Work-based learning is a substantial part of professional education. For a vast majority of study programmes in Professional Higher Education Institutions (PHEIs), internship is mandatory for the programme accomplishment, with defined learning outcomes and ECTS-expressed workload. The internship concept is based on a planned period of experience in the workplace aimed at helping students develop particular skills, knowledge or understanding. Limited opportunities for students to physically approach the workplace have strongly affected and delayed the accomplishment of their studies.A clear need for the development of an internship model that will rely on the virtual/remote format in response to the pandemic has been recognized. In addition, digital internship is a powerful tool for the inclusion of students who cannot participate in traditional internships due to financial, geographical reasons, or disabilities etc. The assignment of work-based tasks that can be performed digitally and remotely, with the development of adequate monitoring of student progress, can significantly facilitate student learning outcome achievement. The goal of this project is to introduce the specific virtual internship model and methodology for VIs with practical workflows and guidelines, which enable quality design of customized and flexible internship programs. In order to enable functioning of VIs, a specialized web software solution will be designed and developed. It will be based on the proposed VI lifecycle model and methodology, and it will connect all parties (students, schools, and companies) within a secure and collaborative web platform. The goal is to provide a more flexible, efficient, personalized, low-cost, and adapted solution for VIs.The achievement of the project goal is envisioned through the orchestrated work of experts who have experience in organizing internship systems between PHEIs and companies and a group of experts who have experience in developing web-based platforms. The testing of the online platform for digital internship will be performed by piloting the internship in each country, as well as by virtual student exchanges between partners with complementary programs.The expected results of the project include:•Developed model for digital internship in professional higher education, including learning outcomes and methodology for its implementation;•Created online platform for the organization and management of virtual internships;•Created toolkit/guide for the implementation of virtual internships •raised capacities of PHEI teachers/trainers/mentors for organizing virtual internships;•improved professional and digital skills of students; •improved capacities of business enterprises to carry out digital internships;•created network of educational institutions and business partners involved in conducting virtual internships;•representatives of the education and business sectors informed on the possibilities for carrying out virtual internships and benefits from them.The model will support the needs of the internship triangle: student-PHEI-world of work. It will allow students to select and approach the digital internship position in the workplace; PHEIs to perform monitoring and validation of student progress, assessment of achieved learning outcomes, knowledge, skills and competences during a digital internship, support to companies in term of training the internship mentors; and for the companies, it will facilitate the internship implementation, which includes designing of a complete or partial digital internship position, selection and delegation of particular tasks to students, monitoring of student progress and program accomplishment. The development of a digital internship model, envisioned in this project, targets the PHEIs in emergency situations, but it also increases the responsiveness of PHEIs to the challenges of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, that blurred the boundaries between the physical, digital, and biological worlds. Accordingly, it targets students, providing them with more efficient work-based learning. In particular, it will widen the spectrum of internships that will be accessible for the students with difficulties. The digital internship model also targets the world of work, perceived opportunities and challenges of representatives of key stakeholders in the development of digital internships. All partners will benefit from networking by sharing good practices and widening their teaching capacities via the online internship applications. It will strengthen the cooperation within institutions becoming more open for mobility and successful acquisition of innovative projects under the EU schemes in the field of professional education development.Contributing to the supply of digital education opportunities, the project will impact digital education readiness of project partners, but it is readily transferable to other professional higher education.

<< Objectives >>The partnership focuses on the smart home technology through the implementation of smart home models in VET. So, introducing the smart home model in VET is the general objective of this project. It is divided into three major specific objectives, which are as follows:•To create smart home models for teaching/training purposes;•To develop VET programmes on smart home technology; and •To produce teaching materials to be used along with the smart home models in the newly created programmes.<< Implementation >>Smart Home Models In VET is a project based on two Erasmus+ priorities Environment and fight against climate change and Contributing to innovation in vocational education and training. Through its activities and results the project keeps raising the awareness of environmental issues and draws attention to smart home technology that can mitigate such problems. It enhances the competencies of VET staff and supports STEM, blended learning and virtual collaboration.<< Results >>The most important results achieved encompass the following:•Five smart home models developed;•A toolkit for creating the models;•Guidelines on instruction methods;•Short programme with 30 ECTS on smart home technologies;•Smart Home Club programme; •Innovated existing courses with new smart home content;•A variety of VET resources on smart home technologies; and•The Smart Home VET Net connecting VET providers with relevant stakeholders.

The project proposal under the title Cool & Hot (COlest Of Labs & Hottest Of Theories) mixes, blends and unites faces, voices, results and energies of many generations of researchers in offering the public at large, regardless of their age and scientific background, the opportunity to get up-close and personal with researchers. However, a special emphasis in this project will be given to inspiring and motivating next generations of scientists. Since young adults are all about what is hot and what is cool, we have chosen to focus on those specific aspects of science and researchers. The outlined concept and the content planned will help achieving the following specific objectives: • To break and demystify the persistent and repeated stereotypes about researchers; • To bring out the actual researchers in Serbia, engage them publically and increase their recognition in Serbian society – locally, but globally as well; • To promote research carried out in Serbia and researchers as role models; • To unveil the motives behind becoming a researcher; • To entice the young to embark on scientific careers; • To raise public awareness of the researchers' contribution to progress and development; • To raise public awareness about climate changes and global warming; • To highlight the importance of the EU’s manifold support to researchers and scientific research work in Serbia; • To improve networking with other national/international projects involved in science popularization, through mutual support of events and exchange of ideas, experiences and people.