‘Cultivating the Entrepreneurial mindset in Education’ is a key goal of the European policies in the last years, with a special emphasis in the 2014-2020 programming period, for coping with the severe consequences of the worst economical crisis met by the Europeans after the second world war.In today’s society, entrepreneurs are celebrated for creating successful businesses and leading the people out of the economical stagnation. On the other side, based on the cliché of the starving artist, parents discourage their kids from becoming artists in fear that they will end up struggling to support themselves.Buts artists and entrepreneurs have a lot in common: both are individualist and risk takers and both need to create. Nevertheless many artists fail at business, mainly because they don’t identify a viable market to fill. Creating art good art is difficult. But creating good art isn’t enough.According to several surveys, many artists say that learning how to make the best work is crucial, but being able to disseminate in an effective way is equally as important. They all highlight how they would have greatly benefitted from developing strategic plans for their career goals while learning how to market and promote their work. Likewise, art entrepreneurs wish they had had the opportunity to acquire additional knowledge and skills.Over the last years the so called creative and cultural industries have greatly increased, proving to be driving factors of economic growth and development even in countries suffering from high crisis.Thus the project main aims are:-to professionalize HE in PS, TN and UZ in a variety of knowledge-based creative fields focusing on three macro-areas (Music, Visual Arts, Performing Arts) and their interactions by providing the future artists with entrepreneurial and interdisciplinary skills - to prepare future artists in order to enhance in a more effective way their (self) employability and capacity to access the Creative Economy

Al-Istiqlal University as a specialized Higher Education Institution in training future officers for the different Homeland Security Departments is seeking to introduce the Virtual/Mixed- Reality Concept in the Topography and Forensics courses as an innovative approach to teach the student the different challenging technical concepts related to principle of navigation, terrain's topography, tracing and reading different maps describing the contours, interpret different keys when reading topographic maps, how to use compass in navigation , Extracting DNA from crime-scene evidences to perform PCR testing as an avant-guard training before using real expensive kits and samples in the future laboratory which is currently under construction at Al-Istiqlal University.Virtual reality is also used for training purposes especially in topics with a relative high risk and it can't be done inside the institution walls which includes flight and battlefield simulations, medical training under battlefield conditions, virtual boot camp and more. Moreover, the ability to introduce practical knowledge to the classroom without actually leaving it, makes educational experience invaluable. Rather than listening to lectures, students can put words underneath a headset and get a real experience but in a virtual wrapper.The project will explore both popular models used to implement the virtual reality concept : the first model using a common platform built around a 3D open world which will be shared by partners and offers a lot of possibilities to further development, while the second will be a laboratory-based approach using Head-Mounted Displays, haptic devices and some technological innovation like eye-tracking, and force feedback on peripherals .

One of the main goals for Jordan and Palestine territory (JO&PS) today is to assure the expansion of economic development to rural areas. Agriculture is considered one of the largest shares in employment and is economically important in JO&PS. The percentage of agricultural employment is about 13% in PS and therefore agriculture is a source of income, a food source, and a source of support for food security. JO is a food deficit country and is among the seven most vulnerable countries to the impact of high food prices. The sector is also affected by the scarcity of irrigation water and the overuse of groundwater. Due to the multiple challenges the two countries face, the consortium in this project with the aid of EU partners will establish 5 “AgroTec” centres in Universities of JO&PS and develop practical and innovative VET courses. These centres will promote cooperation between companies and VET institutions as well as create links between all stakeholders of the Agri-Food value chain. These centres will also assist in promoting the smart tools for enriching data through IoT sensor networks for soil-crop monitoring, processing, marketing and quality control. The curricula will be developed and the students will be acquainted with the new developments requiring new skills, not addressed in traditional curricula. The consortium is composed of 6 Universities and 2 business partners. The consortium involves Mutah University in more remote areas that have not received capacity building for VET support from the EU before. The output of the project will also be 12 new e-Learning modules corresponding to 6 new ICT solutions and 6 new agrarian trade and marketing courses. Out of these 12 courses, 4 will be conducted and tested in demo farms to demonstrate various smart farming and marketing techniques for research, training, and extension services. Special attention will be given to migrants from Palestine, Syria, and Iraq and to poor local farmers.

REACH aims to enhance cross border working opportunities for undergraduates in Palestine, starting by studying EU partner experience in creating jobs and then adapting these to local needs, as assessed by experts from EU in cooperation with PS partners. At the end of the first year, during the 2nd year, and in light of the specified benchmarks and needs identified in the first year, 16 field training materials will be developed (in print and using e-training and multimedia) to build prioritized capacities of human resources (26 selected managers and trainer specialists) and the infrastructure of Palestinian university careers centres. Upon completing training, the Palestinian trainees will offer cascade training to transfer the skills and competences gained to 300 selected graduates (highly motivated, and with good language skills). Infrastructures (5 cross-border Palestinian units: 4 in the West Bank and 1 in Gaza) will be established and developed, permitting a regional and international network able to support future cross border job opportunities for generations of Palestinian graduates. Feedback will be obtained from the graduates. REACH results and success stories in getting cross border jobs will be documented and distributed to other PHEIs and published internationally in two scholarly papers.

Freshman education across the country suffers from the absence of competency and skill-based instruction. There is no focus on life skills like problem identification, problem solving, planning and management of tasks, or proposing solutions to existing problems. The learners are provided with minimal opportunities for self-learning or outside classroom practice. Time efficient technology options and technology supported assessment are not utilized in large group instruction. The project will address a three-fold problem in the Palestinian higher education. It targets: a) the theoretically and content-based freshman instruction and assessment, b) the absence of formative assessment and self-directed learning at this transitional stage, and c) the lack or complete absence of technology supported assessment modules in large group instruction.The project utilizes technology to offer a wide range of options for providing teachers with timely feedback on learner achievements and engaging learners in peer and self- self-regulated learning and practice. Therefore, this project has used available technology options to provide timely feedback for learners and teachers in the context of massive education so improvement and adjustment strategies can be implemented on time. The outcome-based assessment in freshman education and adopting technology supported self-directed learning activities helped mitigate the negative impacts the traditional lecture-based instruction and exam-based assessment may have on the quality of freshman education in Higher education institutions country wide. The data collected from student beneficiaries showed important progress on four key levels: learner skills, learning methodologies, assessment methods and the use of technology. This modernization of learning and assessment methods was implemented in order to: • allow for time-efficient assessment and feedback practices • provide learners with self-learning opportunities • engage learners in giving feedback to their own peers• improving the quality of interaction in large group instructions• develop innovative technology supported classroom assessment techniques• create better match between freshman skills and market requirements in professional degree programs• provide timely feedback and satisfaction rate on large group instruction.Integrate higher order skills in the first year education courses.Create policies at national level to enhance the ecosystem for modernizing learning and assessment.disseminate good practice inside institution and at national level.To provide the necessary ecosystem for modernizing assessment practices in Palestine, the project team prepared and implemented 10 first year courses using competency based learning models, integrated modern learning methodologies and assessment options in the developed learning and assessment policies, and built capacity in Palestine for using technology to support large enrollment education.