The European Union needs competences, innovation, balanced and integrated territory development in order to boost its growth. Indeed, innovation is not only a linear process, a result of R&D activities. On the opposite, more and more innovation sprouts in broad, multi-sectoral socio-economic contexts, strongly application-oriented, and through complex processes, integrating top-down (based on economic development policies) and bottom-up (user- and market-driven) approaches. Higher Vocational Education and Training (HVET), specially for qualifications around EQF level 5, has a relevant role, and a tremendous potential to that aim. In fact, its curricula: - link to high-tech production sectors; - without being academic, fulfil the market demand of technicians with new and high-tech competences, able to foster innovation and master and manage advanced organisational and productive processes; - lay between upper secondary school and university, right at the hub among education, academy and business; - are governed, designed and managed jointly by public authorities, schools, training bodies, enterprises; - are highly interesting to students, as they offer tempting perspectives on several fronts: steady employment, career advancement, continuous training.Aware of such challenges and potential, SHINE targets actors governing and managing HVET programmes, as well as to students, aiming at bridging the gap among individual local economic contexts and goals set by corresponding regional Smart Specialization Strategies, by acknowledging the role and innovative potential of high-level technical professional profiles. SHINE locates in the expertise of actors like ITSs in Italy, Fachochschulen in Germany, and others, the best tools to contribute to the development of local production contexts. The project followed a cycle foreseeing: - survey and evidence of excellence in HVET in partner territories, as to crosslinking HVET and business, management practices, governance; - peer review of excellence and identification of innovations/spillovers for improvement, especially regarding smart specialization and local development strategies, proactive approach to training and skills supply design, business involvement, ability to deliver innovation services; - definition of an innovative model for design and governance of HVET programmes, in order to encompass the above issues at stake; - piloting the model in practice, by local action plans; - assessment of results and subsequent identification of policy mechanisms to improve the use of EU tools (e.g. ESCO, ECVET) by HVET; - definition of possible improvement processes and related indicators for high level (national/EU) policies; - review of the model, by involving the “Triple Helix” stakeholders (training/innovation, business, institutions); - validation and fine tuning. In compliance with what mentioned above, the methodology adopted by the consortium includes a constant switch among bottom-up (collection of information, stakeholders involvement, piloting) and top-down (model definition, process definition) phases, always flanked by monitoring of progress made.Main results achieved are: - improvement of training offer by partners, with subsequent increase in the employment chances for students and in competitiveness for local companies; - improvement in competences of company trainers involved in programme delivery, thanks to sharing and discussion with other EU excellent partners; - set-up of a permanent, relevant EU network, gathering public and private excellent HVET actors; - capacity building of decision makers governing HVET, and subsequent acknowledgement of tools for reviewing innovation policies, with special regard to professional technical issues, as innovation driver inside business; - definition and piloting of a governance system, based on the integration of HVET policy makers and the labour market. SHINE is performed by a strong consortium of 8 partners in 6 EU countries: Italy, Germany, Sweden, Romania, Croatia and Belgium, representing a competent and skilled mix of public and private organisations, profit and non profit, decision makers and technical, with education and training organisations, employers associations, public institutions, European networks, in the spirit of providing for a true strategic partnership.

Working with human capital in the 21st century reflects changes in the labour market related not only to migration, but also to Industry 4.0 and the requirement to adapt quickly to new situations. Related to this there is the need for new approaches to training of future employees, development of their key competencies, critical thinking, ability to adapt to different situations, mutual cooperation, and intercultural communication skills. In order to be able to operate in a changing environment, social, political and economic in the global environment, the cultural contexts that globalization brings must be addressed. The issue of critical incidents is closely related to this development both in the professional and private life of today's society. Multinational businesses are facing and will face cultural differences in employee structures, which is a part of the diversity management – a set of measures that lead to the company accepting and respecting differences. Cultural diversity, among others, is an inseparable part of this concept. In connection with multinationalism, movement of labour and also migration waves, it is necessary to focus on the cultural specifics of individual nationalities and to learn how to work with them. What is more, after the outbreak of COVID-19, it is clear that this pandemic will have an impact on every business sector and the problem of intercultural communication, multinationalism and diversity management will play an integral role in the world to come. Other questions are opened in relation to communication, prejudice and fears of the unknown when communicating with foreigners of different origin. Nationalist tendencies and xenophobia is also likely to intensify. That is why the topic of critical incidents is up-to-date and necessary.The project, during the planned three-year period, will focus in particular on the critical incidents in multicultural environment. This environment is represented by both, educational institutions participating in the project and cooperating multicultural companies and institutions. The research will be done to collect critical incidents; based on their analysis there will be proposed ways how to work with critical incidents, how to eliminate their causes and how to use their positive potential for the development of personality and corporate culture. They will be looked at from different perspective employing each partner expertise in different fields. Didactical models will be developed and implemented into a range of subjects as a part of study programmes resulting in innovations in course syllabi and developing new updated educational and training material to be used across the partner institutions and companies. The second area the project aims at are research activities resulting in book and articles in professional journals. The participants, students of all levels of university studies and academia alike, will work in the international environment, cooperate with companies and businesses, apply and further develop their theoretical knowledge, together with language skills, soft skills and multicultural awareness. The project will be elaborated in an international consortium of universities. All participating institutions work in an international environment, work and communicate with international students, multinational companies and other institutions on a daily basis. All project partners face social issues of foreign workers, migration issues, cultural differences, adaptation processes and others brought about by globalization.The target groups will use the project outputs not only for their benefits but also to disseminate the results and assist its further use.Two short intensive programmes (summer school) are planned where students, academia and professionals will meet and work together on common projects, test and refine new educational sources, training material will be suggested, discussed and tested.The intellectual outcomes will be presented during the planned international conference in which all participants will demonstrate and share common results and benefits of the project work.

<< Background >>The partnership for this project was formed because we firmly believe that by creating state-of-the-art curricula, communication skills, which are significant in all areas of our lives - from personal development to progress in business and economic growth (many research support this statement), could be enhanced and consequently, contribute to higher quality of HEI (upgrade of teaching), improved inclusion of impaired students, and to more successful students, who will be more successful professional contributing to a better and more sustainable economy. The Republic of Slovenia participates in international research that verifies the education of students according to internationally harmonized standards (research TIMSS66, PIRLS, PISA, ICCS67, ICILS68, TALIS69 and the like), and the research show that literacy and thus communication skills in Slovenia are decreasing (as in many other European countries). In Addition to that, the education sector, which is importantly dependent on communication competencies, has suffered substantial damage during the Covid-19 crisis. The same applies also to the business sector. Not only in the economic sense, but much wider, especially when it comes to communication skills and their usage in everyday life and in the business sector, where positioning, re-positioning and branding of various services and products require mastering of communication skills. The latter are significant in personal life, identity development and self-actualization and in creating careers, business success and economic growth. The main idea of this Erasmus+ project is developing communication skills curricula for students so that they will be more successful in inclusion on the job market - also in sign language since according to the research by Marschark et al. (2006) and some other researchers, the performance of deaf students is below that of their hearing peers. Thus, by developing state-of-the-art curricula by including sign language could significantly increase the performance of students with hearing impairments (the focus is on the communicative approach to learning the English language as lingua franca, which includes sign language, rhetoric skills, reading, movement and travel writing). Especially travel writing, which is an old method in literature studies, is an innovative method in business communication, branding and marketing. The 2020 spring, summer, autumn and winter experiences in online teaching have shown that many curricula need re-engineering, re-thinking with new goals, competencies, required knowledge, and methods; especially, since the main objective of higher institutions is to maintain quality and teach students to analyse, evaluate and create, which are the most important abilities according to Bloom. Thus, one of the possible ways of achieving that is to include more student-oriented methods, and give a more important role to problem, project, and active learning in curricula – also when it comes to (intercultural) communication, social, digital, language and writing skills, which are essential for (future) business professionals. Special attention will be devoted to students with hearing impairments as they have felt even greater exclusion during the online teaching than their hearing peers. Besides inclusion, another important focus of newly developed curricula for enhancing communication skills, is on students' health, healthy way of living, movement while learning and taking responsibility for one's own health. Also modern businesses demand responsible employees who enable high quality services, well-communicated products and display professional communication skills, which include not only proper language skills in the mother tongue and in foreign languages, especially in English, but also awareness of cultural place specifics, and climate. All these skills are essential for successful business practices and for identity development in EU citizens.<< Objectives >>In line with the Republic of Slovenia, Strategy 2030 and the University of Maribor Strategy 2021 -2030, our project has the following objectives:-one of the objectives of the project is developing literacy and communication skills through an innovative method of travel writing and through movement,-our next goal is to develop communication skills curricula by employing sign language for online/classroom communication skills courses at European universities,-to enhance writing skills as writing skills are the core of successful education and business, and if they are developed and enhanced successfully, this is beneficial for the overall development of the communities, especially underprivileged rural communities, for the individuals included into the developed modules and for the universities which, by developing and offering communication skills modules, connect further with the local environment, local businesses and interested stakeholders;-our goal is also to further develop reading, writing, social, digital and intercultuar skills by employing travel writing and learning through movement (walking, hiking, biking),-developing various communication skills curricula (for various groups and specific purposes),-to create a partnership, whose partners will disseminate the results of the project successfully on the local, regional, national and international levels;-to support individuals in the vertical frame (BA, MA, PhD students, teaching and research staff) of Higher Education organisations,In line with this background, the project is focused on internationalised education, growing use of digital and online learning, and supporting the creation of flexible and active learning pathways in the field of business in line with users’ needs and objectives. Referring to this, the objectives of the project are to build an open access students/teachers/administrative staff centred guidance tool for further developing various types of literacy and communication skills knowledge and supporting the acquisition of language knowledge, with a growing archive of online resources and digital assets, which will have an open-access and will be implemented in the teaching curriculum.<< Implementation >>Our project will use a result-oriented methodology to prepare and develop state-of-the-art communications skills curricula for higher education institutions and business industry. The objectives will be achieved jointly in several monitored stages/phases of the project as follows: Within the project activities the partners will jointly develop a common methodology for the preparation of guidelines focused on communication skills for various educational and business purposes. The first step will involve developing a common methodology of research; secondly, the project units will analyse curricula and develop curricula for communication skills modules; thirdly, the developed curricula will be uploaded to open-access websites. The following steps of the project will include a testing phase, where the target and control groups will be involved. All stages of the project will be monitored, evaluated, partial results will be disseminated and also the overall project results. According to the proposed project results (PR), the following activities will take place:PR1Involves all project partners and is oriented towards the preparation of a common methodology that will be used for developing curricula and innovative methodology based on travel writing and movement employing sign language. By developing methods and guidelines for inclusion of sign language, we wish to increase the possibilities for inclusion of students with hearing impairments and consequently performance of students with hearing impairments (the focus is on teaching students and staff with no impairments to acquire sign language and to become more aware of the needs of students with impairmentsthe, teaching and learning will be based on the communicative approach to learning the English language as lingua franca, the focus will be on learning rhetoric skills, reading, health, movement and travel writing). Along with that, we want students increase their intercultural communication skills as well as broaden their understanding of inclusion and social diversity. PR1 activities are:-background research-data collection-analysis of curricula and available methodologies-sign language inclusion-write partial method guide-quality control-developing a module (6 to 8 ECTS, 2 semesters, 2 contact hours a week)-employing elements of the local sign language and/or international sign -apply the new skills to break communication barriers and contribute establishing a basic workplace communication with Deaf and hard-of-hearing peo-discussion-proofreading-disseminationPR2Involves all project partners, is oriented towards the preparation of curricula for targeted groups:- preparation of a common methodology employing travel writing that will be used for the preparation of curricula for acquiring literacy and communication skills in English through travel writing and interrogating place (usage of autoethnography),-collecting materials, focusing on topics for developing communication skills-developing curricula for BA and MA modules-IT support-website creation-testing teaching-evaluating teaching-writing papers, publishing-dipreparation of texts for the monograph,-disseminationPR3Involves all project partners and is oriented towards developing and testing curricula in targeted groups:--preparation of a common methodology employing travel writing and physical activities that will be used for the preparation of curricula for acquiring literacy and communication skills in English -collecting materials, focusing on topics for developing communication skills through movement- teaching- workshops-upgrading curricula and guidelines-evaluation-creating new networks with universities and businesses/stakeholders-dissemination of resultsPR4Involves all project partners and using of existing technology and results:-usage of curricula developed in PR1, PR2, PR3-finalising monograph-dissemination<< Results >>We believe that our project will significantly contribute to the enhancement of communication skills at higher education institutions, to improved inclusion of students with hearing impairments, to promotion of sign language, to improved quality of teaching, to improved understanding among different groups of students. Besides that the developed communication skills module will be open to students from all European countries (it is necessary to emphasize that the University of Maribor has a very strong and diverse network and that the proposed curricula are not limited only to some study disciplines) and across the globe, since it is vital not only to maintain goos collaboration within the University of Maribor network, but also to create new partnerships through the project, share knowledge, become acquainted with new cultures and languages, develop creativity, create new opportunities across Europe. In line with this background, the project is focused on inclusive internationalised education and supporting the creation of flexible learning pathways in the field of business. Sustainability of the project will also be achieved through developing further national and international networks with HEI and business sector stakeholders, through the preparation of teaching sessions and workshops for targeted groups and through various publications and open access materials. With the proposed curricula, which will become part of study programmes, to Slovenia this project will bring desperately needed good foundations for further development of teaching and learning communication skills through innovative and inclusive methods that will also promote health and healthy lifestyle. Besides improvement of communication skills that will lead to enhanced literacy, personal growth, improved competencies, better employment possibilities, critical thinking and economic growth, the project will contribute to better cooperation with local communities, interested associations, HEI policy-makers and quality-assessment bodies. These positive impacts are expected also in partnership countries as well as beyond our partnership on the European and global levels. The knowledge and results from this project will be shared further not only through developed modules that will be part of study programmes but also through dissemination of results on conferences, symposiums etc. After the end of the project when the curricula will already be implemented inside the partnership, the developed curricula will also be monitored and evaluated, and thus, the curricula will be further tailored and developed according to the needs of specific groups. The curricula will be designed in such ways that their further tailoring in various directions will be possible.

The SHARPEN project was developed to improve and promote Human Resource Management (HRM) both in higher education and in practice in regional SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises). SHARPEN stands for 'SMEs HRM Attraction, Retention and Performance Enhancement Network'. It was funded by Erasmus Strategic Partnerships for Higher Education over three years during 2016-19. Five tertiary education institutions partnered on the SHARPEN: Kajaanin Ammattikorkeakoulu Oy (KAMK), Finland; Technická univerzita v Liberci (TUL), Czech Republic; Zwickau Westachsische-Hochschule (ZUAS), Germany; University of Huddersfield (UoH), United Kingdom; Socialiniu Mokslu Kolegija Klaipeda (SMK), Lithuania. All team members from the partner institutions are professionals with expertise in HRM and managing SMEs, and extensive experience in teaching, research and management practice.The objectives of the project were to apply people management knowledge, experiences and competencies of all the partner universities in collaboration with SMEs and professionals to develop outputs using technology, innovative methods, and creative approaches to generate practical impact through unique local and international networks. SMEs are seen in many regions as anchors of the economy and important drivers in job creation and well-being. The combination of knowledge and experience of academics, businesses, professional organisations and working with students was very beneficial and innovative. The results of these co-creation and co-production activities are reflected in all the project outputs.The main outputs (results) comprise an innovative learning module related to human resource management in regional SMEs, a handbook for SMEs, and research publication drawing on primary data collected across all five regions. The research publications include “People management challenges for SMEs in five European regions: Spotlighting the (in)visible and the (in)formal and embedding SME HR issues firmly in the business and knowledge environment” prepared with all project members from a five-country survey focusing on HRM processes and key challenges. These insights led to key themes being identified which were discussed in two further outcomes generated: an SME Handbook and selected topics in the learning module. The main results of this publication were also cross-referenced in other outputs.The Handbook “A Good Practice Guide to Managing Human Resources in Regional SMEs” is a unique publication wherein nine chapters and more than 200 pages, topics are covered such as strategic workforce planning and resourcing, recruitment, employer branding, corporate social responsibility, workforce integration, development and retention etc. Each chapter of the book consists of a theoretical overview emphasising particular features of SMEs, short case studies, a practical toolkit and a checklist, questions for reflections and a glossary that are important for readers and their feedback.During the SHARPEN project, the design and delivery of the English-language learning module HRM in SMEs were phased into three stages: theoretical and methodological training of students, a one-week intensive study programme annually and application of the knowledge in the third phase into case studies and practical tools. As an output, eight chapters of the module were prepared as curricula in which an innovative approach was adopted and up-to-date information incorporated from the project. The results of the other two outputs are used here (survey findings, case studies and practical tools all related to the specific characteristics of managing people in regional SMEs). All three outputs are available for free public access and use from the SHARPEN website sharpen.ef.tul.cz.Additionally, the SHARPEN project includes insights into current and emerging labour market needs in the partner regions and research collaborations by the SHARPEN project partners with key stakeholders. The project also aimed to increase digital proficiencies, cultural and language competencies of the partner institutions, both staff and students.SHARPEN has had a positive impact on the participating regions (regional companies, public bodies, universities and students). Regional SMEs benefit from the SHARPEN project through intensive work with individual students (75 students in three years worked on 40 case studies), numerous dissemination events as well as the SME-specific content of the handbook. The students who took part in the project gained theoretical knowledge as well as methodological skills, enhanced language and intercultural skills as well as practical entrepreneurial experiences. Longer-term benefits include direct improvement in HRM capabilities in regional SMEs, implementing new curricula into the programmes of the partner countries, the creation of networks and partnership between academics, SMEs and professional organisations which will continue beyond the end of the project.