The transformation of the higher education institutions submitting this project has been initiated in the past decade by the process of digitization and has been sped up this year by the switch to online teaching and learning dictated by national lock-downs. On the one hand, Covid-19 has disturbed educational processes and has emphasized the need for opportunities for distance and independent learning, teaching and assessment. This need is even more explicit in higher education where students are not necessarily living in the proximity of their educational institutions, are not always having the (advanced) infrastructure and tools needed to study independently from their home, and are in certain cases juggling with multiple responsibilities such as employment or family. On the other hand, the increasingly challenging labor market, with the rapid creation and disappearance of jobs and the shift of control to employers due to growing unemployment, makes students more uncertain of their future and creates a demand for evolving, efficient and innovative educational methods. Trends, in particular in Information Technology subjects which traditionally develop practical and applied knowledge, indicate a need for an increased focus on performance and outcomes, and speed the demand for improved student centricity.The proposed project will consolidate the participating organizations' efforts to modernize their distance learning curricula and teaching methodology in the areas of cloud computing and machine learning by adopting a student-led approach to teaching. These are areas of rapid technological development which affect the global labor market and require continuous incremental innovation in university curricula. A student-led approach to teaching will ensure that lectures and curricula are dynamically and regularly revised and updated, and that a more cognitive and analytical methodology is applied to learning. Additionally, the IT labor market is highly internationalized with trends being driven by international corporations which are frequently running their own training academies. This necessitates the adoption of a transnational approach to formal education as well. Specifically, the following activities will take place: a short-term joint training (summer school) for higher education faculty, development of a methodology for distance learning and teaching, development of 2 distance learning curricula in the areas of cloud computing and machine learning in the cloud, a pedagogical strategy for increasing female students' involvement with IT courses, development of 15 webinars on how to produce distance learning materials, 2 case studies, 2 sets of policy recommendations, and a series of multiplier events. Taken together, the project activities offer a comprehensive and inclusive approach to distance learning. All project outputs, in particular the methodology, distance learning curricula, webinars, policy recommendations, and case studies, have been designed to address the differences between classroom and online learning, and to enable independent and modular learning and assessment. The methods used for their implementation vary but the common ones across all activities are peer collaboration and reviews, learning by doing, qualitative research and analysis, case studies, and gamification.The project will include 25 professors and postgraduate teaching assistants from 5 higher education institutions across Europe (5 educators x 5 institutions). A second target group are 100 bachelor-level students (minimum 20 of whom are girls) who will complete one of the two developed intensive distance learning courses in the cloud (10 students x 2 courses x 5 institutions). 5 young people from the NEET group who are from low income families will be also enabled to complete the intensive courses. The expected benefits of the project can be divided in short and long-term. In the short term, the project will increase educational staff's resilience & knowledge and will better prepare them for creating distance learning materials and assessments and carrying out courses in the cloud. Students will receive concrete practical knowledge which is valued on the labor market and increase their chances to find employment or contract work. They will be enabled to complete course work from their homes at their own pace. Female students will receive support in the form of teachers who are better aware of the pedagogical tools available to work with them, and learning materials which are adjusted to their styles of learning. In the longer run, the project will lead to the introduction of a new model of learning at the higher education institutions members of the consortium. The 2 initial intensive courses could lead to the development of additional ones, and such a model of flexible and inclusive learning open to everyone could contribute to a more sustainable local development by the activation of undermined human resource

BRIDGEGAP is a multidisciplinary research project reuniting former members of the ANTICORRP consortium (Transparency International, ERCAS/SAR, CSD, University of PISA, University of Perugia) who have continued to invest in the development of data commons allowing corruption understanding and monitoring on the basis of objective data (e.g. Integrity Watch, Index for Public Integrity, T-Index, Russian Economic Footprint), with new academic partners who published novel methods to measure money-laundering (Utrecht University) anthropologists and criminologists who pioneered corruption studies in liberal democracies (IFFS), and new IT groups like the Ukrainian organisation YouControl, the first to interconnect data to enable searches of the assets of sanctioned individuals through its algorithm Follow the Money. BRIDGEGAP fills the knowledge gaps regarding both the extent to and the mechanisms by which corruption infiltrates open societies even across borders and it produces measurements of corruption across countries and time by its innovative models, as well as social network maps. It also assesses and offers solutions to the digital transparency gaps, ranging from the tools of transparency, the use and abuse of technology in corruption and anticorruption to the state of it. Finally, it assesses public accountability and anticorruption regulation across EUMS and candidate states to identify regulatory and impact gaps, thus addressing the academia–policy gap in corruption studies. The research will result in academic publications as well as in interactive analytical and research commons like comparative law repositories EU Compass, European Transparency Index, Follow the Money search engines across newly interconnected databases. All its pooled data will be displayed transparently on the website as a Data Hub and will offer end users the same investigation and analytical tools as the project researchers, inviting crowd-sourcing and offering online tutorials.

BackgroundMobility is part of the flexibility considered important for the European labour force. Learning mobility, that is transnational mobility for the purpose of acquiring new skills, is one of the fundamental ways through which individuals, particularly young people, can strengthen their future employability as well as their personal development (European Commission 2009).The success of the placements abroad depends a lot on the extent to which the trainee gets in contact with the lifestyle, mindset and habits of the hosting country. In this process that is both personal and intercultural for trainees, the role of hosting organisations is central. SMEs represent the trainee’s “practical handbook” in the world of work and also for the country’s identity and environment (economic, social and cultural). Inadequate preparation of the hosting organization may result in entrenched negative stereotypes and a higher dose of ethnocentricism. The InterMobil project will seek to address the neglected topic of intercultural training of mobility hosting organization (especially SMEs). Project aim and objectivesThe overall aim of the InterMobil project is to create a more favourable environment for youth exchanges and mobility programmes in the field of VET and Labour Market placements.The project stipulates several specific objectives in order to achieve its overall aim:~ To develop an efficient intercultural training in view of the challenges youth mobility faces from the practice, training, research and employer’s perspectives;~ To remove the obstacles to successful youth mobility due to intercultural differences and misunderstanding;~ To strengthen the position of intercultural competences in EU youth mobilities programmes as tool to maximize the benefits of the mobility;~ To contribute to the increase of EU mobilities through raising the awareness and promoting the benefits for the hosting companiesTarget groupsThe target groups that the project addresses represent the various actors involved in the implementation of EU mobilities. On the one hand there are SMEs and similar organizations hosting mobilities, intermediaries facilitating EU mobilities and EU mobilities sending organizations. In other words the three sides of the process will be approached, their viewpoints considered and their observations and recommendations will be embedded in the learning materials. The aim is that each of these three types of actors is satisfied with the final products and sees value in adopting the materials for building intercultural competence. Knowing that all involved possess the necessary intercultural competence will bring more trust in their partnership and will facilitate cooperation. All these actors will be involved at different stages of InterMobil implementation – in the research phase, focus groups discussions, prototype workshops and small-scale events organized by the partners. Thus all of them will be given a voice and a chance to contribute to the development of the products. Expected outcomesThe project will result in three intellectual outputs:~ Learning content on intercultural competence – partners will apply a culture general approach, which is not focusing on specific cultures but on developing intercultural competences, which can be used in any environment. The learning content will cover topics such as: Cultural theories, Culture shock, Intercultural communication – language, Conflict management and de-escalation, Intercultural communication – paralanguage, Specifics of intercultural counselling, Practical student needs – the exchange student world, Host country culture and other.~ Handbook for SMEs – this product will be a short focused methodological document which will guide SMEs how to use the materials. It will present at a glance look on the learning materials and will also function as a teaser to read the full content.~ InterMobil project website – it will comprise all developed learning materials, the Handbook for SMEs, useful links to other projects or sites with similar content, the literature review carried out in the first months of the project will be also uploaded for further reference. The access to the materials on the website will be free of charge and registration won’t be required.