One of Europe's priorities for 2020 is to invest in education and to encourage people to “learn, study and update their skills in order to increase employability across Europe. " In this context our objectives are to offer the opportunity of undertaking a vocational training placement abroad to 48 male & female students of a wide age range between 18 up to 60 from different socio economic backgrounds who have been following the curriculum of a variety of courses in order to secure quality jobs either in the local community or further afield. A placement is compulsory in all courses and we offer this opportunity to create awareness of other cultures, to learn more about own culture, increase independence and greater maturity and open up the wider world of the European labour market to students in our college and to bring Europe into the classroom. With the project we want to increase intercultural awareness, tolerance towards others, and active European citizenship. This project will address some of the key competences outlined for lifelong learning in the ET 2020.: The real life working environment is to bring about an improvement in language and foreign language competency, in cultural awareness, in personal growth, in team working and in strengthening professional technical skills relevant to participants’ course of study. Participants will be selected via application form and interview and placed in suitable placements which will be organised in consultation with us by our partner colleges abroad. These partner institutions follow similar programmes and are centres of excellence providing best practice and expertise in their fields. The training content is directly related to participants’ course of study and will be certified using the QQI Level 5/ 6 Work Experience Module . The courses involved will be Languages & European Studies, Architectural Design and Technology, Graphic Design , Interior Design Outdoor Adventure Management, Social Care , Health Science (Pre-Nursing), Special Needs Assisting (Childcare ), Communication and Media Production. All placements will take 3 weeks between January and May 2015 in Germany, Sweden, Finland, Holland, 2 flows to Szentendre, Hungary and 2 separate destinations in France. Participants will experience real working life with the extra bonus/challenge of doing this in a foreign country. Foreign language students will work in offices, shops and school and be staying in host families. They will be totally immersed in the foreign language and culture which will improve their level of understanding and speaking of language, culture and different work practices. Architectural and Design students will be working with CAD, design programmes and make models for real life projects and will need to work following specific instructions and to a deadline. Media students will learn about the professional business environment of media, experience working under pressure and in teams/ about coordination/ organisation and how to present work to clients. Outdoor Adventure management students will experience more favourable weather for their course related activities in top class sailing schools, prepare boats and equipment for the new season and also take part in some training activities with clients. Social care students will work in pre-schools, Youth centres and special needs assistants will work in special needs centres engaging and supporting clients with mental and physical disabilities. They will interact with clients and will need to use body language and be very creative when interacting with the kids and young adults. Nursing students will work with the elderly and assist in the intimate care of the clients. Participants will be monitored and mentored by a tutor from the partner college and by a supervisor in the company. A tutor from the sending college will also accompany the participants at the start of the placement to settle them in and to view the placements and make sure all is up to standard. Participants will be in touch with own coordinator via email and can always contact the mentoring tutor from the partner college in case of any issues that may arise. Evaluation of the placement will be done by mentoring tutor and supervisor at the end of the placement which will contribute 40% of the assessment marks for the QQI Work Experience Module .Participants will need to write a preparatory report , submit a daily reflective diary and a reflective evaluation for completion of the full module and will be assessed by their course tutor and certified by QQI. The impact of the project will be increased confidence, maturity and self-development of participants, increased intercultural awareness of participants, the whole college, partner colleges and local industries in Ireland &abroad through direct contact with respective partners and students. It opens college and wider community to the whole of Europe and encourages mobility & active European citizenship.