The Association Ouvrière des Compagnons du Devoir et du Tour de France has developed a long-standing approach to vocational education and training with an original approach. This approach is based on a job alternation system that fosters strong in-company presence combined to geographic mobility, which leads young trainees to experience a work placement in various companies, in France and abroad. This mobility experience has proved a truly efficient training system as it allows for the transmission of knowledge and the development of professional experience in various environments. The institution pledges to maintain such a system. However, the digital revolution has led to a considerable evolution in the manufacturing processes, the operating procedures and in the services expected to be rendered for each trade. Some changes are also required in order to successfully achieve the energy transition. New skills are expected from the women and men in each trade. On top of the technical skills required, new technological and scientific knowledge are now needed for an effective on-the-job performance. To be successful, these professionals now need to be provided with higher education pathways allowing them to acquire this new knowledge. However, access to higher education today is almost impossible for someone who hasn't followed a classical educational program.The challenge of this project is to build a higher education pathway leading to an officially recognized diploma at Bachelor level (EQF level 6) for the students having undergone a technical/vocational training (which is the pathway often followed due to academic underachievement), while maintaining the principles that led those students to re-engage with the desire to learn: work-study and mobility. As we are not yet able to implement such a pathway for all the trades, we have chosen 2 professional areas to implement an approach transferable to other trades: the building trades and mechatronics engineering.We had to harness partners with a knowledge of these career paths, the technical knowledge involved and the audience this higher education pathway targets, as well as partners from higher education bodies able to provide scientific knowledge and to offer a formal validation of the training. We have selected the following professional training centers: Les Compagnons du Devoir (project handler - France), Handwerkskammer zu Köln (Germany), Borgund Vidaregåande Skole (Norway) and some higher education institutes: le Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers (France) and the Erhvervsakademiet Lillebaelt Institute (Denmark). These partners were also known by the project handler due to their participation to other European programs, expect for the Erhvervsakademiet Lillebaelt Institute.To meet the project's objectives, the partners had to: elaborate the content of the higher education programs, build the training pathways for the students entering the scheme, define the profiles and the eligibility criteria for admission, agree upon the process of recognition and validation of the formal qualifications, implement bridging and support courses and, when appropriate, establish accommodation capacities in the various partnering countries and ensure the diffusion of the educational outcomes.Based on the work undertaken by the various workgroups in charge of these actions, some outcomes have been achieved. The content of the three years' training was developed and validated by the partners in the building trade area. These results are not yet achieved for the mechatronics engineering area. A standardized educational pathway was elaborated, and training contents were assigned between the various partners. This pathway is transferable to other trades. The process of validation and the mutual recognition of the training achievements were recorded. This allows for the recognition of formal qualifications awarded by universities. The experience which was implemented simultaneously to the engineering works helped identify the areas in need of bridging courses (in English and for some professional software) and to gauge the interest of a higher education pathway targeting a professional audience with a technical training background. Accommodation capacities have been outlined in the various countries. The diffusion of educational outcomes has not been implemented yet, but it was tested by the partners. To date, 2 French students are enrolled in the program and 5 Danish students have expressed their interest in joining it and in spending their last year in France.The project handler intends to step up this action by transferring the methodology developed in this program to other trades, with other European partners.

The contemporary society's needs and challenges - the complexity of social networks, globalization, migration, conflicts at different levels (interpersonal, community, regional and international), as well as experiences already developed at national and international levels show the importance of mediation as a specific social intervention methodology for the development of peaceful and sustainable societies. International organizations such as the Council of Europe and the United Nations strongly urge the prevention and peaceful resolution of conflicts. The 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are also clear as to the formulation and the fact that “to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all”, “the promotion of peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, the provision of access to justice for all, and building effective, accountable institutions at all levels”(SDG 16), is also important.Many mediation practices have been developed since the 1980s. University training in mediation has been developing for several decades. There are Master degree programs in conflict resolution and mediation in the universities of several countries. Mediation and training experiences, as well as research and public debates show us that the matter of mediators training is a key issue for the professionalization of mediators and the acquisition of key skills (Silva, 2015; Bonaffé-Schmitt , 2017).A European License in Mediation for social inclusion would contribute to: deploying the promotion of democratic values and the prevention of violence through the development of mediation; consolidating the professional profile; harmonizing the criteria for professional intervention; enabling balanced and solid training integrating the necessary knowledge and skills (Gomez, 2019). This is the main purpose of LIMEdiat for the qualification of professionals in Mediation for social inclusion. The aim is to build a common training benchmark in order to consolidate professionalization and innovate in terms of training by taking advantage of resources and knowledge of the consortium set up for this purpose.Priorities of LIMEdiat's actions to achieve this main objective are as follows: i) Build the Licence level training plan, in accordance with Bologna principles;ii) Produce and mutualise common training materials in digital support for on-line education;iii) Design a relevant European system for immersion courses through mentoring in new contexts;iv) Validate the License in Mediation for social inclusion with the European and national agencies of LIMEdiat consortium's countries.Through these actions, LIMEdiat aims to achieve the following objectives: build an innovative and inclusive undergraduate training plan at European level, offering access opportunities through the recognition of skills acquired through experience and priority access to migrants and refugees; harmonize both the content and the teaching and learning methodology in mediation for social inclusion in the four European partner countries; develop general bases for international cooperation and scientific and technical exchange as well as knowledge transfer between teachers, students and researchers in conflict resolution and mediation; promote the exchange of practices and knowledge at European level through digital media, the mobility of students and teachers.In summary, LIMEdiat aims to consolidate mediation training at national and European level by creating an undergraduate degree through the realization of joint teaching, research and social impact projects that meet international quality standards and contemporary society's needs.To do this, LIMEdiat intends to involve around 1000 participants: Higher Education Establishments (HEIs) and their students, teachers, technicians, mediation experts, public and private organizations with mediation practices, professional associations and mediators, agencies of accreditation for Higher Education courses, actors and local communities. This involvement will be done through participation in the definition of skills profile of mediators, the design of an online platform, as well as training tools, the organization and participation in specialized face-to-face seminars and the dissemination of results through the project's website targeting several HEIs and all interested organizations and people , in particular potential candidates for this License.

The project “Business and Competitive Intelligence for Entrepreneurship” (CIEN) creates a network of universities in Romania, Bulgaria, Greece, and France, aimed at developing knowledge, skills, and competencies in the field of business and competitive intelligence (BI and CI). The project develops curricula for short-term and long-term programmes in this field, to be implemented in partner universities, where appropriate, or other educational facilities, creates study materials, adjacent to the aforementioned curricula, develops training module kits for both sections (BI and CI) and proposes a Survival Kit for Entrepreneurs with interactive resources to be used in order to collect, select, analyze data and information related to BI and CI. Thus, the project proposes a complete package of elements (curriculum, study materials, resources, training kits, etc) to be used in the development of courses on BI and CI in partner universities, as well as any other university which may decide to adapt its educational offer to the demands of the global, evermore digital and flooded by information and big data. In order to deliver these packages, the project creates an online platform, the project website: cien.ase.ro, to be used for the learning activities within the project, to facilitate virtual mobility for participants and further on for common usage of the kits developed.The project strengthens the cooperation between the five partner universities from four countries, by having transnational mobility of teachers for the training modules on BI and transnational mobility of students for the summer schools focused on CI. Furthermore, the network of these five universities shall have a common curriculum as standard, to be implemented where such a need is identified, allowing for streamlined transferability of credits, skills, and competencies at a European level, enhanced by the ECTS allotted to each learning activity. The project targeted 100 students (undergraduate and graduate) from the partner universities, 70 with a business background and 30 with any other type of background, split into two waves (50 for each year of project implementation). The project lasted for 24 months, between September 2016-September 2018, and had two summer schools (one for each year, in Varna, Bulgaria and Bucharest, Romania) lasting 5 days and 10 training modules (blended learning – 5 days of face to face action in home university+ virtual mobility). Overall, the project involved more than 600 participants in learning activities and multiplier events. It created 7 intellectual outputs: Analysis of Best Practices on Curriculum in Business and Competitive intelligence, Curriculum Design in Business and Competitive intelligence, Study Materials for Business and Competitive Intelligence, Business and Competitive Intelligence Training Modules, CIEN Survival Kit for Entrepreneurs, Study on Entrepreneurial Survival kits, CIEN Online Platform (cien.ase.ro). The main results of the project are: an enhanced cooperation between the five partner institutions, manifested through a common curriculum on BI and CI, mobility of teachers to deliver the training modules, mobility of students to the summer schools; shared knowledge in the field of BI and CI, through the cooperation of the project experts, team members, as well as wide dissemination of created knowledge through the online platform and the multiplier events (6 online seminars/webinars, 2 information sessions and 2 knowledge fairs). The main activities in the project may be packaged in 5 different areas: 1. Project management activities (5 transnational meetings, Financial Management, and Project Management, Monitoring and Reporting); 2. Curriculum Development (Analyses and studies of Best Practices, Curriculum design, Study materials: eBooks, dedicated Multiplier events), Learning activities (Student Selection, Summer schools, Training modules, Virtual mobility, dedicated Multiplier events), Training module development (Module development and redesign, module delivery, dedicated Multiplier events) and CIEN Survival Kit (Similar kits studies and Kit design, Kit OEP development, Online Platform - Design and Content, dedicated Multiplier events). The project is sustainable through the implementation of the curriculum in partner universities, where such a need has been identified (e.g. A master programme in Varna, Bulgaria and post-graduate studies in Bucharest, Romania), the inclusion of BI, CI courses in the education offering of the partners, the online platform containing all the materials developed, the CIEN survival kit available for current and potential entrepreneurs and the annual Knowledge fair to be continued even after the end date of the project.

In recent years, steps have been taken to combat extremism and radicalization through recommendations and laws aimed at characterizing and prohibiting extremist speech leading to violence. This preventive effort also involves the need for training of professionals and few specifically European tools have been developed. Our aim is to fill this gap. It is a question of training higher education professionals, managers and education leaders who define training courses in order to help each political decision-maker to better construct training plans aimed directly at education and training. To achieve this, the CEDAR project is based on the production, implementation and deployment of European training for teachers and trainers to enable them to improve their skills on the issues of deviance and extremism in educational and university circles. The aim is also to support these education professionals in order to provide them with the keys to identifying and preventing risks. The CEDAR project will make it possible to train university professionals on the implementation of appropriate actions in relation to situations of deviance and extremism that can lead to violence among young people and students.The CEDAR project aims to produce multilingual training modules (French, Spanish, English) but will also develop a network of European trainers capable of disseminating these training courses and integrating them into degree courses. It will also aim to increase the skills of professionals from community organisations and associations working directly with young people in neighbourhoods with specific target groups (migrants, unemployed young people and early school leavers, etc.). Indeed, services in charge of youth in educational contexts are bearing an increasing burden (increase in specific cases, new forms of migration in the European context due to conflicts in the world or sometimes natural disasters ...) and, at the same time, they must be aware of the risks linked to violent extremism, which has become a daily reality.By mobilising scientists and academics with expertise in these fields at European level and by organising two training sessions in Europe which will be multiplied at national level in the partner countries, the CEDAR project will enable the design and implementation of a comprehensive course to accompany European trainers and teachers on these issues of radicalisation and violent extremism among young people. An e-learning platform will be accessible to professionals who will then be sensitised and trained on the risk factors of radicalisation among young people and students. Our project will be based on empowering students themselves by strengthening their civic engagement through the use of the counter-discourse process (Students Against Hate). In particular, students will be encouraged to participate in awareness campaigns on campus.

According to the European Schoolnet (EUN), skills in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) are becoming an increasingly important part for basic literacy in today’s knowledge economy, since they are requested in order to ensure the citizens’ confidence, knowledge and competences to participate actively in an increasingly complex scientific and technological world (European Commission, 2015). With this framework, European policies are demanding a need to build capacities and develop innovative ways of connecting science to society (European Union, 2014), namely among young people intending to attract them to disciplines of science (including mathematics) and technology in secondary and higher education and related careers (European Commission, 2015). However, it’s known that exists multiple disparities in participation in science education across regions, cultures and gender in Europe (European Commission, 2015), which are blocking the full involvement and the empowerment of all citizens and talents. Special attention must be paid to science education of girls and young women, since their voices, expertise and creativity are crucial elements for a sustainable development progress, but they are being held back by discrimination, biases, social norms and expectations that influence the quality of education they receive (UNESCO, 2016). Indeed, while evidence shows that there are only few reliable differences between boys’ and girls’ brains relevant to learning or education (UNESCO, 2016), society takes these small differences and makes them much bigger, supporting boys’ ability in math and science, and discouraging girls who study these subjects. In view of this situation, the EU Parliament encourages all State Members to invest consistently in information, awareness-raising and educational campaigns addressing stereotyped perceptions of gender roles, as well as gender stereotypes in vocational and professional orientation, notably in science and new technologies. UNESCO (2016), in its turn, highlight the urgent need to combat those stereotypes by training teachers to encourage girls to pursue STEM careers and developing curricula that are gender-sensitive.With this context in mind, FOSTWOM intend to use the inclusive potential of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) to propose STEM subjects free of stereotyping assumptions on gender abilities. Moreover, the consortium is interested in attracting girls and young women to science and technology, through accessible online contents with relevant real-world situations within strong conceptual frameworks. We consider that the usage of good practices in videos and online courses’ design can give that sense of belonging that female students seek when enter STEM areas and encourage a new generation of women and girl scientists. Thus, the priority actions in which further concrete measures are needed and which the project aims are:- Develop a TOOLKIT to design, produce and validate STEM MOOCs under a gender balance perspective, considering the results of a needs diagnosis on STEM barriers implemented with secondary schools and higher education institutions and of a map of strategies for inclusive digital learning;- Create one collaborative and graduate STEM MOOC, taking into account the main expertise of each partner’s teams; one bridging STEM MOOC, namely designed for secondary and undergraduate students and teachers; and one transversal MOOC aiming to analyze existing STEM MOOCs through a gender balance perspective;- Promote intensive training sessions to secondary and tertiary education teachers and technical staffs regarding the design and production of gender inclusive STEM MOOCs and their implementation in face-to-face classes (e.g. flipped-classroom strategies). With these concrete actions, it is expected that the FOSTWOM achieve its two main goals, which are: to mitigate the effects of stereotyping about gender-based STEM ability and, consequently, raise the number of female students and learners attending courses in the areas of STEM, both, as enrolled students in higher education institutions, and as STEM MOOCs’ participants. Although FOSTWOM intends to involve circa 2200 participants (HSs’ and HEIs’ students, teachers and staffs; specialists in gender balance and digital learning; people from the local communities) encompassing the enrollment in the MOOCs and the participation in the training weeks and dissemination events, it is anticipated the involvement of more people (namely from other HSs and HEIs) since the results of the proposal - STEM MOOCs Portfolio & Best practices, gender balance TOOLKIT and produced MOOCs - will be made available through the FOSTWOM website and/or the partners’ platforms, to any person/institution interested in adopting it, during and after the project lifetime. In order to keep the initiative alive a new project for further dissemination and exploitation of the results might follow-up.