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

COSMOS (Creating Organisational Structures for Meaningful science education through Open Schooling for all) uses socio-scientific inquiry-based learning (SSIBL) as a pedagogical means for opening up schools to their communities through a transformation process, aiming to create new partnerships within communities that can foster science education for all citizens, irrespective of gender, ethnicity or cultural background. To transform and open schools from an 'inwards' to an 'outwards' mode of engagement in, with and for their communities, our open schooling approach is unique in combining key pivotal elements of innovative constructivist pedagogy, teacher education, and transforming school organisational culture. We will (a) establish Core ORganisational structures for Promoting Open Schooling (CORPOS) in primary and secondary schools to facilitate community engagement. CORPOS will (b) support the creation of Communities of Practice (CoP), which include non-formal and informal education providers, enterprises, families, other stakeholders. The CoP will engage in SSIBL focusing on relevant socio-scientific issues, ensure engagement of all societal actors, and create significant life experiences, enhancing students' interest in science and science careers. We will (c) ensure the viability and sustainability of open schools by working closely with science teachers, stakeholders and school leadership, offering teacher professional development, supporting networking and collaboration and capacity building. The COSMOS consortium (12 partners, 7 countries) provides transdisciplinary cooperation and expertise in non-formal and formal science education, science teacher education, educational organisation and leadership, and strong societal links within communities, all of which warrant the successful implementation of COSMOS. The resulting tools, policy briefs and roadmaps will be used by schools across Europe further impacting communities through science education.

Internationalization in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) utilizes policies and practices targeted to achieve academic benefits in teaching, learning, research, and industrial-societal cooperation. TEMPUS IRIS project successfully accomplished the goals of introducing and establishing the foundations for internationalization in Israeli state-funded colleges, thus improving their academic quality and competitiveness. IN2IT project builds on those solid foundations to bring internationalization to realization by modern operational initiatives. IN2IT aims to promote implementation of internationalization by developing innovative technological platforms to facilitate: (1) development and delivery of international curriculum by virtual teaching and learning; (2) utilization of interactive international hubs for communities of practice (CoP) of researchers; and (3) employment of global academy-industry/community cooperation.The collaboration of Israeli Colleges and EU Universities in IN2IT allows the Israeli partners to offer their knowledge in innovative technology and for the EU partners to contribute their experience in international academic activities.IN2IT outputs are: a framework to assess internationalization capability maturity level; ICT-based international academic programs including curriculum and supporting teaching materials; an interactive platform for CoPs; guidelines and pilot activities of international academy-industry cooperation; on-site and on-line seminars and conferences to disseminate the project results; training programs and user guides for application of technologies in academic international activities. Outcomes: developing internationalization capacity in the colleges; advancing accessibility to education in partner institutions; improving the quality and innovation of teaching, learning, research, and training in the colleges; increasing ties between Israeli and EU HEIs; enhancing the positioning of colleges in the HE arena.

Alarming numbers of beginning teachers (BTs) leave the profession within 1-3 years, while many remain in the system but become demotivated. The transition from education studies into teaching is often difficult, largely due to mismatched expectations. In Israel, despite the importance assigned to teacher training and induction programs, high teacher dropout rates persist. PROTEACH aims at capitalizing on the recommendations of the EU’s “Handbook for policymakers on developing coherent induction programs” (2010), the experience of the European members of the consortium, and the lessons learned from the Israeli “incubators” induction model implemented by some of the partners in previous years, to create a more effective model of teacher induction: MIT – Multi-player Induction Teams. This model will take into account all areas to be considered when developing coherent and system-wide induction programs, will support BTs’ diverse needs and will empower them to become active players in their own induction process and in their schools, while increasing their retention rates.6 Israeli HEIs and 1 educational institute take part in the project and are responsible for conducting the actions in schools from which our understanding of the role of BTs and the importance of “amplifying their voices” will emanate. 4 European partners –Romania, UK Estonia & Austria – represent knowledge and experience in fields that are needed for the achievement of PROTEACH objectives. Throughout 3 iterations, the model and related curriculum will be fine-tuned. MIT groups will be created at 12 Israeli schools, with 180 BTs and 450 participants in total.Outcomes expected: (1) Establishment of Intra- and inter-HEI frameworks for mutual learning; (2) BT will be empowered to serve as key actors in their induction and school; (3) BT retention rates at participating schools will increase; 4) MIT-principles will be included in HEI training programs and accreditation and adopted by policy makers.

The proposed project is built on a previous KA2/CBHE project – the Proteach project No.573877. In the previous project we developed the MIT (Multiplayer Induction Teams) model for amplifying beginning teachers’ voice during induction in order to sustain teachers’ retention. The model is based on a partnership between the academia, the school and related policy makers that meet once a month in the school to discuss pedagogical and managerial issues that arise from the beginning teachers' work. Although the role of the Mentors is evident in the MIT context, results show that they weren't involved enough with the induction process. In the PROMENTORS projects we will advance the MIT model for a new model of mentors training in Israel. The new model will combine innovative mentors training from EU that emphasis on peer group mentoring and other process that stem from groups' learning and collaborative meaning making. 9 Israeli HEIs and 4 EU partners supported by the Israeli MOE will develop and pilot 18 mentors training MITs to structure a new mentor training course that will be accredited, and will be certificated. The novelty of our approach from the Israeli HEIs perspective is that it brings faculty staff back to school to be part, lead and accompany day-to-day processes in schools through the MIT community. This make HEIs more relevant both for supporting BTs' work and for facilitating teachers’ professional development. The outputs of the project will be a the structured mentor training MITs model ready to be implemented in the israeli educational system. As the project fit both the Israeli MEO and the HEIs polices its impact is evident.