the university level was carried out, as a result of which the framework plan and the intention of the project were formulated. The project-creators see great potential in the creation and subsequent inclusion of a training hotel in the educational process, in particular, in the possibilities of a) providing an alternative form of professional practice in the hotel industry, b) supplementing professional practice in the hotel industry, c) developing transversal competencies, d) carrying out international cooperation with other training hotels, e) bringing real practice closer to the offer of education, f) creating culturally and socially diverse groups of students working to achieve common goals, g) mobilizing and motivating students to participate in educational and development activities.The mentioned objectives respond to the needs of professionally-oriented study programs in tourism which require the greatest possible connection of professional practice with education. The undisguised intention of the project is also to create a background for the continuation of building the training hotel over a long-term horizon, as well as for the inclusion of this form of practice in the field of lifelong learning, or adult education.<< Objectives >>By implementing the TRAIN-e-HOTEL project, we want to achieve a significant improvement of tourism students’ professional and transversal competencies. We expect a closer and better connection of professional practice with the educational process and goals, taking into account the new challenges and trends of the tourism industry. The institutions involved in the implementation of project activities are higher education institutions that prepare future tourism professionals, and, which do not only involve students of the relevant study programs in project activities but also connect them with students from other countries of Europe. The main priorities of the project are, as follows: „Stimulation of innovative methods of education and teaching“ and „Inclusion and diversity“. In accordance with the selected priorities, the goals are to a) innovate future tourism professionals’ practical training by introducing a training hotel in the educational process, b) involve participants with a lack of opportunities and foster diversity.<< Implementation >>During the project implementation period the main activities will be, as follows: Preparation, Outputs, Transnational Project Meetings, Multiplication Event, Controlling and Dissemination.In the phase of Preparation, we will carry out activities related to project preparation, mainly the selection of partner institutions, the preparation of contracts and documentation, the preparation of project meetings, the preparation of the communication strategy and time schedule, as well as the preparation of the project implementation and dissemination plan.The area of Outputs refers to specific educational and development activities in accordance with the objectives and the main aim of the project, which will focus mainly on using innovative educational methods, e.g. Design Thinking, but also other development activities aimed at building and completing training hotels.In the area of transnational project meetings, a total of five transnational meetings are planned, but other meetings are also planned - mainly at the level of the particular working groups which will cooperate with each other within the created international network of training hotels. These working groups will address specific activities in close cooperation with the partner training hotels.In the area of the multiplication event, a final conference on “New Ways of Future Tourism Experts’ Professional Training” will be held. In addition to the above-mentioned activities, work outputs will be systematically and objectively controlled and evaluated; besides, effective monitoring of project activities, communication within the project partnership and beyond, promotion and dissemination of the project results as well as the creation of assumptions and plans for the further and long-term use of the project goals will also be provided.<< Results >>By carrying out the educational and development activities of the TRAIN-e-HOTEL project, specific outputs for the needs of education and professional training will be created. During the project implementation period, the activities will contribute to the development of tourism students’ professional and transversal competencies, and, thus, to the building of a knowledge-based economy as well as to the increase of innovation capacity in the tourism sector. The project will focus on creating and establishing special training workplaces, so-called “training hotels”. These fictitious accommodation facilities of the “Hotel” category will simulate the functioning of real workplaces and, thus, create favourable conditions for the implementation of professional and practical activities for the project participants. The project will establish a total of five training hotels, each of which will be built by a partner institution. After the establishment of the training hotels, specific educational and development activities will be implemented, focusing mainly on three principal areas - hotel information systems, intercultural communication and digital marketing as well as environmental sustainability. The defined three principal areas are considered by the project creators - experts in the field of tourism and education - to be extremely important areas of tourism with strong potential and the need for their development. The specific outputs concerning these three principal areas are, as follows: a) Adaptation and implementation of HIS, b) Map of cultural diversity, c) Intercultural digital campaign, d) Enviro-strategy.During the project activities, as a result of the cooperation of students and the professional-pedagogical staff, with regard to the needs of building the infrastructure of the training hotel the above-mentioned outputs as well as various educational materials will also be created. Besides, it is noteworthy to mention that to include the created educational materials as well as the training hotel in the educational process of the partner institutions – universities, the relevant curricular documents will also be innovated.

ECMT+ aims at developing European entrepreneurial mind-set and practices that foster the highly-important transversal skills and employability of HEI graduates. ECMT+ promotes teachers' expertise by creating a community of practice and strengthens the links between the HEIs and industry. In addition, ECMT+ strengthens HEIs working life relevance developing education that responds to the needs of the local businesses and expands the understanding of the potential of the international co-operation and networks. Partnership focusing on entrepreneurship and intercultural communication can only benefit the universities, their staff and students, and strengthen European identities.ECMT+ consortium formulates a continuity to the co-operation bringing it into a new level fulfilling the educational policies (Europe 2020, Entrepreneurship 2020, 2011 European Modernisation Agenda). The partnership relies on an adequate combination of expertise and competences from different European partners needed to implement the project. Each partner has its own profile supporting the entity. Furthermore, the team members are embedded with their local communities including the businesses enabling them to bring in practical experiential learning models and connections with real-world entrepreneurs.ECMT+ methodology relies on sharing, responsibility, proper planning and detailed preparations by all the partners. The methodology of implementation is based on iterative and participatory co-creation of knowledge and expertise where all the partners' expertise is valued and considered. The analyses, pilots, reflections and further development both of the process and outputs are embedded into the process. In the hermeneutic circle of co-creation of knowledge the questions of why, what, how and when are in on-going dialogue. The project implementation is divided into work packages and all the activities and timing are clarified in the work plan.ECMT+ project is organised through six work packages: management, curriculum development, community of practice, entrepreneur education research, digital platform and sustainability, dissemination & exploitation. Together these form an entity supporting the effective, high quality and in-time implementation of the project. First and last work packages are horisontal ones whereas four other include intellectual outputs and/or activities leading to the project results. The entity serves the aim to develop relevant, multicultural and future oriented entrepreneur education and support students' transversal skills promoting employability and job creation in a transnational context.As a summary ECMT+ provides:- Joint modules and recource package for bi -and multilateral use, these will be accessible and open for all after the project life span,- International intensive courses with students from all seven universities supporting curriculum development and internationalisation of education,- Digital platform, Community of Practice book and research publications supporting dissemination, exploitation and sustainability and opening education,- Teacher community developing expertise which will further help students outside of project itself, contributing to life-long learning and fluent pathways, and- International teacher mentoring model applicable wider among HEIs.ECMT+ as created concrete outputs that are easy to harvest within and even outside of the consortium.Thus, the main result of ECMT+ is modernised and coherent higher education, whose operation serves the economic growth boosting graduate employability, businesses and entrepreneurship and creating a joint communities of practice. The results will be exploited on local, regional, national and European level in all the partner countries. The concrete results are openly available and easy to access. The impacts are varied: the ECMT+ course, blended module, digital learning materials and tools, community of practice, research journals and dissemination materials benefit all the stakeholders in a short and long run. ECMT+ builds human capacity and its impacts reach from local to regional and international levels and has created new personal professional pathways. The direct beneficiaries are the staff and students but also working life partners. In a long term, also local business and people living in the regions will benefit. ECMT+ builds pathways between educational organisations and regions and promotes participatory cooperation and co-creation of knowledge and skills. ECMT+ brings transparency to the development work and its achievements as well as promotes new applicable tools for entrepreneurship education. The international network brings added value enabling the co-creation of knowledge and flow of best practices from region to region across the borders. The impacts of the ECMT+ will accumulate in time bringing prosperity and expertise in each of the regions and even more widely.