"Context/background of the project:Strategic PartnershipDIGAS – Developing Innovation Agents for SME’sThe inspiration for the DIGAS project origins from the successful Danish ESF project “IGA”, Innovative Globalisations Agent (www.iga-project.dk) that came to an end in March 2015.The consortium behind the DIGAS project consists of partners from Spain, Belgium, Italy, Finland, Lithuania, the Netherlands and Denmark. The project has furthermore spread to other European countries through the SPACE network. The DIGAS project has been an European project focusing on bridging students and graduates from studies with high unemployment rates with SMEs in need of academia when striving to bring their business abroad. The activities have therefor been both transnational and cross-cultural. Both for the SMEs involved, for the trainers, and for the students and graduates.Objectives:The project addresses the European target: ""foster citizens' potential and ensure employability"" by:• Matching companies need for young graduates with VET competencies• Smoothing transition of young labor market entrants - with education with low employment rate - to the labor market by integrating world of work in the last year • Enhancing better skills matching • Stimulating higher competitiveness for SMEs in a global market and opening the SMEs for new employee groupsNumber and profile of participating organisations:•Pic: 950186490, Tietgen Denmark (lead), Organisation, Other•Pic: 949316982, Artesis Plantijn Hogeschool Antwerpen, Other•Pic: 949506035, FLORIDA UNIVERSITARIA, Other•Pic: 942767639, SPARK, Other•Pic: 944733441, Istituto Formazione Operatori Aziendali, Other•Pic: 950182222, SPACE European Network for Business Studies and Languages, Other•Pic: 949241613, Högskolan Arcada Ab, Other•Pic: 944452723, V.A. Graiciuno aukstoji vadybos mokykla, Higher education institution (tertiary level)Describtion of undertaken main activities:Management•Management report 2014-2016•Biannual Management Report•Plan for the project results sustainability•Plan for the consortiums futureTraining programme adaption for European focus•Best practice collection•Programme and learning materials developmentAnalysing academic competencies versus company needs•Mismatch pattern reportPilot training•VET training for unemployed and/or last year students•Pilot project reportPlatform for internship and real life assignments•Platform•Online supportQuality monitoring and evaluation•Impact Audit report•Digas quality and evaluation plan•Compilation of Status reports•Expert reviewDissemination•Dissemination strategy and plan•Project website•Project identity manual and templetes•Leaflet and brochure•Video•International conferenceInternational conference•AGM SPACE/DIGAS conference, Ghent, Belgium LTT-activities: Intensive studyprogrammes for learners and Short-term joint staff training eventsDIGAS: Results and impact attained:The target groups were first and foremost graduates, students and SMEs. In addition to these target groups other relevant stakeholders were•NGO’s• former partners and Co-operators and potential partners• HEIs and VET adult learning centers,•Local, Regional and National governments•NPO’s•Universities and other members of educational associations in partner countries•Labour market participantsThe DIGAS project has clarified that SMEs are in need of academia when going abroad. It has also clarified that graduates and student, when given VET competencies, can create jobs in SMEs. Jobs that are not present before academia is introduced. Therefor this project will contribute to creating brand new jobs, leading to growth. ‘Europa 2020’ is the EU’s growth strategy for this decade. In the executive summary of ‘the Europe 2020 strategy’ three mutually reinforcing priorities are put forward. They are:•Smart growth: developing an economy based on knowledge and innovation. •Sustainable growth: Promoting a more resource efficient, greener and more competitive economy.•Inclusive growth: Fostering a high-employment economy delivering social and territorial cohesion.The activities in the DIGAS project have supported these growths pillars.From the beginning of the project the consortium outlined a dissemination plan (see attached) in order to make sure that the results would reach the target groups and stakeholders. We fully believe to have achieved this aim. As an important part of the dissemination plan we set out to create a website including a platform where the different members of the target groups and stakeholders can reach each other, even after the duration of the project."

<< Background >>[MOTIVATION TO APPLY]The hospitality industry is a major source of revenue for Europe, offering jobs to more than 8 million EU citizens (https://bit.ly/3nynTiO) and the tourist accommodation sector’s popularity, in particular, has been steadily increasing, becoming a valuable pillar for the European economy (https://bit.ly/3jDBNPK). Upon the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, however, the EU tourism has been plagued as it dropped by 61% (Eurostat, 2021) negatively impacting the hospitality industry. Accommodations located in rural areas were rather affected by this decline, as they had already been facing challenges due to limited access to training. HERE4you aims at restoring balance as fast as possible, by acting towards attracting tourists to rural European areas. To achieve that, hospitality accommodation owners and employees will acquire the essential skills to improve guest satisfaction and offer unique experiences to tourists. Since raising environmental awareness has become a focus in Europe over the past years and travellers demand more choice regarding ecotourism options (https://bit.ly/3FCmzE2), a very efficient way to attract tourists while protecting the environment is by offering alternative, eco-friendly activities near the accommodation unit.[NEEDS ADDRESSED]Recently, there has been an increasing need for the introduction of new training standards in the hospitality industry due to the numerous newcomers entering the sector as a result of the job displacements and staff shortages that the pandemic brought about (https://bit.ly/3CjF1iv). For the hospitality sector to get back on its feet, quick and immediately usable training solutions that equip hospitality professionals with the essential skills need to be developed. Current needs of the industry include basic service skills and communication between teams. HERE4you will tackle this need by teaching English language and service skills to hospitality professionals, leading not only to improvement of the communication between the staff and the guests, but also to the promotion of international staff mobility within the sector by increasing awareness of the importance of speaking English in accommodation units. Especially in rural areas, where people have limited access to training options, staff upskilling will open the way for new opportunities, such as more revenues and increased mobility. To this direction, another major challenge that needs to be tackled in the hospitality industry is the need for increasing digital competence among the sector’s professionals. Bearing in mind that today’s tourists book accommodation and arrange their vacation mostly through digital means (Wang et al., 2016) the emphasis on employees’ skills to respond to these trends is becoming increasingly important. The current project will help new and existing hospitality professionals in rural areas to become digitally empowered to attract more guests, build strong relationships with them, and become competitive in the global market. Finally, considering the global environmental crisis and the fact that “Europe faces environmental challenges of unprecedented scale and urgency”(https://bit.ly/3jDkdv8), any step towards sustainability is considered valuable and of utmost importance. The European Union, in the context of developing a strategy for sustainable tourism, highlights the importance of promoting ecotourism and rural tourism – especially in the post pandemic era (https://bit.ly/3b3Xvrx). Moreover, ETC sees COVID-19 as a unique opportunity to redefine tourism in Europe and permanently steer it to a more sustainable direction (https://bit.ly/3Ec6QKs). Considering the above, HERE4you will equip the hospitality professionals in rural areas with the knowledge and skills to promote ecotourism in their region. In this way, they reinforce environmental protection and sustainable tourism while promoting their businesses and supporting their local economy by attracting ecotourists.<< Objectives >>HERE4you will develop a complete, web-based training course for hospitality professionals focusing on boosting their English language and service skills, their digital competence and their environmental awareness along with creating an interactive, role-playing game environment aiming at knowledge retention and an interactive mapping tool demonstrating accommodation units and ecotourism possibilities in rural European areas accompanied by an Eco-Guide with instructions on how to use this tool to make the most out of it. Accommodation unit owners and employees will have access to a free, innovative, easily accessible upskilling methodology no matter their geographical location or socioeconomic education. Moreover, VET educators will possess a strong, digital training tool for providing students within the hospitality sector with hands-on, simulation-based training.HERE4you has as main objective to promote the upskilling of hospitality employees working in rural European areas by offering a training approach that entails introduction of hybrid skills, retention through simulation, and development of a new interactive tool with instructions on how to use it. Upon completion of the training, learners will be able to offer a unique service experience to their guests and promote their businesses worldwide while offering environmentally friendly entertaining options. This will attract more tourists and support their local community.In terms of specific objectives, HERE4you will serve the following:- Raising awareness regarding the importance of communication, service, digital and environmental training and upskilling in the hospitality sector, especially in rural European areas.- Providing hospitality professionals and VET institutes with a complete, open access e-learning course, developed to pass new skills to new and existing members of the hospitality sector.- Developing an alternative training approach that promotes skill retention through simulation and role playing on Minecraft.- Reinforcing access to high quality, effective and inclusive training in the digital era regardless of one’s location or socioeconomic situation. - Promoting ecotourism and sustainable activities in rural European areas to tourists worldwide. - Equipping hospitality professionals with the skills to advance their businesses while promoting and supporting local SMEs, rural and ecotourism centers.<< Implementation >>HERE4you will deliver a new training standard for the hospitality industry to be used both by individual professionals and vocational centers that offer hospitality and management programs, comprising an e-learning course, a simulation game to be performed in a digital learning environment and a detailed guide with information on how to utilize an interactive mapping tool to promote ecotourism activities. This will be achieved through a series of constant collaboration between subject matter experts (aka hospitality professionals and environmentalists), game developers to first identify the needs and set the learning objectives, and later implement them in a virtual environment. Role playing helps trainees remember their experiences while gaining new knowledge, so simulation will create everyday working challenges for them to solve within Minecraft. Apart from facilitating the improvement of English and service skills, the game will also familiarize them with the use of digital technology and boost their confidence. Project activities comprise:- National reports developed by the participating countries which will work as a framework presenting best practices, weaknesses and needs for improvement as perceived by hospitality professionals in rural areas. The reports will enlighten the public and raise awareness about the immediate need for staff upskilling in the industry.- The development of an Essential Skills Pack e-learning course: The ESP e-learning course aims at providing a complete solution to hospitality professionals in rural areas by improving their English language and service skills, helping them develop digital competence and promoting environmental awareness. The online, asynchronous lessons will be accessible from everywhere and at any given time.- Minecraft Hotel World: A dedicated custom Minecraft world to help learners retain and practice the knowledge previously gained through elaborated hospitality challenges in the context of a mission to be accomplished.- Mission: The complete game scenario describing the non-player characters (NPCs), the game elements, the walkthrough introducing the different game areas and tasks, the after the game practicing session. - Mapping Tool: the interactive mapping tool will exhibit ecotourism options in various rural European areas and accommodation units that are located nearby.- Eco-Guide: a guide with detailed instructions will be created regarding how to register a hotel in the mapping tool and the ways to combine accommodation with eco-friendly activities.- The results will be tested first internally and then an improved version based on the results of the testing will be subjected to a series of validation activities with the involvement of representatives from the direct target group, mainly professionals in the hospitality industry, ecotourism professionals and VET instructors.- Based on the conclusions of the validation exercises, a final release of the results will be provided towards the end of the project.- A series of Multiplier Events (5) to generate awareness about the launch of the HERE4you project.- Roll out of the results<< Results >>HERE4you will encourage inclusive training focusing on hospitality employees in rural European areas based on the need for communication and service upskilling, as well as digital and ecotourism training in the hospitality sector.Expected tangible outcomes comprise the following:- Essential Skills Pack course will contain modules that will help hospitality professionals to acquire the target skills (improving English language & service skills, developing digital capabilities, and raising ecotourism awareness). - Hotel Minecraft World, enriched with resource packs and mods which will allow interactive, role-playing training.- HERE4you Interactive Map, an interactive mapping tool that will provide accommodation and ecotourism activities available in rural European areas.- An Eco-Guide which will provide interested parties (rural accommodation unit owners, NGOS, environmental organizations, SMEs) with instructions on how to use the interactive mapping tool to register and promote their business.Apart from the direct benefits that are related to the upskilling of hospitality professionals, HERE4you will also:- increase awareness regarding environmental protection and promote sustainability - socioeconomically support rural areas by attracting more tourists - support inclusion, as innovative training methods will become available to people in remote rural regions who face education, training, and employment barriers

The project proposes the development and validation of a European approach based on a digital platform for the support of teacher practice for schoolteachers in transition. The platform will be a virtual common environment for teachers in transition (pre-service teachers or students, newly qualified teachers, beginning teachers or in-service teachers), school-mentors, HEI teachers and continuous education trainers. This project benefits from the methodology of Problem-Based learning (PBL) and the development of a reflective practice guided by a trainer/mentor and shared with a Learning Community.During the project lifetime, the partnership will: 1. Define a European approach for the transition period from pre-service to in-service including the definition of roles for the actors and involved institutions.2. Develop and validate a European digital platform for teacher transition integrating an international Learning Community, a reflective process methodology for school teachers and a repository on study-cases. 3. Raise stakeholders’ awareness (teachers, mentors, learners, economic, politic and social actors) of the potential of a common model for teacher’s practical training in EU countries.The target groups participating during the project will be: 1. In-service newly qualified primary and secondary school teachers (> 300)2. Pre-service teachers: HEI teacher students (>250)3. Higher Education Teacher educators (>35)4. Primary and secondary school mentors (>250)5. Continuous education trainers (>50)6. Primary and secondary experimented school teachers (>100)7. Policymakers in education (>25)As a result of the project, a new model of practical trainings will be developed and supported on a digital platform, ready for teachers in transition in order to follow up their personal challenges with the Learning Community and useful for teachers during their tutoring process considering the involved institutions (HEI,continuous training centre,school).

<< Background >>Covid-19 has had a devastating effect on the lives of many EU citizens. One group that has been particularly badly hit is young people. This project focuses on providing students with the skills that are highly sought-after in the labour market.In today’s global economy, future and soft skills (such as self-efficacy, self-organisation, creativity or teamwork) are increasingly important. Higher Education Institutions (HEI) need to invest in providing their students with those skills. In its “Skills for 2030” study, the OECD stresses that social and emotional skills are becoming as important as cognitive skills. The skills needed include flexibility, empathy, self-efficacy, responsibility, and collaboration. Ehlers (2020) argues that digital acceleration and increasing uncertainty in the workplace requires students to master not only specialized knowledge but also curiosity, imagination, vision, resilience, self-confidence, and self-organization. Learning must transcend disciplines and connect to real world challenges. Learning must incorporate the active involvement of learners and it must integrate societal and business challenges. By moving online, third-level education across the EU has mainly remained open. Traditional classroom learning approaches do not to work effectively for teaching soft and future skills, neither does online teaching. Start IT brings together students from six member countries to work on mobile apps in diverse, international, interdisciplinary teams to acquire soft skills, future skills, entrepreneurial skills, and IT-skills. The main horizontal goal of this project is “Digital Transformation”. The mobile apps that the students develop will focus on the secondary goal topic of “Climate Change”. The sector priority that this project focuses on is “Innovative Learning and Teaching“.<< Objectives >>The main objective of Start-IT is to build capabilities in the participating institutions to tackle skill gaps and mismatches with regards to soft and future skills and digital skills. The project aims to promote excellence in learning, teaching, and skills development. The project aims to promote internationalisation. The project aims to develop innovative practices in a digital era.<< Implementation >>50 students per year from the six partner colleges will participate in a ten-day LTTA where they will be supervised by both internal and external mentors/experts. During the LTTA, students will be assigned into teams that will be required to develop a business plan and mobile app addressing the Erasmus+ horizontal “Climate Change” goal. Each LTTA will be driven by the needs of a local business, NGO or governmental partner. The inclusion of a local partner will ensure that the apps built during an LTTA match real-world marketplace needs and will provide students with the experience of fulfilling a non-academic project for a “real-world” client. The local partner will bring climate change domain expertise to the LTTA.Examples of challenges addressed by the entrepreneurial digital solutions could be: trash separation in tourism, energy reduction in office buildings, water management in hotels and restaurants, reduction of carbon footprint of business trips, green mobility concepts for employees or citizens.<< Results >>The project will deliver a methodology, available for all, to be used for the learning of soft and future skills in higher education. The methodology will cover entrepreneurship, communication, interculturalism, critical thinking and creativity. The textbook and user manual that will be produced, as well as the case studies, will be made available for all to use. The relationships between the participating higher education institutions and with cooperating organisations will be strengthened.For the 150 students involved in each of the three LTTAs the result will be an increase in soft and future skills, entrepreneurial and IT skills. The 10 to 20 staff members from 6 Eureopaen HEIs involved there will be significant networking opportunities, the opportunity to exchange on and build teaching capabilities and learn from each other. The local partners of the 3 LTTAs will benefit from entrepreneurial ideas from the participants, improving their employer branding and PR opportunities. The multiplier events will give persons beyond the involved institutions the opportunity to learn about build soft and future skills and international, interdisciplinary project teaching.