Internet and the WWW is changing our lives: the way we communicate, work, shop, socialise, play and educate. Digital technologies also reshape traditional industries and totally transform the business environment. They speed up and improve the way new innovative products and services are produced and accessed. ICT is also changing the very nature of consumption, competition and how markets operate. Taking a closer look at the European market, it is mainly comprised of SMEs which represent 99.8% of Europe’s enterprises with the typical EU enterprise to be a microenterprise with less than 10 employees. With the aid of technology, nowadays SMEs can become global from day one, reaching overseas markets. E-business and social media platforms allow companies to improve their international market presence and reach potential clients all over the world. In this line, new business models have emerged that have enabled young prospective entrepreneurs to turn their business aspirations into business ventures. Nevertheless, and in spite of the rapid growth due to the digital potential, European SMEs still lag behind in terms of ‘digital revolution’: only 1.7% of EU enterprises take full profit of the digital opportunities. Put simply, European existing and prospective entrepreneurs still have a long way to go before they capitalize the gains the digital area offers in terms of new product design and/or new means of promotion. The identification of this skill and training gap is the outcome of a past research collaboration between the lead partner IME GSEVEE and the University of Patras partner.The Open up Entrepreneurship (OpEn) project fills this identified knowledge gap where existing and prospective entrepreneurs seek for business solutions into the digital technologies but lack the skills and capabilities to exploit the vast potential of e-business models in the global market. OpEn project aims at exploiting innovative practices and technological tools to design and develop multi-disciplinary reusable Open Educational Resources for cultivating entrepreneurial mindset and economic thinking in the digital world. It aspires to provide the basic principles of international entrepreneurship from the perspective of e-business in order to acquire the necessary skills, competencies and capabilities for the exploitation of the opportunities offered by the digital economy through the design and implementation of an open E-module and laboratory. Such an open material addresses a diverse set of user training needs taking into consideration the training needs of existing enterprises and young highly educated prospective entrepreneurs (i.e. students). The project partners will develop innovative common multi-language e-modules that will be applied and evaluated by the consortium's HEI and VET centers of social partners. However due to the open feature of the educational material, the related e-modules could be used to support young entrepreneurs throughout Europe.

"An increasing number of people today acquire qualifications in the field of higher education. Despite this educational expansion, many EU Member States sometimes have very high unemployment rates, also among young people with an academic qualification. At the same time, many companies in the EU are complaining about skilled labour shortage and about job applicants frequently not having suitable qualifications. To tackle these challenges effectively, education and training programmes need to be geared more strongly towards the specific qualification demands of companies. The educational reform steps taken in many Member States mainly focus on initial vocational education and training (IVET), however. In view of the far-reaching changes in the world of work due to globalisation and digitisation as well as increasing requirements made on employees, upskilling programmes should also be considered in the reform plans. To date the discourse in connection with higher qualification has been restricted to academic tertiary education. But hardly any discussions are held about vocational tertiary education – or higher VET. Here it would be necessary to establish higher VET as an equivalent supplement to academic tertiary education or enhance visibility of this sector, thus also providing qualifications of this sector with a higher degree of perception and appreciation. This is because a knowledge- and innovation-driven national economy needs both: graduates of study programmes with a focus on general education and an academic orientation as well as skilled workers who are highly qualified in their profession and guarantee the transfer of research findings to marketable products and services. One fundamental reason why higher VET has to date played a subordinate role in the educational policy discourse can be found in its heterogeneity. Academic tertiary education, which is perceived as being much more homogeneous, has a uniform qualification structure (bachelor, master, PhD) and common quality standards (i.e. Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance in the European Higher Education Area, ESG). In addition, academic qualifications are acquired at universities and other higher education institutions, which are generally known and which enjoy a high degree of prestige. All these “unifying elements” cannot be found in higher VET. Therefore no common understanding of higher VET has developed in many EU Member States, but also at the European level overall. The main aim of this project was to create more awareness of the significance of higher VET. In order to reach this aim it was necessary to increase the understanding of higher VET, show the charateristics of this sector and demonstrate how it works. This purpose is persued by the project's main product, i.e. the ""European Guidelines on Quality Assurance in Higher VET"", which are based on a precise definition of higher VET. The Guidelines also show which features are essential to assure the quality of this sector. On the one hand the Guidelines support players of higher VET in checking their own quality assurance measures and in improving them, if necessary; on the other hand they give all people outside higher VET an insight into this sector. Thus, the Guidelines contribute to a better understanding of higher VET and more appreciation of its qualifications.Five national organisations from AT, BE, FR, GE and GR with expertise in higher VET as well as a Eureopan organisation (UEAPME) worked together in this three-year-project to develop the products and raise more awareness of this subject matter by disseminating information about the projects and its deliverables. Methodologically the project was divided into four work phases: At the beginning the quality assurance mechanisms and systems of all partner countries were analysed on the basis of higher VET sample qualifications and later transnationally compared. This comparison formed the basis for the developement of the European Guidelines, which started in the second work phase. After a testing and dissemination phase in the third project stage the Guidelines were improved and presented during the final conference towards the end of the project. This conference also marked the launch of the ""European Network on Quality Assurance in Higher VET"", which is located at UEAPME and which should guarantee sustainability of the results also beyond the lifetime of this project. It is the aim to keep the subject of Higher VET on the educational policy agenda and to promote the use of the European Guidelines as well as develop them further."

Context/background of the projectFor several years the European Commission has stressed in each of its communiqués the importance of vocational education and training (VET) for the employability of (young) people as well as for the competitiveness and growth of the economy. In many countries strategies to foster VET focus, however, largely on initial VET. The project covers a wide range of European Life Long Learning objectives and priorities that are related to the core philosophy of Erasmus+:Contributing to Lifelong Learning:Apprenticeship is one of the key issues in Lifelong Learning and thus a flexible dual education system specialised for SME’s is going to be huge improvement. Not only from the perspective of education, but mainly from the perspective of individuals on the labour market: migrants, workers who want to improve their skills and/ or people who are looking for a (new) job.Contribute to the development of quality lifelong learning and to promote high performance, innovation and a European dimension in systems and practices in the field:The development of an innovative flexible certificated standard of apprenticeship system under European cooperation is going to set the foundations for the development of high quality apprenticeship systems. Additionally, project's results and dissemination activities will promote the development of common European and national policies related to apprenticeship and will enhance attractiveness of VET and Life Long Learning at European level.Lack of apprenticeship certification discourages young people to become apprentices. Additionally, lack of regulation framework discourages firms to benefit from apprenticeship programs. An innovative flexible certificated standard of apprenticeship system will improve the quality, accessibility and attractiveness for VET and lifelong learning opportunitiesSupport improvements in quality and innovation in vocational education and training systems, institutions and practicesThe project concerns an innovative apprenticeship system with improved quality due to its involving all interested parties .To enhance the attractiveness of vocational education and training and mobility for employers and individuals and to facilitate the mobility of working traineesAn innovative apprenticeship system integrating work-based and school-based learning promotes the mobility of employers, individuals and working trainees.Sector Skills AlliancesThe project will bring together bodies with metal construction companies' specific expertise in three complementary fields: the world of vocational education and training, the labour market, and VET policy makers with the help of a more flexible education system in order to identify skills needed by the energy sector and to integrate sectorial skills.Promoting equality between men and women and contributing to combating all forms of discrimination based on sex, racial or ethnic origin, religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientation

Ethnic diversity management and migrants’ integration in the labour force constitutes a major challenge for the EU. The increasing flow of TCNs (immigrants and refugees), which is rising due the recent refugee crisis, together with internal migration of EU citizens continues at a rapid pace. The resulting ethnic inequalities among a diverse workforce in the EU implies an immediate action. Considering that ethnic diversity is a complex issue to deal with, the role of social partners is deemed critical. Both trade unionists and employers’ organisations need to acquire specific skills and knowledge and be aware on inequalities, discrimination and inclusion process in order to meet their organizational needs and contribution towards handling ethnic diversity and promoting migrants’ integration at workplace level. Social partners need also to acquire conflict resolution skills, knowledge of the relevant legislation, and of good practices and policies. Against the above background, the principle objective of the project is to improve the skills, knowledge and competences of social partners in addressing ethnic diversity in EU SMEs. To this direction, other objectives of the project refer to the enhancement of the quality and relevance of learning, the strengthening of migrants' key competences to integrate into the labour market and society and the exchange of best practices.To achieve these goals, the project brings together a partnership network consisting of eight organisations from five EU countries: Cyprus, Denmark, France, Greece and Italy. Despite the different realities of migrants’ integration in each country and the complexity of social dialogue in regards to SMEs, a closer look reveals that the participant countries are found - if not in the same - in very similar situation to the reception of migrants. Considering the synthesis of the network, built based on their field of expertise, the project allows the interdisciplinary approach to the problem. Specifically, the partnership involves research and academic institutions (INEK-PEO, the University of Milan), migrants organisations (KISA, IRIV), social partners (INE/GSEE, IME/GSEVEE) and VET centres (ENAIP, VIFIN) that have long experience in national and community action, research activities, tripartite social dialogue and policy interventions. In the above context, the project partners have been selected by their experience and capacity but also due to their position in relation to the inflow of immigrants. Cyprus, Greece and Italy, are traditionally immigrants' reception countries currently encountered huge inflow of immigrants due to the recent refugee crisis. The capacities of the front-line countries need to be strengthened in terms of diversity and conflict management. Therefore, the knowledge of experienced countries in the field of ethnic diversity and conflict resolution is considered of great importance to the project’s objectives.The nature of the main activities of the project are research base and training activities. The ultimate purpose of the research activities was the provision of contextual framework directed to an improved understanding of ethnic diversity in SMEs of the participant countries; this framework was a source for the designing of the training and educative materials of the project. In this way, the findings of the research activities had an essential role to the formation of the core outputs the project. In relation to the training activities developed in the frame of the project, they contextually correspond to the different - and sometimes conflicting - interests and needs of the various target groups including: training for social partners, development of training material and other educational tools for both social partners and migrants. The main results/outputs emerged from the activities of MigrAID are: a) A comparative research report on migrants’ integration and ethnic diversity in SMEs in the respective countries, b) a training manual directed to migrant populations, c) a VET programme for social partners, d) a training curriculum for social partners, e) an ethnic diversity guide for SMEs, f) an Educational on-line Platform and g) a Conflict Resolution Simulator.