The VET UP project «VET UP for the Excellence in Vocational Education in Europe», coordinated by City Council of Alzira and co-funded by the European Commission through the European Executive Agency for Education and Culture in the framework of Erasmus+ programme Key Action 3 «Supporting policy reform, networks and partnerships of vocational education and training providers», held its final meeting to discuss the results in face-to-face format on 1-2 June 2022 in Vienna (Austria).
The aim of this meeting was to present the results obtained and the best practices of each of the project partner countries throughout the project as well as to exchange the improvements identified in order to increase the quality and efficiency of VET. In addition to representatives of the five project partners, the meeting was attended by external members representing each of the 3 networks involved in the project; Xarxa Valenciana d’entitats proveïdores de formació professional per a l’ocupació (Xarxa VALEM) Spain, Groupement d’Intérêt Public pour la Formation Continue et l’Insertion Professionnelle from France and the Association of Institutions for Vocational Training in Bulgaria (SIPOB) from Bulgaria.
Results of the VET UP project
Among the results of the VET UP project we can highlight its contribution to the dissemination of the European Vocational Skills Week (EVSW), with the organisation of 6 national events in Bulgaria, France and Spain, also in the International Awards of the European Alliance for Apprenticeship (EAfA) with the nomination of a candidate from Spain. In addition, the project organised 3 activities for the exchange of experiences and good practices, with study visits (in online and face-to-face formats) in Bulgaria, Spain and France, resulting in the production of 49 videos.
Likewise, the project has designed a tool for the follow-up of VET graduates (in 4 languages) in order to evaluate the effectiveness of the training and the necessary improvements in the training received. Following the survey of 54 companies in the participating countries (15 Bulgarian, 18 French and 21 Spanish) the 4 key transversal competences required by employers to be acquired in various VET sectors have been identified:
- Communication skills;
- Plan, organise, prioritise work;
- Work as a team;
- Adapt to change and change management.
Online course
As a consequence and as a result of this extensive analysis, a face-to-face course for trainers was designed and implemented in Lublin (Poland) and, likewise, a free Online Course was launched in 4 core competences (four modules respectively), available in 5 languages (Spanish, French, English, Polish and Bulgarian), open to vocational trainers. A total of 266 people have completed the course by 1 July 2022 (300% more than the 75 people initially indicated), with 75 participants from Spain, 48 from France, 37 from Poland and 35 from Bulgaria. The remaining 65 people come from countries such as North Macedonia, Italy, Hungary, Greece, Romania, Czechia, Ukrania and Russia.
The course will be open for online delivery after the end of the project. Among the available course materials, which can then be used by the teacher are:
- 4 manuals (one for each competence),
- 39 webinars,
- 48 presentations,
- 54 infographics, and
- additional support material, among others.
If you are interested in taking the course, you can register at the following link, where you will find all the course material in the selected language:
Contributions of the project
The VET UP project is closed in accordance with the objectives set and has become a key element of cooperation in the field of vocational education training and collaboration between the providers of the three networks involves in the project. It has contributed to the creation of a transnational VET network. This provides an innovation ecosystem around Vocational Training for Employment and stimulates the dissemination, valorisation and replicability of specific initiatives in the participating vocational training for employment entities in the European Union.
Additionally, it is worth to be highlighted the contribution of the project to the visibility of the internships abroad that VET students can do to complete their training itinerary. Moreover, the project has contributed to the dissemination of EAFA among the members of the networks and has increased the visibility of the European Vocational Skill Week in the participating countries. Finally, it has also identified 13 points for improvement where work can be done to improve the quality and internationalisation of vocational training for employment for example in Spain.
Videos and other results of the project are available on our website:
Project partners
For instance, VET UP was articulated with the aim to foster dissemination and support for the implementation of the VET policy agenda at national and EU level and to exchange knowledge. Project partners include, the City Council of Alzira (Spain), The Public Interest Grouping for basic vocational and further training of Créteil (GIP-FCIP Créteil (France); Association of the Institutions for Vocational Education and Training in Bulgaria (SIPOB) (Bulgaria); 3s Forschungsverein (3s) (Austria) and the University of Economics and Innovation in Lublin (WSEI) (Poland). The consortium comprises the collaboration between 3 Vocational Training networks: Xarxa Valem (Spain); Groupement d’Intérêt Public pour la Formation Continue et l’Insertion Professionnelle (France) and Association of Institutions for Vocational Training in Bulgaria (Bulgaria).