Rationale: Regionalisation versus globalisation. In all of the regions involved in this project, unemployment rates are high due to a variety of reasons. When one takes into account that small and medium sized companies (SME's) in the areas involved produce about half of the nation's economic output but account for approximately 20% of exports, a lot can be done. Most SME's in these regions are struggling to survive yet are extremely hesitant to look across borders when in fact the world is at their doorstep. Experts state that in a globalised world, SME's need to be able to confront an increasing competition from developed and emerging economies and to plug into the new market opportunities. There is a direct link between internationalisation and increased SME's performance. International activities reinforce growth, enhance competitiveness and support the long term sustainability of companies. In turn, companies indicate that there is a considerable gap between education and the labour market/industry. VET students lack hands on compentencies. As VET centres, it is our responsibility to take this to heart because we are able to change the mindset of our students to thinking globally and acting locally. After all, our students will be the next generation of entrepreneurs. Both of the above-mentioned issues need to be addressed and dealt with in close cooperation with all parties involved. This is why this project involves schools, companies and local government (also referred to as the triple helix principle). In this project the focus lies on two departments; the Economics department and Tourism department.Why transnationally?The strengths and opportunities from one area could be of use to the other regions involved. Hence, we would not only like the students to become more familiarised with the concept of globalisation but the companies and municipalities as well. Ergo, students will become more responsible, pro active and show more initiative. It will increase their chances to enter the labour martket, not only within this region but also internationally because they will have become more flexible/adaptable and fluent in English. Companies will receive feedback from the market reserach about the current needs of the market and this might help them to adapt their martket strategies on an regional/national/international level. The companies might obtain new international partners. The teachers will also benefit because it might lead to transfer of knowledge regarding education programmes, curriculum and foreign companies. The need for a more international view in the current economic climate is paramount in order to regain a healthy economic climate. Objectives and target groups:Ergo, this project is not solely a result of schools working together, the key to successful international entrepreneurship revolves around the participation and cooperation with local businesses/local government and organisations as the Chamber of Commerce, Export Clubs and other Business clubs ( Rotary). The municipalities of each of these towns have agreed to sign the Letter of Support in order to emphasize that they are adament to join forces. Several chambers of commerce and/ or business clubs have agreed to sign this Letter of Support as well. Because of the expertise of all these parties involved, the students will learn from existing companies and obtain valuable knowledge and skills. They will be exposed to the cultural differences and entrepreneurial skills by means of presentations of Chambers of Commerce. With this information students have to conduct an International Market Research that will result in identification of the needs of the local entrepreneurs, which could lead to import/export of products but also of ideas and knowledge. Please note that the Tourism students will research, map out and promote the recreational opportunities in the countries involved and this might boost local economies as well. Hence, all students will gain (international) insights, allow students to enter the labourmarket better. Each partner will set up case studies of good trade practice in their country to be shared across the group. The findings; its benefits and challenges will be explored and analysed and presented in a Business Plan.

The aim of this project was to develop evidence-based didactical material for financial literacy education for tertiary and secondary education levels and exchange best-practices. There was and remains a need for increased financial literacy education in view of widespread financial illiteracy and the benefits for individual well-being and society at large that are associated with high levels of financial literacy education. Although the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) policy recommendation to introduce financial literacy education at school is well accepted, there is still no consensus on the optimal way to implement financial literacy education at school. By developing innovative materials on financial literacy education, and testing these materials in tertiary and secondary schools, we provided evidence based tools to improve financial literacy education. In addition, based on the OECD recommendation country specific strategies were developed to increase the level on financial literacy education across Europe and worldwide. However, there was no exchange of best practices across countries or exchange of didactical materials. We aimed to change this by creating an open-source website and actively exchanging practices and didactical materials. The project involved 14 different partners from five European countries – Belgium, Estonia, Italy, Slovakia and the Netherlands. Taking a cross-sectoral approach, cooperation between these countries was proposed for the project, with universities, secondary schools and intermediary organisations dealing with financial literacy promotion participating from each country respectively. The project addressed students and lecturers at teaching colleges and universities, and teachers and students at secondary education. Moreover, we actively have foreseen networking opportunities between the organisations outside the educational institutions. That way the project guaranteed a high impact at different levels. Moreover, the consortium worked (in two different domains) on key competences for lifelong learning and contributed to the realisation of the Recommendation of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 December 2006. The consortium worked on six different intellectual outputs and organised three multiplier events. 1. Financial Literacy education 2018: descriptive and comparative analysisA comprehensive assessment and a comparative study was published, including the state-of-the-art related to financial literacy in the participating countries (for example: financial literacy in the training of teachers, in curricula and teaching resources for secondary schools) and complementing non-school initiatives in other educational institutions. 2. Curricular module 'Financial Literacy Education'The project partners developed a curriculum (module) on ‘Financial Literacy Education’. The aim of the module is to increase the level of financial literacy and help university students to make successful financial decisions. The curriculum covers aspects on making payments, loans, savings, and insurance. 3. Testing and transfer of the module 'Financial Literacy Education' in higher educationThe material, developed in output 2, was tested and evaluated. The implementation and evaluation took place in all participating tertiary education institutions in the second year of the project. 4. Didactical material on 'Financial Literacy Education' for secondary schoolsThe consortium developed didactical material for secondary schools. We found out which material in the participating countries already exist (output 1). Based on the results we developed new didactical material, which can be adopted to specific needs within a country. 5. Testing and transfer of the didactical material in secondary schoolsThe material, developed in output 4, was tested and evaluated in an experimental way. The implementation and evaluation took place in all participating secondary schools in the third year of the project. 6. Knowledge-PortalDuring the project a Knowledge-Portal was created. All developed content is integrated in this portal. In addition, the project partners linked the existing materials to this portal, which is also open to non-participating partners. An e-learning-portal, the project website, a news-portal etc. are part of the Knowledge-Portal.

"The project ""Fictitious Trading between the Czech and Slovak Schools"" was aimed at cooperation between students of both participating schools as a part of their school subject -the “Fictitious Company”. During two school years, students participated intensely in various business activities - concluding framework contracts, fictitious trading via e-mail and personal participation in fictitious fairs. Thanks to the cooperation of students from the two countries, the principles of international trade were practiced. A side effect of the international communication was the improvement of the students’ language skills. The direct participants of the project were the students of the 3rd and 4th year of the two business academies in the school years 2015-2017, the total of 210 pupils, of which the best 16 of each school were chosen for personal meetings. Indirectly, the project affected and influenced students of all years from both schools, and also the students who were involved in the teaching of fictitious companies within CEFIF organization, who were informed about the project directly at the exhibitions, on the websites of both schools, e-mails and at the promotion of the most successful company at the International Fair of Fictitious Companies in Prague. Some of the project's activities took place within the framework of electronic communication (videoconference, e-mail and social networking). The outputs of the project were questionnaires completed by students at the beginning and at the end of each school year, documentation of fictitious transactions carried out in compliance with the legislation of both countries, reports from personal meetings at fairs and annual reports of all participating companies. All this documentation will be accessible to students in the next school years, which will again improve learning and make it more attractive. The long-term effect on the students who were directly involved in the project is the improvement of their entrepreneurial and social skills, and the ability to decide independently and understand foreign trade issues, which will increase their chances in the job market after their graduation. Also, the teachers of the subject of the “Fictitious Company” can pass on the newly acquired experience and the established contacts of the foreign cooperation to the younger students. The long-term impact of the project is primarily bringing closer students and teachers from two European nations which have much in common linguistically, culturally and historically."

"The IES Eras de Renueva, coordinator of this Erasmus project has extensive experience in this field having organised multiple activitiesOur center participated, together with twenty-five other European schools from nineteen countries, in the sessions in which the document ""The European Charter for Democratic Schools without Violence"" was written, in Strasbourg in 2004, organised by the Council of Europe. The ""Peace Day"" has been celebrated every year, with literary, musical and artistic activities in which the protagonists have always been the students.Through this project, attempts have been made to raise awareness about the importance of Human Rights and democratic values ​​to promote tolerance and fight hate speech. It has been intended to favor social inclusion and the development of ICT skills. The objectives set were the following:Learn about democracy and human rights, learn through democracy and human rights and learn for democracy and human rights developing the critical skills necessary to participate in a democratic society.All partners have previously worked on this issue, trying to prepare their students for their future lives, encouraging them to discover their own identity and making them responsible European citizens.There is no doubt that cooperation and collaboration among students from different countries create the right space for human interaction.Regarding the activities carried out, six meetings were organised, four LTT meetings and two transnational meetings (TM) with the aim of organising the entire project. LTT meetings were held in Slovakia, Turkey, Italy and Spain, while TM meetings took place in Slovakia and Italy.A calendar was needed to sequence the planned activities for the two years of the project, which were the following:Creation of Erasmus teams of teachers and students.Websites, email accounts and social networks (whatsapp, Facebook, Instagram) to interact and disseminate project products.Information panel (Erasmus Wall) for activities.E Twinning project to work and share.Survey on Human Rights. It was passed to students, teachers, families and citizens. analysing them in each country. Collection of final resultsProject logo competition. Publication of finalists on Facebook and Twinspace. Voting through Google. The winning logo appears on all project documents.Triptych about the objectives of our project.Activities in different subjects to raise awareness about human rights. They were shared on eTwinning.Calendars (2018-2019) and Posters with Human Rights based design.International Women's Day: exhibitions, conferences and workshops.Presentations of the sociocultural context of each centre and on the specific topic of each mobility.Specific topics of each LTT:1 LTT: “Sociocultural reality of my region”2 LTT: “Violation of human rights”3 LTT: ""Rights of refugees and vulnerable groups"".4 LTT: ""Human rights through art"".Results and impact achievedParticipating in this project, students have developed their social and civic competences through active participation in the workshops and proposed activities on Human Rights and Democratic Values. All this has contributed to the development of the critical spirit and the ability to work in a team.The sharing of their work has been an opportunity to put democratic values ​​into practice in a suitable atmosphere. It has also been the occasion to respect the ideas of others and learn to collaborate with colleagues from different countries.Students have used workshops to create materials in order to disseminate the project using ICT tools. These meetings improved respect and sociability, reduced xenophobia, improved oral skills in English and expanded knowledge about other countries.Longer term benefits. Some teachers participated in courses related to the awareness of students in Human Rights during the summer of 2019 to continue working on this topic in their classes"

"The Fit 'n' Green project teaches students the importance of exercise and healthy eating. The students will mainly do this by hiking and other outdoor activities.Since, according to the WHO, the number of overweight children is increasing worldwide, not only sufficient exercise (Fit) but also a healthy diet (Green) is necessary. This is the second focus of this project. In a first step the students will evaluate their eating habits, calorie consumption and physical activities per day/week. In the second step they will report on the basic principles of a healthy diet and explain the connections between this, physical activity and the resulting body reactions. In cooking workshops the students learn to prepare healthy, seasonal and regional dishes and are also confronted with the current and important topic of sustainability.Through interaction in transnational groups social competence (communication, openness, team orientation) is developed and in the area of personal development skills such as commitment, self-confidence and willingness to learn are demanded and promoted. Due to the use of the project language english the knowledge of foreign languages is promoted and deepened. In the workshops on health-conscious nutrition the students learn what, why and how to prepare and develop a stronger self-esteem and curiosity to taste the dish through their own involvement in the cooking process.Through the hikes the students find out a possibility to physically exercise in nature in order to improve their fitness, among other things. At the same time they explore their own as well as foreign surroundings and widen their cultural horizons. In cooperation with external sports providers, but also through the conception of training and relaxation units by the students themselves, the participants enrich their individual sports repertoire and can choose from a variety of exercise offers, which should motivate them to engage in lifelong sports activities beyond the project.This project aims to present and experience measures for a fundamental change in lifestyles with regard to exercise and nutrition. Since everyday habits such as diet and exercise are stable personality traits and can only be changed with difficulty later on, prevention is the best solution for a healthy future (Susanne Bappert/Dr. Claudia Osterkamp-Baerens, ""Fit und gesund durch Bewegung und richtige Ernährung"" )."