The LPA des Combrailles provides a wide range of courses related to pets and dogs. It is located in 2 different towns : in Saint Gervais d’Auvergne, where vocational qualifications related to cats and dogs management are proposed and in Pontaumur (25 km away) where vocational qualifications related to animal management are proposed. The whole school teaches about 400 students, apprentices or adults. It was founded in 1982 and therefore provided the first diplomas in dog breeding in France offering now more than 10 qualifications in dog / cat breeding, dog /cat keeping, dog security agent, dog training, dog grooming, sheepdog, rescue dog, pet shop assistant, animal care worker … The LPA des Combrailles is equipped with several teaching facilities : - a dog and cat breeding farm : about 12 breeds, 70 adult dogs, 70 to 90 puppies per year - a dog grooming parlour open to the public by appointment - a dog kennel and a training area for dog security agents - a sheep breeding farm with 250 local breed ewes for sheepdog and livestock training - a 43 hectare farm with a pool, a wood and biodiversity - indoor pet rooms including about 150 species divided into 5 sectors : fish keeping, birds, small mammals, insects and reptiles - outdoor aviaries and park - a honeybee farm with 70 beehives The LPA des Combrailles is renowned all over the country ; it is situated in a rural area and longs for an increase of its international relationships. It already has a long experience in informal international projects. International cooperation is one of the 5 missions of agricultural teaching in France, which states that each school is responsible for the development of exchanges with foreign partners. European class exchanges (with Scotland, Sweden, Finland) and individual work placements abroad (in Ireland, Canada, Belgium, Spain, England, Poland and Switzerland) are carried out every year. The LPA des Combrailles is a member of the Regional Plan for the development of European mobility cofinanced by the European Social Fund and signed a partner charter with the Auvergne Regional Council in September 2012. The objective of this plan is to develop mobility at every stage of life. 2 teachers – Mr Dumas and Ms Farge – trained as coordinators of international actions, have a lot of experience with international exchanges and cooperation and have achieved long –term relationsships with foreign partners. Thanks to this project and the collaboration of our 4 partners in Belgium and Finland, we hope to reach the following objectives : to allow our students to increase their skills, gain multicultural knowledge, develop their self-esteem in a new professional situation and increase their being employable. The staff will exchange and gain teaching practices. The project will enable the organisation to include an international dimension in its school plan and deepen its request of the opening of a class in which some subjects are taught in English. Locally the impact is to provoke some awareness that it is necessary now to include long-term mobility experiences in our methods. Our local area – les Combrailles - will gain some European visibility and some acknowledgement from the project ; and therefore will be less isolated and underprivileged. This also will add a stronger feeling of belonging to Europe and help building shared teaching policies.