Teaching excellence if of primary importance for the learning environment in higher education. Thus, TEACHEX is a project conceived to contribute to the continuous professional development of academic staff by offering adequate support structures (Centers for Teaching Excellence)and innovative, high-quality, flexible programs designed to promote better teaching and therefore enhanced learning as well. Other specific goals of the project are:1. To improve quality of education by contributing to university management in accordance with academic staff needs, connecting personal and civic fulfilment with the ‘transferable skills required for a rapidly changing world. 2. To develop and deliver training materials and follow up activities for staff working at CTEs. 3. To create support structures in CTEs that outline conditions for project sustainability 4. To produce benchmark tools for teaching excellence that serve as medium and long term analysis. 5. To disseminate the European experience in teacher training and preparation of documents necessary for enhancing the interaction between the CTEs and other educational key stakeholders in IL.The main outputs and outcomes areTo place sustainable structures for academic professional development in function of academic staff an student needs, connecting personal and civic fulfilment with the ‘transferable skills required for a rapidly changing world To develop and deliver training materials for professional development including elearning and active education in IL To evaluate the impact of training and use of materials in relationships between continuing education, academic and student groups through the piloting of professional courses To create a digital repository with open educational resources of easy access to allTo disseminate outcomes broadly in IL (ie website, newsletters, media) and internationally To create informal networks through a social media app generating conditions for sustainability

In recent decades, social economy has been making a significant contribution to employment creation, sustainable growth and a more egalitarian income and wealth distribution. HEIs have a role to play in providing educational content aimed at strengthening social entrepreneurial capacity in their countries. SILICE created a systemic approach that incorporates social entrepreneurship modules within study programs at IL and IN. The HEIs have a positive impact on the above-mentioned issues through innovative methods of teaching and problem-based learning. SILICE also tackles cross-cutting issues like gender balance and equal opportunities for women and promotes connectivity between HIEs and their surrounding regions to develop entrepreneurship and employment. The means was the establishment of SINNOLABs – educational innovation centers for the development of business and creative thinking and search for solutions for social and environmental problems. 9 hubs were established as part of the project: 5 in IL and 4 in IN. The hubs were modeled on the best practice shared by the European partners. The hubs are located inside the academic campuses, but they also serve the residents in neighboring communities. The hubs are operated by senior faculty members in the academic institutions – which guarantee their long-term survival. During the first half of the project – the first 18 months – the teams focused mainly on learning and developing knowledge concerning creative thinking, creative solutions to social and environmental problems, project creation and organization and partners’ recruitment. The second half of the project focused on establishing the SINNOLABs and operating them, as well as intensifying the regional connections with local and national institutions that can guarantee the project’s sustainability. Hence, connections were formed with additional hubs, the public sector, banks and financial companies for regional development. The SINNOLAB management in each institution formed connections with various stakeholders such as government agencies, regional municipalities and NGOs. By doing so, the hubs intensified the partnership of academic institutions with their surroundings, strengthened, and broadened their positions inside the HIEs. Contracts were signed to ensure long-term collaboration between the institutions themselves and stakeholders. SILICE’s significant contributions are: 1. Educational – the HIEs understood the meaning of introducing motives of creative thinking, innovation and entrepreneurship and creative problem solving as a method that can develop the students and help them become socially engaged financially independent citizens. These elements were introduced to the curricula of all students; 2. Promoting underprivileged populations – unemployed, rural populations, minorities, undereducated women, and helping them to adopt thinking patterns and practical tools that can increase their household income and support their financial and social mobilization; by creating social projects with the potential of becoming successful business owners and offering jobs for them and for others; 3. The project served as a focal point for all social innovation and business entrepreneurship in each HEI. The digital platform established by the partners is an open source database that offers syllabi, lesson plans and trainings, as well as presentations that were developed over the duration of the project. Each HEI brought its own experts and we created a pool of experts who are waiting to be approached by students and the public. This database is used by all partners and is open to other HEIs and the public. By this, SILICE contributes to the spreading of the knowledge, methods and tools that were developed in the project. This platform is currently used in HEIs across IL, IN and Europe, and these networks will allow the website to remain relevant after the project ends.

Ever since the European Researchers' Night project initiated, our consortium used it to strengthen ties between the academic community and the public at large, bringing scientists to meet the public at eye-level. We are proud to say that along the years we have achieved that goal by running venues all over the country in both main cities and the periphery while partners also engaged the public by outreach activities at local pubs, cafes and community centers. Those achievements will continue to lead our way in 2018&2019 when running the ERN events countrywide by the leading academic institutions and the Ministry of Science, bringing scientists and the public to meet and celebrate science together.

Following previous TEN years of successful implementation of European Researchers' Night in Israel we will have: o Venues covering the whole country. o Involvement of the academic community including Israel Ministry of Science, Technology and Space (MOST), all major research universities, leading collages and three science museums. o Awareness campaign at national level managed and funded by the Israel Ministry of Science, Technology and Space. o Groups of junior-high and high-school students (ages 12-18) will be invited by each partner to take part in each venue. We are ready and proud to implement European Researchers' Night 2016 & 2017. • All of the partners involved in the project have the experience of running successful European Researchers' Nights events. • With the successive increase in number of visitors along the years and the reputation of the event we are expecting more than 55,000 visitors each year. • Same management as in 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 successful events. • Proposal covers both 2016 & 2017 European Researchers' Night events.

<< Background >>Most countries have experienced growing diversities in recent decades as a result of migration. In the five participating countries, Iceland, Norway, Crete/Greece, Spain and Israel, schools at all levels include diverse student groups as a result of migration as well as historical minorities. All school levels are facing complex challenges as well as opportunities in responding to growing diversities. In this context, many teachers claim that they lack training and high burnout rates are reported among teachers (OECD, 2018).While the four participating European countries; Iceland, Norway, Crete/Greece and Spain have experienced increasing immigration in recent decades resulting in the diversification of their populations, the fifth participating country; Israel has a long history of the coexistence of diverse populations which will benefit all partners in the project. In addition, the three Southern Mediterranean participating countries, Crete/Greece, Spain and Israel have experienced immigration and emigration, resulting in diaspora communities and experience with promoting heritage languages. The GatherED project addresses the needs for knowledge and training for teachers working in diverse multilingual contexts. It aims to enhance diversity competence and digital responsibility in teacher education (Arvanitas, 2008), particularly increasing knowledge and understanding of diversity and global education in multilingual and multicultural teacher education contexts. The overarching aim of the Global Teacher Education project is focusing on diversity and increased awareness of aspects related to global citizenship. Since the early 2000s the Council of Europe has advocated new approaches towards cultural and linguistic diversity which are based on the implementation of plurilingual and intercultural education (European Commission, 2018). Plurilingual and intercultural education is not a new methodology for language teaching but rather an overarching educational project which gives access to all pupils – especially those likely to encounter most difficulty at school – to equity and quality of education (Beacco et al. 2016). It has two aims: to facilitate the acquisition of linguistic and intercultural abilities and to promote personal development, so that individuals can realise their full potential: this involves ‘’encouraging them to respect and accept diversity of languages and cultures in a multilingual and multicultural society, and helping to make them aware of the extent of their own competences and development potential.’’ (Beacco et al. 2016:15). It is also considered as an important asset for any citizen as competence in more than one languages (even partial) and awareness and respect for diversity are key features in learning to live in a democratic society.These aims and competences are in line with the three dimensions of Global Citizenship Education (UNESCO, 2015, p.15), which are as follows:•cognitive: to acquire knowledge and understanding of local, national and global issues and the interconnectedness and interdependency of different countries and populations•socio-emotional: to have a sense of belonging to a common humanity, sharing values and responsibilities, empathy, solidarity and respect for differences and diversity•behavioural: to act affectively and responsibly at local, national and global levels for a more peaceful and sustainable world.The GatherED project builds on these dimensions in developing Open Education Resources to enhance diversity competence and digital responsibility in teacher education.<< Objectives >>The objectives of the project are to respond to the need for teacher competence for diversity, digital responsibility and global citizenship and to develop tools and methodologies to support teachers, including online training and toolkit. The project aims to increase teachers’ and student teachers’ competencies and expand, learning from experiences in the five participating countries.<< Implementation >>The project includes two workshops on developing teachers ́ competence for inclusion in diverse multilingual and multicultural educational contexts, Multiplier Events to pilot and disseminate these workshops to larger groups of student teachers and practicing teachers in all the participating countries, a toolkit for teachers and an online Edx course on sustainable global citizenship education.All partners will contribute and cooperate throughout the project through physical and online meetings, in the workshops, developing the workshops and in dissemination in the multiplier events. The general approach and methodology of the project will follow a socio-cultural view of learning (Hawkins, 2004) which focuses on engaging participants in critical, reflective practices in order to develop their agency as professionals.<< Results >>The main results expected during the project and on its completion are the development of Open Education Resources that can be implemented in teacher education in the five partner countries, on online open access EdX course as well as a toolkit for teachers. Target groups to be addressed are in-service teachers, pre-service teachers (student teachers) and in-service/practicing teachers. Research rightly points out that schools and teachers are very important to equalise and compensate for social differences in school achievements. Carrying out this project on diversity and global citizenship transnationally is essential for understanding the challenges and opportunities in teaching practices across the participating countries. Moreover, it will create opportunities to impact policies and curricula at local levels and the integration of global citizenship practices in teacher education and schools in order to increase teachers’ capacity to meet European requirements for competent youth and children. Teachers in the five participating countries have much in common. Although the five participating countries differ in terms of their histories and diversities, the five partner teacher education institutions all face the challenges of educating teachers for diversities. Each partner institution will have a strategic role in the project, sharing and building on their experiences of educating teachers for diversities. The benefits of including these five higher education institutions in this project will be that each institution contributes from their unique experiences to this project. In addition, the mobility of faculty members, as well as students as well as online participation will provide platforms for experiencing diversity in an international context. For example, Oranim College in Israel has a long experience of working with numerous minority groups and is constantly grappling with how it's diverse students and faculty members integrate as a community. The University of Oslo, the University of Iceland and the University of Crete have experiences of working with migrant and refugee populations, so that despite the linguistic, cultural and religious differences, the partner countries have much in common as well as much to learn from one another. The University of Granada (UGR) is participating with its campus in the city of Ceuta, which is a Spanish territory on the north coast of Africa, separated by the Spanish peninsula by the Gibraltar crossing. Consequently, Ceuta is one of the hotspots of irregular migration in Europe and the city itself is a multilingual, multicultural environment given its history and proximity to Morocco. Besides, the UGR has a long-standing tradition in multicultural and international exchanges, as well as postgraduate studies on diversity. This transnational project serves as a model for participants working in two continents – Africa, Asia and Europe. This project serves as a model for participants working in Asia and Europe.