<< Background >>EU has recently introduced circular economy as a high-level global emerging strategy to move societies beyond the boundaries of existing development and towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SGDs) set by the UN 2030 agenda for sustainability. Thus, the concept of a circular economy emerges as a global strategy and as an overriding priority in the EU, to stimulate the transition from today's model of linear production and consumption economy to resource efficient use. Circular agriculture, as a new paradigm, penetrates every aspect of the agri-food sector, and furthermore, of the agricultural local communities, the rural landscapes, and semi-natural environment. The transition process towards circular agriculture, requires the implementation of a new management model which includes all the main stages of the agri-food system, such as the primary production, the food consumption, and the by-products and food waste. This new sustainable framework, viewed as a closed circle, sets the goal for a more efficient food supply chain, but also un update of the HE curricula at the Faculties of agriculture. The main concept of circular agriculture is the reuse into the agri-food system of the agricultural biomass and food processing residuals, as renewable resources with high added-value. Resource circulation, which is the core goal of circular economy, is the new proposed model for the future sustainable agriculture. This model should provide the flexibility to various company styles and earning types, without restrictions, to adapt to the required socio-economical and ecological transformation, by introducing a wide range of activities varying from intensive to extensive, small to large, and low-tech to hi-tech. But the transition to circular agriculture depends not only on technology and significant restructuring of production but it has a lot to do with the change in the attitudes and perspectives.SKILLS idea is grounded at the necessity to promote environmental sustainability, economic prosperity, and social equity as valid objectives of Circular Economy Model and to approach them accordingly in academic and practice.<< Objectives >>The main objective of the project is to contribute towards up-to-date skills development of the target beneficiaries ( students, potential students, ag producers) by introducing and promoting the concepts of Circular agriculture and Green Growth, as well as to boost the modernization of the curricula and introduce digital courses at the Faculties of agriculture by making them more attractive for the future students. It is very important that changes and upgrades of the agricultural HE curricula are made, because Faculties f agriculture are facing a decrease in the number of enrolled students per students due to the level of (non) attractiveness of the field of agriculture. On the side, this can be efficiently changed by raising awareness for the needs and potential of agriculture exp. during the pandemic time, the agricultural sector was among the rarest which survived because the production of food (including raw food-agriculture products has to continues regardless of everything). This opens perspectives for increased potential for employment after graduation, even more, professional occupations which are not just traditional agriculture, but new agricultural concepts like the circular agriculture and the green jobs. Additionally, SKILLS puts to opening employment opportunities and widening the perspectives of jobs in the green skills and CA by boosting the skills of the target group. Eventually, SKILLS project promotes the concept of Circular Agriculture as a sustainable, resilient branch. SKILLS consortium aims at enhancing and speeding up the awareness for Circular Agriculture through elaborating a Baseline study in typology and training material composed of practical know-how and a well structured set of tools, modules and digital courses that agricultural practitioners can go through and change their mindset and rethink their activities.<< Implementation >>In order to contribute to modernization at the programs and courses offered at the Faculties of Agriculture, as well as the promotion of the Circular Agriculture, SKILLS project planned a set of project activities as: project meetings, project results, dissemination, national webinars, E1 media event.All pProject activities are aimed at and tailored according to the needs of the target group such as students, ag producers, potential future students, policy makers, researchers, development practitioners, as well skilled as unskilled other members of vulnerable groups. For successful implementation of SKILLS project, the following concrete project activities are foreseen: 1) Organization of five transnational meetings for the project partners during which the project results will be elaborated, discussed, coordinated, and implemented. 2) 5 project results: PR1. Baseline study in typology of agricultural profilesPR2. Module in green skillsPR3. Agri-Lingua Practicum PR4. Tool-kit in agro-food productionPR5. Digital course in Circular Agriculture3) 10 national webinars (digital training) based on the project results outcomes 4) E1 media event which is planed as a large scale media event to promote the SKILLS project activities, Erasmus+ program and to provide for networking among stakeholders in circular agriculture, sustainability, , but also HE and representatives in the ministries of education who are in charge with the monitoring and upgrade of the courses curricula.<< Results >>Expected results are :1. Created Baseline study in agricultural typology (PR1);2. Developed digital course in green skills (PR2);3. Created Agri-Lingua practicum (PR3)4. Creating a network and strengthening the synergy among agriculture stakeholders by widening their perspectives on application of green skills and soft skills in agriculture made possible with the developed training materials for green skills (PR2) and linguistic skills (PR3);5. Organizing national webinasr based on project results outcomes;6. Developed tourism based agro-production tool-kit (PR4);7. Created digital course in circular agriculture (PR5);8. Attracting higher number of fresh-comers at the Faculties of Agriculture;9. Increasing the skills of min. 1200 ag producers and CA stakeholders will be strengthened in the field of sustainable-green agriculture;9. Skills gap of ag producers hampering their income will be filled;10. Establishment of a strategic partnership between the participants of the consortium for sustainable exchange and development of good practices in HE and applying them in further developing the LLL programs in agriculture;11. Networking of and best practice sharing among students, agricultural stakeholders, academic staff and ag producers will be initiated through their participation in the webinars and the E1 media event as well as the dissemination activities;12. Strengthened cooperation between the ag producers and educators will be improved (business and academic axes);13. improved sustainable agriculture at the project consortium countries and beyond;14.Modernized higher education in the field of agriculture.Having been exposed to a range of research environments, different areas of food development and life in different countries, the academic staff and representatives for curricula development will be in a much better position to make informed decisions on their HE programs.

<< Background >>Knowledge, skills and innovation are the indispensable foundation of sustainable development. Modern agriculture is largely based on new technological solutions closely related to the increasing use of information and communication technologies (ICT) and various software solutions, for both training and managing the production processes. Apiculture as an agricultural branch is not an exception of this. Yet, apiculture remains largely dependent on self-study from individual experience, while the technical and technological training is poorly explored. In Europe there is still a huge gap in technological development and organization of apiculture. Training in apiculture calls for a serious consideration, as it records less and less contact and support for the bee-keepers. In addition, in a vast majority of European countries and regions, especially those of southern Europe, a well-developed sphere of formation and transfer of knowledge is required for quite some time (https://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/sources/docgener/studies/pdf/region2020_phase2/challenge2020_report.pdf ).At the same time, apiculture is very present as an agricultural branch in BEE-IN consortium countries Greece, Italy, Cyprus and North Macedonia, where, on the other side, Vocational Training Education (VET) offers very poor to non-existent training in this field. Building a sustainable regional future for the large extent hence depends on the intersection of the two which, even though a concern that should be addressed in all parts of society as a critical strategic area for development and economic activity, has in so far not been given a fair attention in educational and training practices.BEE-IN project partnership made a desk research on the issues and needs the bee-keepers are facing as well as their expectations, from one side, but also, the challenges in the VET system, and then developed the BEE-IN project idea incorporating three project results as well as a set of dissemination and training activities to achieve the project objective of introducing digitalization in apiculture and VET.<< Objectives >>Given these preliminary considerations, the first challenge of BEE-IN project is to boost knowledge and technology transfer in the apiculture sector. The possibility to increase the level of information available to apiculture practitioners about new technologies and training is directly linked to sectorial investments, economic and environmental efficiency and sustainability, food healthiness and safety as well as the ability to compete in the international market area. The scientific development complements this objective by focusing on knowledge share and fostering the technology and innovations in apiculture. Erasmus+2021 Call fosters innovation, cooperation, and development of digital knowledge base in VET enhancing and promoting innovative digital training technologies and sustainable management (https://ec.europa.eu/programmes/erasmus-plus/resources/documents/2021-call-cooperation-partnerships-vocational-education-and-training-ka220-vet_en). The establishment of VET digital training programs for bee-keeping stakeholders through educational institutions is desperately needed. In that context BEE-IN project is focused on innovative approaches to knowledge exchange that were taking advantage of new digital technologies, and that were based on synergies between information management and communication for development. Its objective is to foster the introduction of digital training in VET by bringing relevant expertise and resources across the international development community into a more coherent and systematic approach.<< Implementation >>In order to contribute to the digital training, BEE-IN project defined three project results for introduction, popularization and application of the digital training in apiculture and VET, which will be followed by organization of a digital training in a form of webinars based on the training materials created within the project results. Project activities are aimed at and tailored according to the needs of the target group such as beekeepers, VET trainers and policy makers, researchers, development practitioners, as well skilled as unskilled other members of vulnerable groups.For successful implementation of BEE-IN project, the following set of project activities are foreseen:1)Organization of transnational meetings for the project partners during which the project results will be elaborated, discussed, coordinated, and implemented.2)3 project results:PR1. Digital Bee-keeping classroomPR2. Digital hive (OER)PR3. My Digital Bee-buddy3)4 national webinars (digital training) based on the project results outcomes4)E1 media event which is planed as a large scale media event to promote the BEE-IN project activities, Erasmus+ program and to provide for networking among stakeholders in both bee-keeping , but also VET and representatives in the ministries of education who are in charge with the monitoring and upgrade of the training curricula.<< Results >>BEE-IN resembles a unique project which is innovative in its nature with a direct impact on creation of national apiculture training programs. It aims to trigger higher level of knowledge, skills and application with reference to use of ICT in VET and training in apiculture. Henceforth, BEE-IN connects key HEIs, VET and industry learning communities’ participants in the process of co-creating and testing new digital training methods and practices, initiating professional pitch competitions (hackathons), and spinning off a distinctive regional education-business collaboration platform. On the impact level boosted ICTs use in apiculture underpins sustainable rural development, increases resilience of rural families, improves access of beekeepers to needed services, and further empowers VET educators for developing new, competitive digital training programs.The expected results from BEE-IN project implementation are :-initiated digitalization in VET in four countries (Greece, Italy, Cyprus, North Macedonia);-improved and modernized VET system;-improved pedagogical skills of VET trainers;-raised awareness for the digitalization in VET;-raised awareness for the need of innovative apiculture training programs;- created digital training course in the field of most up-to-date apiculture topics (PR1);-developed OER digital hive for the legal, agro-economy services and networking (PR2);-created illustrative handbook on Developmental appropriate practice for dealing with digital teaching cases for VET educators (PR3);-created network and strengthening the synergy among bee-keepers by widening their perspectives on application of new knowledge in bee-keeping made possible with the developed training materials (PR1);- organized 8 webinars based on PR1 and PR2 for the bee-keepers;-organized 4 webinars based on PR3 for VET educators;- increased the skills of min. 400 bee-keepers will be strengthened in the field of sustainable bee-keeping and apiculture;-improved and expanded business of the bee-keepers through the opportunity for networking (PR2)-initiated insight into the possibilities for production of new pharmaceutical bee-keeping products through the PR2 services;- skills gap of apiculture stakeholders hampering their income will be filled;-increased skills of VET educators in providing the digital training (PR3);-established strategic partnership between the participants of the consortium for sustainable exchange and development of good practices in apiculture and applying them in further developing VET programs in apiculture;- networking of and best practice sharing among apiculture stakeholders, VET staff, academic staff and agriculture practitioners will be initiated through their participation in webinar trainings, and the E1 media event as well as the dissemination activities;- strengthened cooperation between the bee-keepers and VET educators will be improved (business and academic axes);- improved sustainable apiculture at the project consortium countries and beyond;- improved VET in the field of apiculture.

<< Background >>CHILD project aims at providing an innovative model for strengthening skills and capacities in preschool education. The main idea is to integrate innovative approaches to practice, dedicated specifically to a certain stratum of EU population, and professional training by sharing best practices in favor of pre-school staff, by developing specific learning modules and ICT tools. Preschool is one of the only environments in education where the focus is on play and creativity, rather than intense curricular standards. Most children begin receiving formal education during kindergarten. Preschool teachers use playtime and storytime to teach problem-solving skills, encourage social development, and hone fine motor skills. Their main goal is to participate in a child's growth and development, learn to understand and help their students and use a child's natural curiosity to develop a learning plan that is developmentally appropriate. Preschool teachers need to create an atmosphere where risks can be taken and discoveries can be made all while maintaining a safe environment for children. CHILD project partnership made desk research on the issues and needs the pre-school educators are facing in their daily teaching, as well as the expectations of the parents, and then developed the CHILD project idea incorporating three project results as well as a set of dissemination and training activities to achieve the project objective.<< Objectives >>With the implementation of the CHILD project, the consortium undertakes an innovative approach to introducing digitalization in kindergartens and preparing the pre-school teachers for new teaching methodologies and practices. The project strategy aims at a successful implementation regarding the planning of activities, implementation, monitoring and reporting, quality control and closing. Methodological approach is one of the new priorities for European cooperation on education and training by Commission Recommendation as well as Code of practice of partner institutions. Based on the arrangement of project activities and the expertise of the partners, particular attention will be given to principles for a knowledge-transfer and access to professional knowledge, and principles for collaborative and contract research with regards to ownership of results generated in project and access to training materials and tools.CHILD proposal, therefore, undertakes to create:- a Developmentally Appropriate Practice (DAP) Handbook and Training for Preschool Teachers (PR1) which will contribute to the upgrade of competences of the target beneficiaries;-Applied DAP Activities and Educative Digital Resource Library (PR2), with a purpose to directly impact the enriching of the critical thinking skills of children, and -CHILD Innovative and Creative Web-based Digital Environment (PR3) for providing a complete environment to support the created methodology (from PR1), activities and library of resources (from PR2), and animated interactive activities that will be developed also during PR3. Such a tool guarantees facility of access, ease of use and maximum spread of the kindergarten teaching and learning activities.The presentation of the outcomes of these project results will be done through training activities in the form of webinars and the share of best practices in this field. Moreover, the nature of the outputs gives the possibility for the usage of the results beyond the end of the project’s duration.<< Implementation >>For successful implementation of the CHILD project, the following set of project activities are foreseen:1)Organization of transnational meetings for the project partners during which the project results will be elaborated, discussed, coordinated, and implemented.2)3 project results:PR1. Developmentally Appropriate Practice (DAP) Handbook and Training for Preschool TeachersPR2. Applied DAP Activities and Educative Digital Resource LibraryPR3. CHILD Innovative and Creative Web-based Digital Environment3)8 national webinars (digital training) based on the project results outcomes4)E1 media event which is planned as a large scale media event to promote the CHILD project activities, Erasmus+ program and to provide for networking among stakeholders in both pre-school education, but also higher education and representatives in the ministries of education who are in charge of the monitoring and upgrade of the educational curricula.<< Results >>The main expectation of the CHILD project is the introduction of ICT tools in pre-school, capacity building of preschool staff skill development and professionalization, boosting their image in the society as well as enabling them to apply innovative approaches in kindergarten teaching methodologies for providing efficient modern education of children. The expected outcomes of CHILD project are:1) improved professional skills and multidisciplinary knowledge of the pre-school educators; 2) increased transfer of knowledge by strengthening and expanding the existing network of pre-school educators, teachers, and managers so as to allow free flow of information, to better promote the work and activities of the kindergartens and to build long-term, future-oriented partnerships. Within CHILD project 3 project results are foreseen as well as training in a form of webinars, thus the tangible results are as follows:-developed scientific academic publication: Developmentally Appropriate Practice (DAP) Handbook and Training for Preschool Teachers (PR1)- number of users accessing PR1 in the digital environment;- number of institutions incorporating the PR1 into their curricula;- developed digital library: Applied DAP Activities and Educative Digital Resource Library;- number of users accessing PR2 in the digital environment;- feedback from PR2 users;- developed tool-kit: CHILD Innovative and Creative Web-based Digital Environment (PR3)- number of users accessing the environment and the animated interactive e-learning activities of PR3;- number of institutions incorporating the PR3 into their practices;- feedback from PR3 users;- organization of 8 national webinars (digital training) based on the CHILD PRs outcomes;- organization of E1 large scale dissemination event.

Knowledge, skills and innovation are the indispensable foundation of sustainable development. European agricultural and rural development policies have a long-standing record of stimulating innovation, moreover, sharing knowledge within networks speeds the process of adoption of innovations. Given these preliminary considerations, the first challenge of FARM project is to boost knowledge and technology transfer in the agricultural sector. The possibility to increase the level of information available to ARD (Agriculture and Rural Development) about new technologies is directly linked to sectorial investments, economic and environmental efficiency and sustainability, food healthiness and safety, ability to compete in the international market area. The support in agriculture and rural development (ARD) remains a vital component for economic, social and environmental sustainability. The ARD faces the challenge in terms of sustainable management of natural resources, depopulation and contributing towards the economic development. The scientific development complements this challenge by focusing on knowledge share and fostering the technology and innovations in ARD. According to economic theory and practice, the formation and transfer of knowledge form a basis of economic development. Moreover, although direct demand for knowledge is today lower than in the past, economic literature confirms the importance of wide networking, in terms of diversification and number of subjects, for the introduction of new technologies in the agro-food sector (Muscio et al., 2017). There is still a huge gap in European agriculture concerning technological development and organization. Consequently, in a vast majority of European countries and regions, especially those of southern Europe, a well-developed sphere of formation and transfer of knowledge is required (CAPReform.EU, 2012). E2020 in ARD fosters innovation, cooperation, and development of a knowledge base in rural areas, enhancing farm viability and competitiveness of all types of agriculture in all regions and promoting innovative farm technologies and sustainable management (https://ec.europa.eu/agriculture/ruraldevelopment- 2014-2020_en). The establishment of professional training programs for ARD stakeholders through educational institutions is desperately needed. In that context FARM project is focused on innovative approaches to knowledge exchange that will be taking advantage of new digital technologies, and will be based on synergies between information management and communication for development. Its objective is to contribute to ARD by bringing relevant expertise and resources across the international community into a more coherent and systematic approach. In order to contribute to the improvement in ARD, FARM project defines four intellectual outputs for introduction, popularization and application of the current ICT DSS tools in ARD, but also designing and developing the prototypes of two new tools as well as training course materials in ARD based on the DSS recognized and with a focus on green skills.The scope of the project is on an systematic overview of existing ICT DSS tools in ARD that support crop farming, precision livestock farming, climate and quality control and farm management. A special focus should be on spatial DSS because spatial information is indispensable in the agricultural sector, and regional planning in general. Most information that is needed for problems of rural development are focused on geo-located points, lines, places, areas or other entities. Therefore, software services for the collection, analysis and visualistaion of spatial data can effectively support decision-making processes among different stakeholders. Based on such a systematically derived overview, existing gaps will be identified and filled by developing new training materials as well as two DSS prototypes for specific purposes referring to the FARM focus. The project activities are aimed at and tailored according to the needs of the target group such as ARD experts, trainers and policy makers, researchers, academic staff, students, farmers, development practitioners, as well skilled and unskilled adult and other members of vulnerable groups. FARM resembles a unique project which is innovative in its nature with a direct impact on linking the HE and ARD and contributing to the development of rural areas and socio-economic prosperity. The project goals are achieved through the interaction of five European partners from 5 European countries. Local rural businesses are also behind the project, which create a practical framework for feasibility and sustainability.

The efficiency of the higher educational systems largely rely on institutional support from the research support staff (legal, financial, ethical, impact oriented, managerial, and administrative) in all phases: pre-award/preparatory, award, post-award/implementation phase and post-implementation phase (review and assessment). Research support structures are one of the key factors influencing the success or failure of institutions and researchers participating in competitive European, non-European and national project where types of activities range from research, development, innovation, demonstration, building capacities, raising awareness, coordination, support and similar (R&D&I) funding programmes. But the available educational programmes in the field of project management and research administration comply only in limited extent with competences and knowledge needed by support staff and the need for extensive additional training in this field is evident. ADMIN project addresses this issue through providing upgrade of professional competences of research administrator’s staff by elaborating a project toolkit in project management (IO1) with an aspect on ethics and enhancing the soft communication skills as well as providing a training in this field. Additionally, ADMIN develops a self-study learning tool “Alone in the office” in a form of video material (IO2). In order to connect the various stakeholders and strengthen the linkages between the higher educations and the economy, ADMIN creates a Baseline study on knowledge transfer market (IO3). ADMIN’s outcomes will be published on the EPALE and the partners’ websites.The main objective of the project is to contribute to capacity building of research support staff and enhancing the prospect for R&I projects and initiatives in European funding schemes. The second objective is to strengthen and expand the network of research support staff across project partner countries and beyond so as to allow free flow of information, knowledge and exchange of best practices hence increasing the prospects for excellence in research administration. The aim is to boost the capacities of research administrators by improving their performance, highlighting the visibility of their work and outcomes and strengthening relations with academic/scientific staff. The target groups are early stage research administrators who are faced to the challenge to respond to everyday tasks on R&I projects, academic staff, stakeholders and students.