In recent decades, social economy has been making a significant contribution to employment creation, sustainable growth and a more egalitarian income and wealth distribution. HEIs have a role to play in providing educational content aimed at strengthening social entrepreneurial capacity in their countries. SILICE created a systemic approach that incorporates social entrepreneurship modules within study programs at IL and IN. The HEIs have a positive impact on the above-mentioned issues through innovative methods of teaching and problem-based learning. SILICE also tackles cross-cutting issues like gender balance and equal opportunities for women and promotes connectivity between HIEs and their surrounding regions to develop entrepreneurship and employment. The means was the establishment of SINNOLABs – educational innovation centers for the development of business and creative thinking and search for solutions for social and environmental problems. 9 hubs were established as part of the project: 5 in IL and 4 in IN. The hubs were modeled on the best practice shared by the European partners. The hubs are located inside the academic campuses, but they also serve the residents in neighboring communities. The hubs are operated by senior faculty members in the academic institutions – which guarantee their long-term survival. During the first half of the project – the first 18 months – the teams focused mainly on learning and developing knowledge concerning creative thinking, creative solutions to social and environmental problems, project creation and organization and partners’ recruitment. The second half of the project focused on establishing the SINNOLABs and operating them, as well as intensifying the regional connections with local and national institutions that can guarantee the project’s sustainability. Hence, connections were formed with additional hubs, the public sector, banks and financial companies for regional development. The SINNOLAB management in each institution formed connections with various stakeholders such as government agencies, regional municipalities and NGOs. By doing so, the hubs intensified the partnership of academic institutions with their surroundings, strengthened, and broadened their positions inside the HIEs. Contracts were signed to ensure long-term collaboration between the institutions themselves and stakeholders. SILICE’s significant contributions are: 1. Educational – the HIEs understood the meaning of introducing motives of creative thinking, innovation and entrepreneurship and creative problem solving as a method that can develop the students and help them become socially engaged financially independent citizens. These elements were introduced to the curricula of all students; 2. Promoting underprivileged populations – unemployed, rural populations, minorities, undereducated women, and helping them to adopt thinking patterns and practical tools that can increase their household income and support their financial and social mobilization; by creating social projects with the potential of becoming successful business owners and offering jobs for them and for others; 3. The project served as a focal point for all social innovation and business entrepreneurship in each HEI. The digital platform established by the partners is an open source database that offers syllabi, lesson plans and trainings, as well as presentations that were developed over the duration of the project. Each HEI brought its own experts and we created a pool of experts who are waiting to be approached by students and the public. This database is used by all partners and is open to other HEIs and the public. By this, SILICE contributes to the spreading of the knowledge, methods and tools that were developed in the project. This platform is currently used in HEIs across IL, IN and Europe, and these networks will allow the website to remain relevant after the project ends.

Curriculum reform programs have been central to European Commission’s TEMPUS and ERASMUS programs. Although assessment of the courses was included in these programs, none offered to develop relevant innovative tools and methods to evaluate these new innovative student-centered courses. Moreover with relation to the formative assessment (FA) essential tenet needed in these environments, these projects have pointed to a growing need to deepen the knowledge of faculty regarding the optimal design and implementation of assessment in general and FA in particular. The ASSET consortium provides the knowledge and pedagogical expertise aimed at developing and piloting creative and innovative course assessment tools (CATs) and methods adapted to the learning environments in use, and improving the effectiveness of teaching and learning within the IL and GE HE system, thus, bridging the gap between current educational goals of teaching and learning, and assessment processes for the 21st century. The proposed ASSET project will develop IL and GE faculty skills in planning, preparing, producing, and integrating CATs in their courses including ICT-based virtual environments, by organizing training workshops for professional development, providing an ongoing support to further the sustainability of FA implementation, and disseminate the set CATs in their HEIs and beyond. The development of CATs will allow partner HEIs evaluating students' lifelong learning (LLL) skills, both in personal and social levels. Moreover, ASSET proposal is of relevance to the labor market and certainly offers flexibility when taking into account issues of lifelong learning, non-traditional learning, and other forms of nonformal educational experiences, in contrast to the SA approach. The project will raise the quality and relevance of the teaching/learning experience and thus education at large, in line with the student-centered approach that lies at the core of the Bologna process.

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.

The reason for undertaking this project is to bring curriculum reform for promoting active Civic Education (CE) in academic teacher training (TT) programs in IL and in GEO a quantum leap forward through:1. Developing and implementing a comprehensive program of courses and student activities that promotes civic education and behavior within our TT program.2. Integrating these courses into the curriculum in partner HEI.3. Faculty and in-service Teacher Workshops4. Courses and activities will integrate innovative pedagogy that will strengthen the aims and objectives of the courses (e.g. PBL, Service-Based Learning, VaKE; experiential and peer learning and teaching; integrating new technology in teaching and learning, etc.).5. Create course readers or kits that will enable other professionals and teachers to benefit from the CURE’s innovative courses.6. Establish an international network of professionals who collaborate together, share knowledge and good practices.7. Establish centers for promoting CE on HEI campuses.8. Create a website to disseminate program. 9. Publish results and strategies (online and hard copy): articles and handbooks. CURE’s curriculum reform will enhance the quality of CE in CURE's teacher-training programs both for our faculty as well as for our students, who are future educators of our societies. The faculty, teachers and students who benefit from CURE’s program will be able to effectively present, discuss and challenge the rudimentary notions of civic involvement in our society. Moreover as educators, they will help shape knowledge, perceptions and attitudes towards responsible citizenship within a democratic setting, encourage critical thought and enactment of civil rights, actions and duties within their own classrooms thus sustaining and multiplying the program aims.