Background Many European businesses & industries face great challenges in order to remain competitive players in the global arena. The Going far with European VET (GoEUVET) project has been designed to meet some of the challenges: Vocational training less valued by young people In a recent survey, McKinsey & Company found that nearly 2/3 of the young people who participated in the study agreed that vocational training was less valued by society. Fewer than 40% of those who said they preferred vocational work actually sought out this type of training. In Sweden, only 28% of young people apply for vocational education. At the same time, youth unemployment in Sweden is 25%. Many companies still can't fill their vacancies There are a large number of young, educated people available for work, but many companies still can't fill their vacancies. In the above mentioned McKinsey & Company survey, 43% of the employers stated that candidates don't possess the skills they need. Yet 72% of educators believe new graduates are qualified to land jobs in the real world. In conclusion, educators don’t seem to be aware of what employers are looking for & students may have skills, but not the right ones. For instance, international experience is highly appreciated by the employers. Still few students are provided a transnational learning opportunity as part of their education. ECVET – still a well-kept secret Few VET providers in Europe have discovered ECVET as a mean to quality assure learning opportunities abroad & for VET development. Too few projects utilizing ECVET in practice have been conducted making it difficult to communicate the ‘real’ added value of ECVET. ECVET also needs further investigation, eg is still a challenge for VET teachers to describe & assess learning outcomes. Aim & objectives According to the European growth strategy EU 2020, the EU member states should aim to deliver high levels of employment, productivity & social cohesion. In order to respond to this strategy, a new framework - Education & Training 2020 - has been created including strategic objectives, two of them concerning mobility opportunties & VET quality. The aim of the GoEUVET project is to organise transnational, transparent, transferable & recognisable learning opportunties for VET students in the Trade & administration, Hotel & turism, Car, trucks & Transport, & Restaurant sectors. The involved teachers will be introduced to ECVET & start to develop the mobility concept of the VET program utilizing ECVET. In doing so, the project aims to achieve the following important objectives in line with EU 2020, ET 2020 as well as local goals & strategies at Elof Lindälvs gymnasium & Kungsbacka municipality related to these objectives: Improve VET attractiveness & offer more learning opportunties abroad Providing opportunities to study or work abroad as part of a VET qualification has proved to increase the attractiveness of VET. An immediate effect of the ECVET based European classes at ELG was an increase of student applications. Transnational mobility opportunities also proved to attract more motivated students with better grades & students tend to achieve better results if they are offered an opportunity to study or do work placement abroad as part of their VET program. Improve VET quality by international cooperation Internationalization is often used as a synonym to high quality when communicating VET. Still, few VET providers use this mean to increase VET attractiveness or for organizational development. However, experiences from the previous EURIAC & ECT projects proved that international cooperation indeed had positive impact on the involved VET programs, eg competence development, opportunity to benchmark one’s own VET program, & increased understanding of the pros & cons of one's own & other educational systems in Europe. Reduce youth unemployment The job profiles of the involved VET programs are highly international & students could work anywhere in the world after graduation. To create transparent & transnational learning opportunities within these sectors would therefore blaze a trail to the European labour market for the 70 students that would be involved in the GoEUVET project. Some of the expected results, impact & long term benefits: - Increased attractiveness of involved VET - Increased number of transnat.mobility opportunities for VET students - Increased teacher readiness for international cooperation in the involved VET programs - Increased knowledge of how to utilize ECVET to organize transparent & transferable transnational learning opportunties - Improved student results & higher motivation - Decreased youth unemployment & increased EU labor mobility In conclusion, the GoEUVET project will contribute to the fulfillment of goals & objectives at ELG, Kungsbacka municipality, Gy2011, ET 2020, & EU 2020. Ultimately it promotes a European identity, European labor mobility, & European cohesion.