The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted daily lives for millions of young people in Europe and worldwide. Health and well-being problems, social distancing, barriers to access education had a great impact on young people. Exposure of digital technologies and creativity can play an important role to mitigate mentioned negative effects of the crisis on youth. By improving young people digital skills and teaching how to apply acquired digital knowledge to be creative could open windows for new opportunities. Knowledge of how to use different application or digital tools may encourage youth to develop digital creativity, produce digital creations and address the problems of the future.As the Digital Education Action Plan (2021-2027) outlines digital skills are essential so that everyone can take part in society and contribute to economic and social progress in the digital era. One of the strategic priorities is enhancement of digital skills and competences for the digital transformation including girls and young women are equally represented in digital studies and careers. However, while more people are digitally skilled and connected, still few women choose to participate beyond the basic level of digital interaction and rather stay the passive consumers of digital content created by others. According to statistics, in EU in 2019, women made up only a bit more than a third of scientists and engineers in the EU-28. According to the study Women in the Digital Age, the share of women graduates in the STEM industry stands at 13.1 per 1,000 graduates aged 20 to 29 in the EU. At this point, there remains a particular concern that girls lack the aspirations to position themselves as potential creators of digital technology and it is clearly evident at secondary school. A study commissioned by the EC Survey of Schools: ICT in Education (2019) outlines that more than 4 out of 5 female European students attending secondary schools never or almost never engage in coding at school or after school activities. According statistics provided by the Government Strategic Analysis Center in Lithuania in 2018, percentage of girls who choose STEM studies after graduating school is about 9 percent every year. In high school, for example, 40 percent of girls believe that jobs requiring coding are “not for them”.In the light of abovementioned figures and wrong assumptions association Rural Internet Access Points together with partner organizations from Lithuania, Greece, Slovenia and Portugal initiates a project Empower Girls’ Creativity Through Use of Digital Technologies (SparkDigiGirls). The aim of this initiative is encouraging girls aged from 15 years old to explore digital technologies such as AR, VR, AI, IoT and come up with new and exciting ideas by utilizing their newly acquired digital knowledge to chart the waters of the male-dominated STEM industry with fresh, different and creative viewpoints.The proposal seeks to fulfill specific objectives: 1) reduce girls’ concerns and demystify existing stereotypes about computer science and technology; 2) increase of digital literacy skills for girls to open new and unforeseen possibilities for creativity, participation of girls in the digital world; 3) empower youth workers as mentors to pursue girls creativity through usage of digital applications and increase attractiveness of digital sector among girls.The objectives of the proposal are organized in following elements:1.To complete a twofold analysis of ways how innovative and new technologies may develop creativity of girls (IO1);2.To develop a curriculum which meeting girls' needs and leads to improvement and increase of their creativity through usage of innovative applications/digital tools (IO2);1.To develop online programme focused on use practical experiential learning model and real life tasks that will allow girls to explore technologies and come up with new and exciting ideas and solutions for given problems. (IO3);2.To implement digital female role model campaign (IO4);3.To prepare guidebook empower youth workers as mentors to pursue girls’ creativity through usage of digital applications (IO5).The main target groups that will be impacted by the project:•200 girls age from 15 who wish to develop their creativity by using digital technologies (including girls with lower opportunities like living in re(including girls with lower opportunities like living in remote areas, migrant girls, from families at risk, etc.).•40 youth workers from formal and non - formal youth education institutions.

"ICT is among the leading sectors in Europe making an increasingly important contribution to the economic growth and jobs creation in advanced economies. Despite of that according E-skill in Europe Report (2014) the shortage of ICT specialists is increasing. The demand for them is expected to increase in the next few years. Some school-graduates who might be interested in ICT studies in the future do not study subjects related to ICT, choosing a different specialization at school. Those who finish ICT studies have a decent qualification, which, however, should be more proficient. High schools and universities provide students with only basic ICT knowledge. If students want to work with a specific ICT, they must additionally study in centers of competence development. To this end, structural changes in ICT departments demand a new approach to the ICT education. As stated in the recent Report of the European Commission (EC) – Science Education for Responsible Citizenship, knowledge of and about science are integral to preparing our population to be actively engaged and responsible citizens, creative and innovative, able to work collaboratively and fully aware of and conversant with the complex challenges facing society. Nowadays entrepreneurs are considered as a possible solution to rising unemployment rates and as a recipe for economic prosperity. It is widely argued, what teaching methods should be used to teach economical disciplines and entrepreneurial skills. Research shows that in Europe, traditional methods tend to be relied on, while other researchers try to use more technology-based training methods, including economic simulation games. Many researchers recognize economic simulation games as effective tool to develop skills and form competences.Introducing Fuse IT (Future competences pathways for marketing and ICT education) project addresses the education and labor market requirements for professional skills and knowledge for students and graduates in university (including life-long learning activities). The project will analyze, design, develop and implement an up-to-date curriculum, e-learning materials, blended learning environment, ICT knowledge and skills self-evaluation and certification system simulations.The main intellectual outputs are related to marketing and future competencies and they will include: 1. Guidelines and study analysis in Higher education2. Curriculum development and localization 3. E-learning material in separate parts for different subjects (specialization)4. Simulations for education 5. Self-evaluation with certification testing 6. Methodological guidelinesThere are 2 level of beneficiaries which will be impacted by the project. The primary target group includes: 1. Students at university 2. Educators, university staff, adult education centers etc.3. Business sector (employer and employee)This target group will benefit from the project by participating in training and certification, which will improve their knowledge and competencies in the labor market. Educators and university staff are responsible for skills upgrade and raising of qualification.The secondary target group are universities which could use project results and implement updated marketing study program and/or implement separate parts of marketing in ICT studies. How to implement project results and other useful information will be described in the methodological guidelines for implementation for implementation marketing module.The project partners were selected according to their experience in marketing and ICT. Fuse IT project coordinator is Vilnius University (Lithuania) and 4 partners:• Information Systems Management Institute, ISMA University (Latvia)• University Politehnica of Bucharest (Romania)• Public institution ""Information Technologies Institute"" (Lithuania)• Instituto Politecnico de Tomar (Portugal)All learning products will be tested by and improved after analysis of pilot studies/training and testing in Lithuania, Portugal, Romania and Latvia.All learning products will be presented to national higher education institutions, and encouraged to use in ICT and marketing curricula. Guidelines will support their implementation. EN versions will be used for dissemination in other European countries for further localization base."

"The closure of educational establishments was one of the measures that a large number of countries had to take to limit the spread of COVID-19. During this confinement, educational institutions had to adapt to respond to the challenge of distance learning that the closure of educational institutions brought. Many efforts have been made to face the situation, some have handled better, others worse. There was a need for an aging teacher population to make an enormous effort to adapt to this ""new normal"". All partners involved in this project, as well as others with whom contacts were established, unanimously concluded that the majority of teachers and students were not prepared for the challenge. A very important finding is that the families most in need were the ones who suffered most from the situation, either because students had difficulty accessing online education due to the lack of material needed for this, or because the normal low literacy of these families did not allow parents and guardians to help their students more effectively.Currently, COVID is far from being resolved, with the whole of Europe and the rest of the world receiving a second wave of this disease. At the moment it is not known whether there will be more confinements, but the certainty that many will have to stay at home for having contracted the disease, with just one student in the class contracting the disease so that everyone has to be quarantined at home for what should be done. a huge investment in non-classroom teaching, and that it is fair, bringing equal opportunities to all those involved.The choice of these priorities is in line with the ten recommendations established by UNESCO:1. Analyze the state of preparation and choose the most suitable tools2. Ensure the inclusive nature of distance learning programs3. Protect data confidentiality and security4. Implement solutions to psychosocial problems before teaching5. Planning the development of distance learning programs6. Assist teachers and students in the use of digital tools7. Combine appropriate approaches and limit the number of applications and platforms8. Establish rules for distance learning and monitor the students' learning process9. Define the duration of distance learning units according to students' self-regulation skills10. Create communities and promote social cohesionAlthough it is considered that a very good response was given in the face of a situation never before experienced, it was concluded in the preparation of this school year that it would have to be approached in a completely new way. In conversation with our partners it was found that the feeling was the same. Everyone gave the best but everyone also considered that more could have been done or differently.The main objective of the project is to develop quality distance learning that allows all students equal learning.Thus, the main objectives are:- Develop ICT skills in teachers / students.- Implement measures to ensure that students, particularly those with disabilities or from families with poor resources, have access to distance learning programs.- Assess the level of security when downloading data or educational resources from the Web spaces and transferring them to other organizations or individuals.- Ensure that the use of applications and platforms does not compromise the confidentiality of student data.- Ensure that students / teachers access the Internet safely.- Establish a strong link between schools, parents, teachers and students, in order to quickly resolve any problems.- Choose the most suitable software to be used, avoiding a too wide range of them that imply a lot of training and overload on students / teachers.- Define clear rules for the functioning of distance learning.- Create communities of teachers, parents and school principals in order to minimize students' loneliness / anguish and to facilitate the sharing of experiences.- Promote equality and social cohesion, discovering and exchanging good practices from partner schools.TARGET GROUPSDIRECTIN SHORT TIME• European schools in partner countries: All students, their families, teachers and educational staff from those schools who will benefit from the activities to be implemented.MEDIUM TERM• All European / world schools that want to take advantage of the results of the project. The dissemination will be global."

About 200 countries including EU members decided to increase the usage renewable energy sources to fight with the global warming in the Paris Agreement. EU Member States have agreed to ensure that 27% of the energy consumed by the EU is obtained from renewable sources till 2030. Besides The EU aims to reduce the greenhouse gases by 80 to 90% by 2050 compared to 1990. These decisions increase the consumption of renewable energy and together with this, the researches, knowledge, production, employment, qualifications and education systems are changing and growing. In parallel of EU energy and climate goals, PowerUp MyHouse project aims to increase the knowledge and awareness in general about solar energy applications and in particular about Photovoltaic Thermal (PV/T) technology which is one of the excited application since is able to produce hot water and electric at the same time with less load to the building structure. PV/T technology is known and used in high level in relatively well developed EU countries in renewable energy but it is in early steps in other EU countries and the developments show us that the technology will be used in wide level in close future and it must be at the end. The project aims to investigate the PV/T from all sides. The best technological applications, manufacturing, installation, measures, calculations, legislation, incentives, supports, qualifications, experiments and vocational education related with PV/T is the subject of the project. All these will be resulted in the project as;- PVT Technologies Research aims to present the latest researches done in and out of EU related with PV/T technologies. The examples, experiments, products, researches are the topic of this report.- Legal face of PV/T aims to present legal arrangements on PV/T done in well-developed countries such as legislation and incentives. - Guidebook: The project would like to test PV/T system on a sample building with different design and climate conditions for nearly one year. The experiment will strengthen the scientific knowledge in the subject and the results will be shared with the researchers, scientists, training institutions and labor market. - Learning module on PV/T is totally innovative for the vocational training students in renewable energy. The labor market is needed to have qualified staff which could respond the sectoral developments. The training module will increase the knowledge and skills of the vocational training students and their teachers. Another activities of the project are short-term joint staff trainings. The scientists, lecturers, teachers and trainers will come together in Sweden and Denmark and will get a training related with PV/T technology. The results of the activities will strengthen the quality and content of the outputs and besides, will increase the knowledge and skills on the subject. The project also aims to increase the awareness and knowledge about renewable energy and PV/T on public and stakeholders. In parallel of this aim; four multiplier events will be organized in Turkey, Lithuania and Portugal. The decision/ policy makers, labor market, NGOs, training organizations, universities and R&D departments will be invited to these events. The project aims to reach different target group in different levels; - Renewable energy students will have training module on PV/T and will develop their vocational skills and knowledge which will improve their employment rate and conditions. - Renewable energy teachers and trainers will improve their knowledge and skills on PV/T and will have a training module to use in their current training programmes. - Scientists/researchers' knowledge about PV/T will be increased. They will have more extended scientific knowledge about PV/T. They could do research and R&D works on the subject and to share with their equals in their presentations or/and publications. - Labor market/decision-policy makers-NGOs (organizations and people) will have much extended information about PV/T and will develop their current applications’ quality and content. The project will be realized by the collaboration of 5 universities from Turkey, Sweden, Denmark, Lithuania and Portugal, one NGO from Turkey, one SME from Sweden and one vocational technical high school from Turkey in two years. All results will be open to free usage of the target group and final consumers on the website of the projec

"The project ""Future-Oriented chEmiSTry"" (FOREST) is aimed at enhancing employability of chemistry graduates and quality of chemistry education at RU and VN HEIs through introducing an interdisciplinary Master’s programs in line with the Bologna provisions. The specific project objectives are: To develop new interdisciplinary high-quality multi-track Master’s program in Future-oriented chemistry in line with Bologna provisions and while adapting the EU best practice;• To upgrade the teaching staff skills in T• To set up centres of excellence in chemistry;To raise awareness of local communities of climate change mitigation techniques.The main project outputs are: Master’s program in Future-oriented chemistry delivered at 5 RU and VN HEIs; teachers possessing the-state-of-the art T&A methods; 5 centres of excellence set up at partner universities; pilot mobility schemes tested within the project; two summer schools conducted in partner countries, joint student projects in relevant fields. The Master’s program will have two tracks and will consist of 6 modules and Master thesis defence. The project objectives will be achieved through the implementation of six work packages. During the preparation phase, the main project policies and plans will be devised and analysis of key employers' needs conducted. During the development phase, main outputs are to be produced. Training of teachers will be done through the cascade model: first, the train the trainer program will be introduced for a small number of qualified teachers; then the trained trainers will transfer the skills to a wider circle of academics. The centres of excellence will serve as a link to partnerships with business partners and authorities, which will be involved in project activities as associated partners. All project outputs will be evaluated through peer reviews, business partners' evaluation reports, student and trainees' satisfaction survey. FOREST will provide dissemination of deliverables."