PELIARQ (Promoting European-Levantine Internationalisation and Automatic Recognition of Qualifications) is a project to support European HEIs improve their engagement with the education systems of the Levant (Lebanon, Jordan and Syria) through developing guidance for European HEIs seeking internationalisation opportunities in the region, and through supporting them with an improved understanding of the education systems and qualifications frameworks of the region to better enable the integration of students from the region into the European higher education system. Strategic internationalisation activities are a cornerstone of world class higher education systems. European universities must be at the forefront of internationalisation to deliver quality higher education opportunities for their students and the opportunities for staff to develop ground-breaking research. At the same time, the ability to understand international education systems and qualifications frameworks is a crucial enabler for universities looking to recruit the best students and staff from around the world. The key objectives of the project will be twofold: to promote opportunities for internationalisation by European universities with the focus on the specific target countries in the Levant; and to promote improved recognition of qualifications and transparency around the education systems in Europe. The principle participants will be international office and admissions staff at EU universities and higher education institutions. It is they who will be the end target beneficiaries of the project results, benefiting from improved guidance on internationalisation opportunities and obtaining a better understanding of the education systems in the Levant. The consortium will undertake to develop the project results through an approach incorporating a number of key activities. These will include phased stages of primary and secondary source research (incorporating surveys as well as interviews and engagement via associated events) into the systems and opportunities available in the Levant, as well as the areas in which EU HEIs particularly require guidance and support; webinars to inform stakeholders about the project aims; the drafting and development of the toolkit on internationalisation opportunities and guidance on education systems; and ultimately events to involve participants face-to-face in understanding the project outputs.The project will result in tangible outputs that will be disseminated across Europe to promote increased cooperation between higher education institutions in Europe and the Levant. The project will develop guidance on internationalisation opportunities in the Levant, for the benefit of internationalisation strategies of EU universities, and on understanding Levantine educations systems and qualifications (in particular qualification and credit frameworks, with a view to making the connections between them and EU tools such as the EQF and ECTS clear and transparent) so that EU universities can better integrate students from the region into the EU education system. The results will be available digitally, in the form of an online toolkit, enabling widespread access by EU HEIs. The expected impacts of the project will be both short-term and longer-term, including an increased awareness by European HEIs of the opportunities for internationalisation and partnerships between Europe and the Levant, and increased understanding of the education systems and qualifications in the Levant by European HEIs. This thereby supports HEIs internationalisation strategies and improves the smooth functioning of admissions processes when accepting applicants from the region. Longer-term impacts will include improved transparency of qualifications, and a greater ability for learners to be mobile between Europe and the Levant through an improved understanding of the respective systems. The links formed in the project will also support the longer-term impact of increased partnerships and activities between the Levant and Europe, enabling European HEIs to achieve their internationalisation strategies.

"The ""European Solutions in Quality Assurance - ESQA"" project will be carried out by a partnership of 4 institutions from Poland, UK, Estonia and Slovenia. It is focused on exchange of experience and information on quality assurance in partner countries in order to create the catalogue of good practice supporting VET schools and their supervising bodies as well as policy makers in performing their tasks connected with quality assurance. The project results should show them what a positive impact effective quality assurance mechanism and tools may have on schools, their students and the school surroundings, enrich their portfolio of quality assurance and evaluation tools and encourage to use them.The project is addressed to VET school headmasters and teachers who are responsible for school quality assurance and internal evaluation as well as the representatives of bodies supervising and running VET schools. Policy and decision makers will also be the target group of the project dissemination activities with the hope that the project results will help them to plan further development of existing systems of quality assurance.The project will consist of five main activities :Activity 1 : Analysis of quality assurance systems and mechanisms in partner countries and comparative analysis – in the form of 4 national reports on Quality Assurance Systems and Mechanisms and one Comparative Report on Quality Assurance in the Partner CountriesActivity 2 –Sharing information and experience on good practices in quality assurance in partner countries – including 4 5-day study visits and collecting examples of good practice in quality assurance at the VET school level in the partner countries.Activity 4- Dissemination of the project resultsActivity 5 – Partners’ meetingsActivity 6 – Management and implementationThe main results of the project that will be used also after the project finishes include:-National Reports on Quality Assurance Systems and Mechanisms – the reports will be prepared by each partners according to commonly agreed structure. -Comparative Report on Quality Assurance in the Partner Countries – It will be based on the National Reports, it will compare the systems, mechanisms, methods and tools used in the countries of organisations participating in the project. -. Good Practice Catalogue- The database presenting examples of good practice in quality assurance at the VET school level in the partner countries, with description of methods and tools used.-principles for the ""School caring for quality"" competition for VET schools and providers.The project leader will assure the evaluation of the project and its results, budget monitoring and control, and monitoring of the indicatiors for achieving project goals and results."

Europe is experiencing a rising wave of unemployment. As a result, a greater emphasis is being placed on the development of VET to meet industry needs, so learners can access and gain qualifications in their chosen vocations that are trusted and recognised both within their own and other EU countries, thereby supporting labour mobility. The European VET system must be capable of providing learners the knowledge and skills needed to become productive and valued members of the European workforce within their chosen sector. Implicit within this challenge is the need for effective employer involvement in the design and development of VET. This will ensure that VET is “fit for purpose”, future proof and addresses the technical, green and digital skills relevant to employers, as defined by each industry sector through its representatives. The project “Employer Engagement in Design and Development of VET (ED2-VET)” therefore set out to investigate the factors that determine the extent and impact of employer involvement in VET design and identify good practices for sharing. The project resulted in tangible outputs that have been disseminated to support relevant organisations and individuals, leading to improvements to employer-led VET development within the EU. Project outputs comprise an evaluative report on employer involvement in VET design and development, including the influence of nationality, the nature of each sector and company type and size. Any issues to be resolved, as well as benefits and successes, have furthermore been identified, analysed and presented. An online portfolio of good practices has also been published, which includes 18 case studies, based on questionnaires and interviews with stakeholders. This portfolio was designed to present transferable models of good practice and includes tips for employer involvement in the design and development of sector-relevant VET programmes. The project, completed by the partners UK NARIC (ECCTIS Ltd), Pisces Learning Innovations, the Bulgarian Development Agency and DIMITRA, focused on the target groups of employers, and VET qualification / programme designers. In order to adequately provide a comprehensive set of results and address the complexity of the VET systems and the issues surrounding the possible contexts for employer involvements in VET development, the project followed a methodological approach incorporating staged data collection and analysis, developed from both primary and secondary sources, preceded by an initial research phase enabling the opportunity to frame the questions, definitions and other background information necessary for clear and consistent results. Interviews with stakeholders, supplemented by short-term joint staff training in each partner country, ensured the best results were achieved. The approach enabled the elaboration of in-depth case studies for the online portfolio, highlighting tips for replicating these examples of good practice in other contexts. Final multiplier events ensured the project outcomes were shared with relevant bodies, including VET qualification designers, employers, employer associations and sector bodies, and policy-makers. Expected impacts, both short- and long-term, include improved engagement by employers in the process of designing and developing sector-relevant VET programmes in cooperation with qualification awarding bodies, ministries of education, and other educational sector organisations; improved understanding by all parties of the challenges to engaging with employers, and the possibilities for fostering improved cooperation and engagement; improved policy and regulation with regard to employer involvement in the qualification and programme development process; the development of new VET programmes which have been developed with employer and industry support and involvement. Ultimately, these improvements may lead to a reduction in skills mismatches, greater satisfaction among employers regarding the skills which VET learners have upon programme completion, and greater mobility for VET learners in Europe.

Open Badges are becoming the digital standard for recognising and communicating skills acquired through informal and non-formal learning. They are increasingly being explored for use within formal education, and by employers. They are particularly valuable for supporting transitions between learning and the world of work. This is because of the verified data they can convey, including the issuing organisation, links to evidence and learning standards - all linked to the individual's identity. The other advantage of Open Badges is their portability and visibility in an electronic world - they can be shared across various online platforms. The Certificate Supplement was designed to make vocational education and training qualifications more transparent both within, but particularly between, European member states. Whilst widely issued in some member states, it is less well known in others. The reasons for this vary and are dependent on each national context. In its standard form, the Certificate Supplement is a generic document, specific to the individual, but in some member states, the Certificate Supplement is an individualised supplement - essentially an enhanced transcript - that provides a record of what a student actually achieved. ESCO is a multilingual taxonomy for skills, competences, qualifications, and occupations and provides a common language for recording skills / learning outcomes required for particular occupations and qualifications. What these tools have in common is that they were designed to support the transition between learning (formal / non-formal / informal) and the world of work. ABECS aimed to combine the best attributes of electronic transcripts, the Certificate Supplement and ESCO and incorporate them in a modern, portable, verified, shareable, visible, electronic package - an Open Badge. The project piloted these badges in specific sectors across all the partner countries with carefully selected qualifications that provided proof of concept. The six partners involved in the project, deriving from five member states, were chosen for their knowledge and experience in various areas including Open Badges, digital student data and digital credentials, ESCO expertise, development of certificate banks and Certificate Supplement databases, electronic transcripts, individualised Certificate Supplements and curriculum development, to name a few. To achieve the project aim of developing enhanced electronic transcripts in the form of an individualised Certificate Supplement, using ESCO terminology and packaged as an Open Badge, the partners utilised a phased methodology to: - Select test qualifications for which occupational information already exists in ESCO and are offered across all partner member states - in particular, in sectors with high rates of international mobility. - Establish the content for the Open Badges by reviewing existing Certificate Supplement data (where available) and cross referencing to ESCO terminology and other occupational data - Develop / adapt / utilise an Open Badge issuing platform and establish how to populate the platform / badges with the credential content. - Develop guidance information for awarding institutions / organisations and learners to guide them through the issuance process and how to share the Badges once in receipt in order to optimise their visibility and use by employers as part of their recruitment - in particular, sharing them via online media. - Test methods for populating and issuing the Certificate Supplements as Open Badges - Reviewing the information included in the badge, translations into project partner languages and consistency of the learning outcomes. - Present the results of the pilot study in a report / presentation along with guidance for up-scaling the pilot across other qualifications, awarding institutions / bodies / sectors, member states, etc. - Disseminate these results to partner stakeholder networks and more widely using appropriate media. - Hold multiplier events to share the results / guidance to stakeholders and gather feedback. The aim of ABECS was to develop a workable model for issuing enhanced transcripts in the form of individualised Certificate Supplements using ESCO terminology, in multiple languages in an Open Badge format, and for those Open Badges to be shared and distributed to employers and other end users via online media such as LinkedIn. The longer term impact that the project intends to achieve is for the pilot to have demonstrated the feasibility of this model and therefore to see the process duplicated widely across Europe, hopefully including adoption by the European Commission into the new Europass portfolio. The consortium also hoped to raise awareness of the Certificate Supplement with employers and present the value of issuing such information in the form of an Open Badge, including better reputational assessments of candidates and access to a wider pool of talent.

"The ""VARE"" project aims to identify the requirements for assessment and assessors in vocational training programmes across the European Union to support the development of partnership working for the purposes of mobility in VET.At present, research has identified a lack of transparency in quality assurance in VET, especially in assessment and validation. Little attention has so far been paid to the roles and competences of people who carry out assessment, yet this can present barriers to recognition when crediting learning abroad. Understanding more about these issues would help to develop trust between education and training systems across Member States which in turn would help to underpin the transnational recognition of qualifications in general, and the implementation of ECVET for transnational mobility in specific. Focusing on IVET qualifications at EQF levels 3 and 4, the project would therefore seek to address the following questions:–Who carries out assessments for VET programmes and how? –To what extent are assessors required to hold specific qualifications, be members of a recognised profession, and be subject to regulation and meet specific standards of professional conduct?–What (occupational) standards, qualifications and learning outcomes exist for those who carry out assessments?–Are the requirements for assessors comparable between countries, and between parts of the vocational system within the same country? –Are there differences based on the type of system, the sector, or the country setting the requirements?The project will engage stakeholders involved in the assessment of VET, including further education colleges, VET colleges and appropriate regulatory authorities. The stakeholders will have the opportunity to report on the status quo regarding assessment and assessor requirements in their countries, it will also be possible for them to express their views concerning the current conditions and requirements, highlighting any issues and identifying the potential for improvement and change. The project outcomes are to include a comparative analysis of current requirements, as well as an online catalogue of the different member states' requirements with specific case studies highlighted to give examples of good practice. It is envisioned that the project results will lead to an enhanced understanding of assessor training and requirements in order to support increased mutual trust between VET systems. Ultimately, this should improve the standards of assessment in VET and the ability of competent bodies to validate and recognise assessment carried out outside the ‘home’ system and support the increased implementation of ECVET and mobility of VET learners in the EU."