Background of the project: A clinical practice environment needs to meet the criteria of a powerful learning environment in order to maximize nursing students' learning outcomes. The traditional clinical education model were academic nursing faculty are typically seen as guests on health care units - possessing the clinical skills and knowledge of the curricula, while nursing clinicians are seen as immersed in the day-to-day care of patients and assisting students by demonstrating skills, is no longer sufficient in competencies based education. The literature and the perceptions of nurses and teachers notice that nursing graduates are not prepared to adequately assume their role in real practice. To improve practice education, for the benefit of students, staff and patient, new health care and academic collaboration models are needed. The proposed project commenced from the innovative Dedication Education Unit (DEU) model as introduced by the Flinders University of South Australia (Edgecombe et al., 1999) and further enrolled by the Canadian Nurses Association (CNA, 2004) and the American Associate of College of Nursing (AACN, 2012). A DEU is a clinical site in the hospital, home or long-term care that is developed into an optimal teaching and learning environment through the collaborative efforts of staff nurses, students and the higher education institute (HEI). In a DEU model, staff nurses provide education, coaching and mentoring of students and the HEI supports the staff nurses in that specific role. Moreover, the staff nurses are responsible for the clinical teaching of students and the HEI is responsible for guiding the staff nurses in the education practice. The many positive outcomes that have been published have primarily involved DEU implementation outside Europe. Despite the increasingly focus on these types of innovative educational opportunities in European care settings no projects exist specifically describing the modifications of this model to the European higher education framework, the cross-border cooperation between DEU and the specific training that is needed for nurses and teachers. Aim and method of the project: The DEU project will test and adapt a new model for practice-based learning. It will do so throughout various European contexts. Of primary interest are: 1. quality improvement of the educational methods; 2. entrepreneurial learning and entrepreneurship education; 3. innovative educational methods en training courses; 4. strengthen quality through international cooperation and relations. In the first phase of the project a European DEU model and corresponding guideline, a mentorship train-the-trainer programme for nurses and teachers and related e-learning programme, and a quality control system for DEU will be developed. Secondly, the European DEU model will be implemented and evaluated in five different EU countries within the consortiums. A considerable amount of senior nursing students will be placed at a DEU in or outside their country. Finaly, the experiences and recommendations of the implementation will leed to an optimised state-of-the-art European DEU model with teaching modules and quality control that will be disseminate to a broader network of national and international care and higher education institutions. The main goals of this transnational implementation are to strengthen the concept of DEU in an European education context so to enlarge a stronger identifiable model; to establish a sustainable wide spread international network for teachers and students mobility; and to benchmark with cross-border educational and care settings using high standard quality indicators.