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MEET ITALY - VET Mobility for Employability
Start date: Jun 1, 2016, End date: Mar 31, 2018 PROJECT  FINISHED 

In times of the economic crisis in Croatia and the high rates of youth unemployment facilitating transition of young graduates to the job market becomes extremely valuable. The tourist Industry in Croatia is one of the most important generators of new jobs, and one of the branches with the greatest potential for future growth of employment, especially in the Dalmatia region. VET learners graduating from the Hotel and Tourism Technicians course can potentially find employment in an array of work places on the tourist market, such as receptionists in hotels, campsites, tourist agencies, always in contact with people from different countries and cultures. However, the knowledge, skills and competencies that learners bring to the labour market at the moment don't satisfy labour market needs.To be able to carry out that jobs in a quality manner the learners need to govern a vast number of professional and transversal skills and competencies, speak different foreign languages, have a good general culture knowledge, good communication skills, know how to behave in work environment. The internship in tourist facilities abroad is critical for VET learners for increasing their employability on the local, national and EU labour market.The main purpose of this project is to provide VET learners from Tourism sector with skills that match the needs of the labour market – national and transnational - and thereby to increase their chances for a smooth transition into work life.The project, 22 months long, has the specific objective to develop and certify practical skills on state-of-the-art equipment in tourism structures that work with cutting-edge technologies, and soft skills (such as dealing with customers and work-specific terminology in foreign language) in a real-world environment to 60 students (4 groups of 15). The learners, 17 to 19 years old, in their 4th and final year of training in Hotel and Tourism course in the Hotel, Tourism and Catering school in Zadar, Croatia will take part in a mobility activity in Bergamo (Lombardy), Italy. This objective will be achieved through traineeships in modern tourism structures, namely hotels and travel agencies. The mobility will last 3 weeks and will be preceded by a preparatory phase (pre-departure and on-arrival) to introduce the experience from the cultural and practical point of view, contextualizing them within the professional training which they will be attending. The learners will reinforce their existing skills and learn new ones working in a different, international reality of their own professional sector. Since the learners already have a basic practical experience and have a good linguistic preparation, they will be able to use this 3-week mobility experience to the fullest.The experience will include a 1-day on-arrival preparation, a 1-day midterm evaluation and a 1-day final evaluation, organized by the Hosting Partner. It is decided that the mobility will last 3 weeks in order for the learners to have enough time to adjust and get introduced to their new surroundings, become acquainted with the working environment, absorb the specific language terminology, and have enough time for a quality training process. The choice of the host countries is linked to the fact that Italy represents one of the most competitive areas for the tourism industry.The project is promoted by Hotel, Tourism and Catering School Zadar in collaboration with Ikaros Vocational Education and Training institute. The mobility of VET learners in the partner countries will improve social cohesion and international cooperation. The cooperation between the VET training institutions will, on the one hand, contribute to the internationalization of their courses, comparison and division of best practices, creation of new cooperation projects in the future and the possibility of involving new international partners in future projects. This will inevitably promote intercultural learning of all parties included. The visibility of the project, ensured by the dissemination activities of the partners involved, will make visible the quality of VET training and employment and professional opportunities, making vocational training a more modern and attractive learning option. Finally, the resulting increase in the number of qualified workforce in the respective sectors will bring upon a reduction of the unemployment rate and consequentially contribute to the economic growth on the European level. The new workforce will not only be qualified for the respective area of work, but will also be more adaptable to the international and intercultural working environments. Also, it will influence the international labour force mobility, with qualified young people equipped with intercultural and interpersonal skills for finding employment in the home country and abroad.

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