Background Germany has a long established tradition of training programmes for young professionals to qualify in several professions generally called the "dual system". During a period of generally three years trainees attend courses at a vocational school two days a week or in blocks of several weeks and at the same time they work and are trained in a local business. At the end of this training period they sit for an examination before the Chamber of Commerce and Industry and will obtain a professional title for example as management assistant in business administration (Kaufmannsgehilfenbrief). Apart from this general examination the local Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Bielefeld offers the possibility to obtain an additional title certifying so called EU competences. One of the requirements for this additional title is to complete a six-week internship in a company in another European country. Participants This project was directed at trainees in the field of business administration who attend courses at the vocational branch of the Berufskolleg Lübbecke (college of further education) and work and train in local companies. All of them wanted to obtain the qualification "EU competence" of the Bielefeld Chamber of Commerce and Industry. In 2015, the first year of this project, nine trainees participated and completed an internship abroad (from 28 February to 11 April 2015). In the second year, 2016, six trainees participated and made an internship (from 8 February to 18 March 2016). In the first year the nine participants went to various European countries (Ireland, United Kingdom, France, Spain, Italy, Poland) and the project partners had been chosen in cooperation with the local German businesses where the students train. These project partners were subsidiaries of the German companies or companies with which the local companies had established business relations as customers or suppliers. In the second year the local German companies opted to send the trainees to our project partner Exeter College in the United Kingdom. In cooperation with Exeter College we were able to assure accommodation in host families and offer an additional language course to the participants apart from the six-week internship in a company or organisation in or near Exeter. Aims of the project The first aim of the project was to enable the students to complete the six-week internship in a company outside Germany as this is one of the requirements in order to obtain the additional title "EU competence" given by the Bielefeld Chamber of Commerce and Industry. In the beginning the local companies wanted to be involved in the process of finding project partners abroad in order to control the quality of the internship. They also wanted to have influence on the content of the tasks the trainees had to complete during their internship abroad. During a period of three years the Berufskolleg Lübbecke prepares the trainees for their final examination including the one of "EU competence" and coordinates international internships which includes applying for financial support for the trainees. Trainees with EU competence will ensure that local companies will have, in the long run, a pool of well-trained and open-minded staff who have a high degree of international competence including language knowledge. This is essential for companies which do most of their business in export. For the trainees participation in the EU programme increases their chance of being offered a permanent position after their exam as well as greater prospects of career advancement later on. It also fosters personal growth. Main activity The main activity of the project was to involve the trainees in all aspects of business in their European partner company. This entailed getting to know the business and taking over increasingly complex tasks in one or more administrative department. The Berufskolleg Lübbecke gave each trainee an individual assignment to monitor their professional development and knowledge of their host nation. These assignments were formulated jointly by all participating parties. Each EU partner company had a designated adviser for their foreign trainee. There were three fixed appointments for individual feedbacks. If needed, the trainees could get in touch by email or telephone with their companies at home and their teachers at the Berufskolleg Lübbecke at any time. At the end of the internship the participating trainees had to write a report and prepare a Powerpoint presentation referring to their respective assignment. They then presented the result to their company in Germany and the Berufskolleg Lübbecke. The certificate awarded at the end of the internship is the first requisite for the qualification of "EU competence" given by the Bielefeld Chamber of Commerce and Industry. The Europass documents the achievements and progress of the trainees in the framework of the project which will be undoubtedly conducive to their future