<< Background >>In our global society anything and everything is connected which is reflected in a growing need for innovative products, services and social innovation. E.g. an app monitors our heart rate, tracks and traces post parcels, offers online fitness services to elderly people, and very apt, monitors COVID-19 infections. Many online sources support our belief that education and industry have entered a new era in which teaching and gaining practical experience are the result of a much more comprehensive approach to what society needs and thus to what students need to learn. In the Human Capital Agenda e.g., top sectors in industry conclude that they are anxious to collaborate with education on creating crossover areas so that students may become water-architect, energy grower or garden technician. PISA states in their Handbook on Global Competence “that every school should encourage its students to try and make sense of the most pressing issues defining our times. The high demands placed on schools to help their students cope and succeed in an increasingly interconnected environment, can only be met if education systems define new learning objectives based on a solid framework, and use different types of assessment to reflect on the effectiveness of their initiatives and teaching practices.” The current relationship between VET education at secondary level and industry has been one of supplier (education) and provider (industry). It’s during their work placements that students witness the needs of industry for the first time. Industry’s influence on the aims of practical training is so strong that students may feel inept to meet the specific needs of their working place; the students’ expectations are often limited to whether they are able to apply the theory taught at school. However, the economy and society are changing rapidly, and the collaboration between education and industry needs to change accordingly. In EMEU4crossovers we will address 2 specific needs. A. The impact, partly due to this project, is to raise awareness of staff, students and industry regarding the need for and benefits of crossover cooperation between education and industry. The outcome will be that 1 staff and industry are able to create, test and offer crossover experiences in theory and practice; 2 students are able to offer solutions for observations out of their vocational area (flexible mindset). The output will be an array of developed and tested virtual activities and study modules to raise the students’ awareness. We will also address B. the need for all partners to help break down the walls between different vocational educations in their own colleges by developing the project results together and by implementing fixed crossover modules in their respective curricula, e.g. both in ICT and Health Care. These modules will also include a strong focus on a continuing contribution of the industrial project partners after this project. The EMEU network has experienced a long-lasting commitment from industry if they are involved in the project process from the inception-stage.The EMEU network has received 3 European Project Awards: for Best Practice (2016), for European Success Story (2018) and for European Innovative Teaching (2021) and actively shares results with vocational teams in their colleges, and amongst (inter-) national school-partners and industrial partners. As such the EMEU4Crossovers will be a logical continuation of the network’s activities and will therefore be able to guarantee the expected project results.<< Objectives >>The EMEU4Crossovers project aims to achieve the following results by implementing the project: firstly, we aim to be able to offer opportunities for students to become (more) aware of the challenges on the work floor in a fast-changing society and industry and, secondly, to be able to act upon them. Here important questions are: 1. How does VET-education ‘track and trace’ the required knowledge and skills our teachers need to prepare students for handling the aforementioned challenges? 2. What do teachers need to learn from Industry before they’re able to train our students as part of the educational programs? 3. What do we need to be able to realize a structural cooperation between vocational sectors in order to help develop more flexible mindsets of our students? 4. What opportunities in terms of virtual and physical activities can we offer to students to: a. become (more) aware of the need to study and prepare for the needs of a fast-changing labour market? And to b. experience themselves examples of a crossover work floor<< Implementation >>Implementation involves a number of important stages. It’s vital these stages are recognized and applied to ensure the project’s sustainability. These stages are: introduction, acceptance, embedment and ownership. 1. Introduction. The introduction should give a clear overview of all aspects of a KA2 project. The project manager and his steering group will therefore cover all elements of the project, including roles, tasks, budget, management, expected impact, outcomes, outputs, activities and facilities. 2. Acceptance. a. participating teams need to know that their course team manager and team colleagues are in full support of this project, e.g. it’s important that SG and staff members can attend the project meetings without worrying about substitution of lessons. Creating a sense of team spirit is a prerequisite from the start of a project. The vast experience we have gained over the years will help to create this sense amongst the new partners. b. We allocate old core partners to new EMEU partners. New partners will be supported by experienced partners. c. The EMEU website (https://em-eu.eu) will be used to show the format and examples of the virtual activities and study modules we aim to develop. d. Work arising from hosting students is also a shared responsibility, but most partners in the project have much experience in hosting students for Erasmus+ work placements. 3. Embedment. Besides embedding the developed virtual activities and physical study modules in the educational programs involved, it’s also our aim to have discussed at management level within the partner colleges how crossover modules can be embedded in the programs. Almost all partners are at an advantage here as in the previous two projects the virtual activities and study modules have already been successfully embedded.4. Promoting ownership. From experience we know that a successful project, after all products have been made, offered and tested, new partners have been attracted and everything can be viewed and shown on the website, staff feel great pride in what they have achieved. The project activities, which are going to be implemented, are: 1. December 2021: Kick-off conference (AARHUS TECH, Aarhus, Denmark); 2. March 2022: Work conference 1 (SAVO/Sakky, Kuopio, Finland); 3. October 2022: Work conference 2 (Uni-EIBAR, Eibar, Spain); 4. March 2023: Work conference 3 (GRADIA, Jyvaaskyla, Finland); 5. October 2023 Work conference 4 (Kerschensteiner Schulzentrum , Munich, Germany) 6. Final conference and multiplier event, April 2024 (Horizon College, The Netherlands).<< Results >>All results in the EMEU4CROSSOVERS will be made available on the EMEU website, copy-left as follows: 1. A listing of recommendations for creating crossover programs based on discussions, questionnaires and feedback (Manual 1);2. A listing of recommendations for teacher training based on discussions, questionnaires and feedback (Manual 2); 3. 20 Virtual Mobility activities;4. 20 Study Modules;5. Updated version of the existing ECVET/National VET-Teams manual 6. Updated version of the existing EMEU-Website https://www.em-eu.eu/ All outputs are aimed to raise the awareness of industry, staff and students towards the need for and benefits of cooperation between industry and different educational areas in order for students to develop a more flexible mindsets and to be able to provide suggestions for opportunities and obstacles on the work floor. Furthermore, teaching practices, implementation and the embedment of the tangible results of the project are of utmost importance.