Already in 2003 the Swiss Forum for Migration and Population Studies (2003) and lately scientists from London`s Global University (2011) noticed, that the cultural diversity will be one of the most important factor in health-care area. Due to this, it is important to equip medical personnel with proper cultural competencies. As an answer to the above needs, the MICE-ICU project aimed at improving the knowledge, skills and cultural competencies of nurses working in intensive care units (ICUs). The MICE-ICU project was developed to improve knowledge, skills and competencies of ICU nurses in cultural sensitive care by developing and providing online access to a specialist, multicultural course for ICU nurses. The partnership started from the initiative of Polish Society of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care Nurses (PTPAiIO). PTPAiIO and two higher education institutions: the College of Nursing in Celje from Slovenia and the University of Ostrava from Czech Republic engaged scientific experts in order to prepare proper methodological approach to achieve the objectives of the project. The high quality of the project results and the effectiveness of dissemination were ensured by the European federation of Critical Care Nursing associations (EfCCNa) - who is a European network and umbrella organisation for national associations of intensive/critical care nurses. EfCCNa consists of 28 national European critical care nursing associations, and represents more than 25 000 critical care nurses in Europe. The strategic partnership was supported by Danmar Computers Lld., who became the technical partner, responsible for preparing e-learning platform, MICE-ICU web site and other IT solutions. Finally the assist GmbH from Germany joined the partnership and offered expertise in training international soft skills as well as train-the-trainer training. All partners, except for Danmar Computers Lld. and assist GmbH acted as experts in the intensive nursing care. Despite the differences in the nature of main activities of the each partner, all of them contributed to the final outcomes of the MICE project. Main activities conducted during the project include: Literature review and ICU nurses training needs analysis – the systematic literature review was conducted by researchers from Poland, Slovenia and Czech Republic in order to identify nurses educational needs related to multicultural care in ICU in participating countries. Additionally the survey technique was used to identify actual cultural competences level of ICU nurses. The Healthcare Provider Cultural Competence Instrument (HPCCI) developed by Schwarz i in. (2015) was used for this purpose. In total 598 ICU nurses participated in this study including 155 nurses (25.92%) from Poland (PL), 218 (36.45%) from Czech Republic CZ), 97 (16.22%) from Slovenia (SI) and 128 (21.40%) from 20 European countries like Sweden, Izrael, Finland, Denmark. The results of literature review and training needs analysis formed the basis for developing the course curriculum and content. 1.The course was developed in cooperation between all partners and implemented on-line as e-learning course. It was agreed that the course will consist of three modules: Module I: Cultural awareness and sensitivity, Module II: Culturally diverse patients in health care environment, Module III: Specifics when caring for culturally diverse patients on ICU. The course starts with entry test of knowledge and ends with ending test. Topics prepared by the individual partner were reviewed by other partners, further developed or modified and finally the preliminary version of the course content was agreed. The course was translated into Polish, Czech and Slovenian languages. Danmar Computers Lld. implemented the course online and provided access to the testing platform. 2.Testing phase involved nurses from PL, CZ, SI and a few European countries, who took the e-learning course and answered questionnaires regarding usability, effectiveness and provided other suggestion to improve course quality. 3.The final version of the online course on multicultural care for ICU nurses was presented to EfCCNa council members and the join decision to recommend this course for ICU nurses all over the Europe was stated. The MICE-ICU project resulted in a specialized and accredited e-learning course on multicultural care dedicated to nurses working in intensive care environments. Besides main intellectual outputs, the multiplier events in all partner countries and the international Symposium on Multicultural Care were organized. The impact of MICE ICU project is expected on national and the European levels which assure long-term benefits in the shape of better qualified ICU nurses ready for caring for culturally dissimilar patients. If relevant, longer-term benefits. As the result, the ICU Nurses will increase their vocational competencies and receive a practical tool for work with patients from different cultures.

Studies show that there is an urgent need for qualified personnel in Europe: As shown, for ex. in the 2 cited studies ‘How mobile is tech talent?’ by Centre for European Policy Studies, 2016 and McKinsey study, 2012 called World at Work the need for young talented people entering the labour market is very high. This study reached conclusion: employers in Europe and N. America will require 16 to 18 million more college-educated workers in 2020 than are going to be available. McKinsey consulting coined the term ‘War for Talent’ to describe this phenomenon. In many EU countries, this is a particular problem for SMEs looking to hire and keep personnel, as SMEs cannot compete with corporations when it comes to salaries and other incentives. SMEs may not be able to fill 1 in 10 roles they need, much less fill them with top talent.At the same time, Europe experiences unprecedented high levels of migration, many of whom are well qualified. In Eurostat report ‘Migrant integration’ from 2017 the result was concluded concerning migrants in Europe: the EU-born population recorded the highest share of graduates (36.7 %). This proportion was 4 pp higher than for the native-born population and 5 pp higher than for non-EU-born population. These statistics reflect potential benefits of migration of EU Citizens where more extensive recruitment of young people with migrant backgrounds or young refugees could help SMEs in finding appropriate employees. Especially that motivation to gain access to the labour market among them remains exceptionally high: e.g. 93,3% of the population in Germany with a migrant background retain that a fix workplace is an important factor for integration in the accepting country.In contrast with these facts however, 7 out of 10 (71%) of DE companies with trainee programmes don’t employ trainees with migration background. This figure is higher for SMEs with less than 50 employees. Those over 50 show higher rates of willingness to employ trainees with migrant backgr. but still 46%. (SVR-FB_Diskriminierung-am-Ausbildungsmarkt, p. 31). This situation indicates a strong tendency by SME towards risk avoidance: The risk is that financial consequences for SME of the trainee breaking off the apprenticeship ahead of time. Research indicates that due to the nature and size, SME give trainees and new employees more responsible tasks relatively early. This requires the trainee to fit in the company’s structure easily and smoothly (SVR-FB, p. 30). In order to avoid these potential negative consequences, decision-makers in SMEs are guided by the unconscious human preference for people like themselves based on the unconscious psychological assumption ‘people who are like each other, like each other’, which seems generally true and in so doing demonstrate an unconscious bias to trainees and employees who are from their own culture. Consequently, for the sake of financial security and social integration in the staff, when it comes to choosing the right trainees and employees, these unconscious decisions, however, lead to the exclusion of many talents only because of the cultural background.Existence of unconscious bias is the fact, there is a need to recognise it and to cope with it. The project’s main aim is to develop competences of SMEs managers and recruitment staff in understanding, recognising, reflecting on and managing the unconscious bias and validating those competences in order to enable SMEs to recruit suitable personnel. The main objective will be achieved through developing the vocational education tool - CUB@work system.Target groups:- Management and recruitment staff of SME- VET trainers and public officials responsible for VET policyIt is expected that the impact of the project will be significant at all levels. Local, regional and national levels will be impacted by the dissemination activities performed by partners in their regions and countries. The project is likely to have a sustainable impact within and beyond its lifetime, especially on the target group, management and recruitment staff of SMEs. The participation in the project activities will increase their vocational skills needed in the recruitment and in the workplace. They will become not only aware of unconscious bias but also will know how to recognise it and how to manage it. In effect small and medium-sized companies will be better able to recruit suitable coworkers, also from the migrant population. It is expected that over 1000 people will participate directly in the project activities and over 20 000 will learn about its results via different digital channels. The project will also have impact on all those institutions and organizations that operate in the field of VET education. As unconscious bias is becoming more and more important due to high immigration recently, the CUB@work system should be found useful by many actors across Europe.

<< Background >>Throughout the European Green Deal, education is a central component to achieving the EU’s climate targets, in the ambition to achieve climate neutrality by 2050 (Green Comp, 2020). The need to transition towards more environmentally sustainable modes of production and consumption has become imperative, for developed as well as for developing countries (UNESCO, 2017). Sustainable Development Goal 9 includes the target of upgrading infrastructure and retrofitting industries to make them sustainable, with increased resource-use efficiency and greater adoption of clean and environmentally sound technologies and industrial processes by 2030. Sustainable Development Goal 12 includes the target of achieving the sustainable management and efficient use of natural resources by 2030. The transition to a low-carbon, resource-efficient economy requires systemic changes that will result not only in new products and services but also in changes in production processes and business models (UNESCO, 2017). This greening of the economy will inevitably change the skills required and the tasks involved in many of the existing occupations (European Commission, 2020).<< Objectives >>RetroVET project objectives are to:- Contribute to develop and promote a green culture among VET establishments- Close the green skills gap between VET centres that have successfully adopted green skills implementation practices, by facilitating the integration of amongst VET centres which have not embraced ICT practices- Develop a collaborative European Green Skills VET peer mentoring and performance improvement tool/frameworK- Capitalise on existing European vocational training networks multiplier structures and regional hubs to mainstream ICT skills change in VET centres across Europe- Promote and facilitate green skills learning through cross-curricular collaboration and remote peer-to-peer learning amongst European VET centres, practitioners and wider stakeholders<< Implementation >>The RetroVET project will support the fight against climate change and promote the benefits of an environmentally sustainable approach to vocational education and training through the “Green Elements”: 1) Green VET Strategy, 2) Green VET Approach 3) Green VET Skills and Knowledge. These elements cover each of the key VET centre stakeholder perspectives and aims to provide a holistic, inclusive approach to the “greening” of existing European VET. RetroVET directly supports The European Green Deal as a new growth strategy and recognises the key role of VET institutions to engage with learners, parents, educators and the wider community on the changes needed for a successful transition to become climate neutral by 2050. Linked to the priority above, RetroVET aims to adapt VET to labour market needs as we consider the future needs of the European labour market by supporting the development of a set of innovative tools which will inspire VET centres to offer a balanced mix of vocational skills linked to existing and evolving jobs and working methods as well as key green skills competences. The RetroVET project directly contributes to innovation in VET through the development of the project results which will be a unique set of tools in European VET, which by their very nature and purpose will also continue to support innovation in VET through the involved stakeholders. In this way, RetroVET adapts the VET provision and jobs of today, to address the needs of the future European labour market, increasing long-term employability and sustainable careers for VET graduates, and raising awareness of the European approach to climate change and sustainability through Green Skills.<< Results >>Through the four project results, the project will produce the following key deliverables:1. Report on Green Skills integration in VET2. RetroVET Interactive Benchmarking Tool 3. RetroVET Platform & Matching Tool4. RetroVET Facilitator eCourse

Organisations have become increasingly aware that multicultural societies and a globalized business world need interculturally competent individuals. Since the 1990ies, schools, universities, public services and companies have invested into intercultural (IC) learning interventions; recently, in 2011, the relevance of intercultural learning was stressed by the German Cultural Council. The ability to effectively and appropriately deal with intercultural interactions is routinely addressed in education and training in sectors including industry, universities, government, the health sector, and migration/refugee support centres. Intercultural competence has even been called a key competence of the 21st century. Concomitantly, more and more individuals and organisations including VET in Europe offer IC training. Yet despite these trends towards IC training/education, there are no generally accepted, evidence-based standards allowing clients, learners and service providers to tell the difference of an effective from an ineffective IC learning intervention.Even though we see a clear and persistent growth in IC training measures over the past 4 decades, there are no quality standards that would be binding for all IC learning providers across European regions and countries, and that would enable these providers to seek accredited professional qualification. In no European country are occupational titles like intercultural trainer/coach protected. Clients and learners cannot tell whether the IC programs they invest into are based on up-to-date findings on training effectiveness; and IC service providers have no incentive to invest into an accredited professional education.The project’s core aim is to enable recognition, transparency and comparability of qualifications and learning outcomes of IC service providers (i.e., IC trainers, advisors and coaches) through developing and establishing a framework of binding professional standards, regulations for the accreditation process and a self-assessment tool for IC providers. Such a framework will offer transparent, evidence-based, comprehensible and reliable guidelines for decision-making to clients, learners, IC service providers and institutions offering intercultural training qualifications. The regulations and self-assessment tool will provide information about the level of current qualification and guidance for achieving accreditation. The main target group are VET trainers and VET providers already providing, or aiming to provide, professional intercultural services.The results of the project will be elaborated to support its aim. Among others, there will be three Intellectual Outputs:1) ECILP - Set of Standards for European Certificate for Intercultural Learning Professionals 2) GRR - Governance, Regulations and other Requirements for the ECILP Accreditation Process 3) ECILP online self-assessment and validation centreLarge impact is expected especially on intercultural learning professionals in the VET area. The project will provide clear and competent guidelines for how they can conduct their work at the highest possible professional standards; they can measure themselves in terms of these standards and try and close any gaps identified; they will witness and where possible contribute to an important critical assessment and dialogue about the quality of the work they do; they will be in a better position to decide about their next professional qualification steps and plan for it; and their confidence about being an intercultural professional is likely to increase considerably. The ECILP Set of Standards, and the structures and processes for accreditation, will give them a powerful tool to raise their qualifications, and to critically select between providers of intercultural train-the-trainer programs promising to do so.Relevant impact we expect to see for clients, both the client organizations selecting intercultural services, and the direct participants/recipients of these services. Client organizations can use the output of the project as a benchmark of the quality they deserve and should demand, and so will be able to select from different providers those offering better, and more effective services. The direct participants/recipients will be able to benefit from better programs and more qualified providers, and both they and the purchasing organization of which they are members, will be protected from bad services.Substantial impact is also expected on intercultural training agencies, for which it will be easier and vastly more cost-effective to select and bring together an effective team of (freelance) trainers. They do not need to devise their own selection criteria and interview each and every candidate trainer through lengthy assessment processes but can instead rely on the ECILP certificate.

"The aim of the VOCAL in Need project is to transfer innovation from the LdV TOI project VOCAL-Medical (2014-2016) in relation to language and cultural learning in vocational contexts to a new vocational area, namely the security sector. It targets professionals in the security sector who need to communicate with the migrant community, who are often non-nationals, in specific situations where good communication skills can sometimes mean the difference between life and death. In doing so it responds to an important need to overcome language and intercultural barriers when interacting with members from the migrant community. This need has drastically increased as a result of demographic changes and increased mobility by the refugee crisis.The project aims to provide language and culture training materials contextualized for the security sector, through cooperationbetween educational institutions and professionals working in this sector. Two of the five online modules are focused on security staff, while two are aimed at agencies that work with migrants and refugees. The fifth modules deals with intercultural matters. The aims of this project are: • provide security staff with a practical preparation tools for communication with refugees/migrants who do not speak the national/ official language • provide language training materials for the security sector, which is often neglected • enable security staff to become more aware of (inter)cultural issues which impact on their skill set • improve the ability of security staff to interface with non-natives and therefore perform better during emergency situations • increase autonomous and innovative language learning (via mobile phone) In order to fulfill these aims the project created and tested the content of a web-based/mobile application designed for the above purposes. Vocal in Need addresses the professional training needs of the security staff sector through virtual journeys developed on a website. It also provides access to this material via mobile phones. Users are led through a variety of real life problematic situations relating to their jobs. The programme provides technical language relating to these situations as well as background logistical and cultural information for each of the countries involved. Vocal in Need tries to address the wider context of the current refugee crisis as most migrants might not be used to living in a state with similar laws or legal contexts. Some migrants have very different values, especially where the law incorporates a different view of the rights of citizens and the role of the state and its representatives, such as police. Migrants are better served if they understand and respect the values of their host country, but at the same time people dealing with them have to learn and understand the reasons for their differences, including unlawful behaviour, in order to avoid an escalated confrontation and reach mutual understanding and respect. It created four on-line training modules in eight languages (Arabic, Turkish, English, German, Bulgarian, Italian, Lithuanian and Russian) as well as an associated intercultural module, using the format developed in the original VOCAL project. These are available via a website and mobile phone applications. The language modules were developed not just bilingually, but multilingual (making any language combination possible) and cover specific topics related to the target groups and intercultural aspects of this. The partnership drew on the skills of professionals in the educational and language training sectors, as well as experts in intercultural training and IT and a quality manager who is a native English speaker. It involved former partners from the Vocal-Medical project who are familiar with the structure and methodology that were successfully applied in order to create www.vocalproject.eu. and www.vocal-medical.eu. All project partners have established links with the target groups, which were involved in the project from the start as part of the needs analysis and later on in the piloting phase. The University of Applied Police Sciences (P2) played a leading role as they had access to police trainees. The main result of the project is a contextualised language and intercultural application for security and agency staff available for both personal computers and mobile devices (the ""Mobile Assistant""will be an application for smart phones). The project contributed to bridging the gap between security staff and the migrant community and support better relationships. Increased awareness of diverse cultural behaviours will lead to better communication skills.Results of the five training modules is available under https://vocal.erasmus.site/category/modules/.The Mobile Assistant can be downloaded from https://apps.apple.com/app/id1462669892 (Apple version) and https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=eu.dcnet.vocalinneed (Android version)."