ERASMUS+ Programme rules in the field of Vocational Education and Training (VET)

ERASMUS+ EU Programme in the fields of education, training, youth and sport for the period 2014-2020; 7 existing programmes into a single coherent framework; focus on: improvement of key competences and skills, quality of teaching, training and youth work across Europe; support of: development, transfer and implementation of innovative practices, partnerships between education and employment; promotes European values such as respect for human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law and respect for human rights.

STRUCTURE OF THE ERASMUS+ PROGRAMME KA 1 Learning mobility of individuals (65%) KA2 Cooperation for innovation and exchange of good practices (35%) KA 3 Support for policy reform (5%) Management: Directorate General for Education and Culture (DG EAC) of the European Commission and National Agencies in the participating countries. Center for International Cooperation in Education (DZS in Czech) is the Czech National Agency for Erasmus+ in the vocational education and training, school education, adult education, higher education and youth fields.

WHO CAN PARTICIPATE IN THE ERASMUS+ PROGRAMME? Public or private organisations active in the fields of adult education, higher education, school education, sport, vocational education and training, and youth and community work; organisations must be established in a Programme Country (EU member states, former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Turkey); some actions open also to organisations from Partner Countries (Western Balkans, Eastern Partnership Countries, South-Mediterranean, Russian Federation and other countries specified in Programme Guide) project applications from individuals themselves are not accepted!

VOCATIONAL EDUCATION AND TRAINING (VET) – aims To increase the employability and life skills of VET learners and contributing to the competitiveness of the European economy; support the enhanced European cooperation in VET sector; foster quality improvements, innovation excellence and internationalisation at the level of education and training institutions; promote European lifelong learning and to support the modernisation of education and training systems; better use of EU transparency and recognition tools and the dissemination of good practices.

Learning mobility for individuals VET sector - Key Action 1 Learning mobility for individuals

VET – Key Action 1 (KA1) VET learners' mobility* VET mobility: mobility in VET providers and companies abroad (2 weeks to 3 months) ErasmusPRO: long-term mobility in VET providers and companies abroad (3 to 12 months) For projects including ErasmusPRO activities, the applicant may request also an Advance Planning Visit carried by staff involved in the organisation of ErasmusPRO mobilities. Eligible participants: VET learners (incl. appprentices), recent graduates (within 12 months after their graduation)

VET – Key Action 1 (KA1) Staff mobility (2 days to 2 months): Teaching/training assignments: allows staff of VET schools to teach at a partner VET school abroad; also allows staff/trainers of enterprises to provide training at a VET organisation abroad if they have been invited by the applicant VET organisation. Staff training: supports the professional development of VET staff in the form of job shadowing abroad in an enterprise or any other VET organisation. Eligible participants: staff in charge of VET (teachers, trainers, mobility officers, etc.) in working relation with the sending organisation or trainers from enterprises in case of teaching/training assignments.

VET – Key Action 1 (KA1) Duration of mobility projects: 1 to 2 years, projects starting between 1 June and 31 December of the same year Eligible participating organisations: any public or private organisation active in the field of VET (VET organisation) any public or private organisation active in the labour market or in the fields of education, training and youth Who can apply? a VET organisation the coordinator of national mobility consortium (at least 3 VET providers from the same country) VET organisation or consortium can apply ony once per selection round (however VET organisation may be part of different mobility consortium)

VET – Key Action 1 (KA1) Role of the organisations participating in the project: Applicant organisation: in charge of applying for mobility project, signing grant agreement, responsible for implementation and reporting; the applicant can be consortium member. Sending organisation: in charge of selecting VET learners/staff and sending them abroad (mostly the same as applicant). Receiving organisation: in charge of receiving foreign VET learners/staff and offering them a programme of activities, or benefiting from a training activity provided by VET staff. Intermediary organisation: active in the labour market or in the fields of education, training and youth; not a sending organisation but may assist the sending VET organisation with administrative procedures, practical arrangements, etc.; could be partner in a national mobility consortium, if not, applicant organisations are strongly advised to formally define a set of rights and obligations when co-operating with intermediary organisations.

VET – Key Action 1 (KA1) The sending and receiving organisations, together with the students/staff, must have agreed on the activities to be undertaken by the students - in a 'Learning Agreement' - or by staff members - in a 'Mobility Agreement' - prior to the start of the mobility period. Recognition of learning outcomes: VET organisations may decide to apply the European Credit system for Vocational Education and Training (ECVET) in the framework of their mobility activities. ECVET is a common methodological framework that facilitates the transfer and recognition of learning outcomes from one qualifications system to another. It aims to promote transnational mobility. As a precondition for using ECVET is the setting up of an ECVET partnership, which is formalised through a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). More information about ECVET http://www.ecvet-secretariat.eu

VET – Key Action 1 (KA1)

Cooperation for innovation and exchange of good practices VET sector - Key Action 2 Cooperation for innovation and exchange of good practices

VET – Key Action 2 (KA2) ACTIONS SUPPORTED Strategic Partnerships in the field of education, training and youth (applications to the National Agency of the country in which the applicant organisation is established) Knowledge Alliances Sector Skills Alliances Capacity Building (applications to the Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency, based in Brussels)

VET – Key Action 2 (KA2) Two types of strategic partnerships priorities: Strategic Partnerships supporting innovation Projects are expected to develop innovative outputs, and/or engage into intensive dissemination and exploitation activities of existing and newly produced products or innovative ideas. Strategic Partnerships supporting exchange of good practices The primary goal is to allow organisations to develop and reinforce networks, increase their capacity to operate at transnational level, share and confront ideas, practices and methods. Selected projects may also produce tangible outputs and are expected to disseminate the results of their activities, although in a way that is proportional to the aim and scope of the project.

VET – Key Action 2 (KA2) Partnerships in the field of VET: between 12 and 36 months; Any public or private organisation, established in a Programme Country or in any Partner Country can participate but only organisation established in a Programme Country can be the applicant. A Strategic Partnership is transnational and involves minimum three organisations from three different Programme Countries. Submission of the grant application by end of March for projects starting between 1 September and 31 December of the same year.

VET – Key Action 2 (KA2) Eligible activities: Blended mobility of pupils and learners combining short-term physical mobility (5 days to 2 months; excluding travel days) with virtual mobility; Long-term teaching or training assignments (2 to 12 months); Short-term joint staff training events (3 days to 2 months; excluding travel days).

ERASMUS+ Project preparation and implementation process

PREPARE Follow the Erasmus+ Call for the next year (usually end of October); read the relevant sections of the Erasmus+ Programme Guide; check the event calendar of your national agency and register for information seminar; register your organisation on Participant portal to get Participant Identification Code = PIC code (https://ec.europa.eu/education/participants/portal/desktop/en/home.html); define your project outline and confirm relevant project partner(s) and know their PIC(s).

APPLY Get the application form at your national agency web page (new web e-forms as of 2018); complete the form in detail making sure you address the award criteria; prepare and upload all annexes required for the application; upload Declaration of Honour signed by the legal representative of your organisation; submit online before the deadline (KA 1 – beginning of February, KA2 – end of March).

EVALUATION PROCESS Formal check: Eligibility criteria The eligibility criteria mainly relate to the type of project and activities (including, where relevant, duration, participating organisations, etc.), the target group (e.g. status and number of participants involved) and the conditions for submitting a grant request for such a project (e.g. deadlines for submission, completeness of the application form, etc.). To be eligible, the project must meet all the eligibility criteria relating to the Action under which the proposal is submitted. If the project does not meet these criteria at application stage, it will be rejected without being further evaluated. Exclusion criteria (bankruptcy, fraud, insolvency, money laundering or terrorist financing, etc.)

EVALUATION PROCESS Qualitative assement: Selection criteria (financial / operational capacity - stable and sufficient sources of funding and necessary professional competencies and qualifications to carry out the proposed project.) Qualitative assement: Award criteria Relevance of the project (max. 30 points) Quality of the project design and implementation (max. 40 points) Impact and dissemination (max. 30 points) To be considered for funding, application for grant must score at least 60 points.

DO & EVALUATE & DISSEMINATE sign of grant agreement with your NA, receive usually 80% of the first pre-financing payment; preparation (including practical arrangements, selection of participants, set up of agreements with partners and participants, linguistic/intercultural/task-related preparation of participants before departure, registration of all mobilities in Mobility Tool+); implementation of the mobility activities as stated in application form. Evaluation of project impact and dissemination phase follow-up activities including the evaluation, the formal recognition of the learning outcomes of participants; download the Erasmus+ logo and guidelines for use; share the activities and outcomes of your project – use social media, web pages, organize workshops, publish articles, etc.

REPORT Report Submit the final report following the reporting deadline as stated in the grant agreement using Mobility Tool+ form. The final report is considered as the beneficiary’s request for final payment of the balance of the grant (20%). The final payment is transferred after the evaluation of final report. Final report should reflect all realized project activities, mobilites and disemination activities. Project outcomes and dissemination can be uploaded to Erasmus+ Project Results Platform http://ec.europa.eu/programmes/erasmus-plus/projects/.

GRANT AWARD NOTIFICATION DO & EVALUATE & DISSEMINATE ERASMUS+ PROJECT TIMELINE – Key Action 1 PREPARE Call announcement (end of October) Follow infoseminars, write your appliation (November-January) APPLY Submit your application (beginning of February) EVALUATION PROCESS Formal check and quality assesment (February - March) EVALUATION COMMITTEE Meeting of the Erasmus+ Programme Evaluation Committee (April - May) GRANT AWARD NOTIFICATION Results published on NA web pages, letter notification (May) GRANT AGREEMENT Sign grant agreement provided by your NA (May - end of December) DO & EVALUATE & DISSEMINATE Implementation of project activities, dissemination REPORT Submit your final report after the end of project period

Thank you for your attention! * Please note that the information on Erasmus+ programme activites are based on the previous Calls experience or on informal preliminary information regarding Call 2018. In view of this, please refer to Erasmus+ Programme Guide 2018, when the Call 2018 is announced, since the information on Erasmus+ programme activities in VET sector may be subject to change.