This project has been set up by the collaboration of five institutions: the Association Ouvrière des Compagnons du Devoir du Tour de France and the Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers (France), Handwerkskammer zu Köln (Germany), Erhvervsakademiet Lillebaelt (Denmark) and Borgund Vidaregåande Skole (Norway). After a long tradition of Vocational Education and Training (VET) and of collaboration on European mobility, these institutions are beginning to offer tertiary courses to trainees for whom access to Higher Education is problematic. These new Professional courses are designed to include and highlight the excellence of VET provision. However these initiatives are still limited and at national level only and they need better recognition in Europe and with employers. This collaboration aims to develop a Europe-wide Professional Bachelor Degree with two specialist pathways in Construction Management and Mechatronics Management. This will be open to VET trainees with EQF Level 3 or equivalent and accredited in the four European countries. In line with the Europe 2020 strategy, the programme offers advanced technical and vocational skills and competences and it develops high levels of linguistic, cross-cultural and transversal skills to meet the demands of our knowledge-based economy. The project designs a three year programme up to EQF Level 6, with a common core of business and management and two specialist pathways in Construction and in Mechatronics, these being extended to other areas at a later stage. This is a truly professional degree, integrating assessed work experience in the academic programme as well as practical and professional activities in the academic study. It is a Europe-wide degree as all teaching and assessment is conducted in English and as it requires students to follow each year of the course in a different country. This structure will develop high levels of linguistic skills in English plus linguistic skills in three foreign European languages . It will also develop strong inter-cultural skills as students are recruited from the partner institutions to form an international cohort which may be taught in some instances along with home students and will be integrated into work teams in local companies in different countries. The project partners will base the design of the course on their joint experience at VET and HE level and on similar European initiatives. They will define the content and the structure of the Professional Bachelor degree to take into account the knowledge gaps that VET students encounter in HE and the high demands made by the course transnational mobility requirement, particularly in terms of linguistic and cross- cultural preparation. The course will carry 180 ECTS credits to be completed at EQF Levels 4, 5 and 6 and will be accredited in the partner countries. The use of ECTS credits, European Learning agreements, Transcripts of records, the Diploma Supplement and the CEF levels for Languages will ensure transparency and recognition at European level. The partners will set up sound academic, professional and pastoral structures to support and monitor their students during their study and work , abroad and at home. The project intends to recruit a maximum of 3 students per institution to pilot EQF Level 4 of the course in September 2016 with the pathway in Construction Management.The project will review and adapt this pilot before recruiting a cohort of 6 students per partner to start EQF Level 4 in September 2017 with both pathways available. The partners will prepare a number of documents to inform current and past VET students, employers and other stakeholders about the programme. Brief details of the course in the local languages will appear in the literature and website of each institution as well as more detailed course documentation in English. The project intends to end with an international conference held in Paris to present its results to a wider audience. The project expects the Professional Bachelor degree to have great benefits for its students and their employability by ensuring their personal and professional development to include advanced technical skills combined with managerial, linguistic and cross-cultural skills. It will also give them access to higher degrees. It will enhance the status and attractiveness of the partner institutions by widening their tertiary provision and bridging the divide between VET and HE. It will benefit employers by providing a high quality work-force able to meet the challenges that Europe faces. The partners intend to continue offering this programme beyond the end of the project by widening the course to new specialist pathways, by including a greater number of partner countries and by securing additional sources of funding for the institutions and for the students.