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Training Entrepreneurial Skills Transnationally
Start date: Jan 1, 2015, End date: Dec 31, 2015 PROJECT  FINISHED 

Throughout 2015, Tellus Group sent 24 staff members from vocational centres and enterprises as trainers and business mentors on a one week training assignment from the UK to 012Factory in Caserta, Italy. The participants selected were trainers and professionals from different fields, interested in the development of entrepreneurial education and training. During the mobility they provided training, lessons, presentations, mentoring and workshops to young Italian wannabe-entrepreneurs who are learners at 012 Factory. The objectives were: to improve the participants' competences, develop more effective training methods and help close the gap between vocational training and entrepreneurship. As an overriding objective, the project addressed the issue of youth unemployment. Currently, Italy is facing one of the highest rates of youth unemployment in the EU. Promotion of entrepreneurship is one of the solutions to fighting unemployment among the young. Entrepreneurial education can strengthen problem solving skills, improve the ability to analyse and develop business ideas and increase young people's confidence in starting a new business. Effective entrepreneurship promotion and teaching is very important in attaining these results and can be achieved by improving knowledge and competences of VET school teachers and business incubator mentors. The skills acquired by the participants during their mobility can be replicated on their territory, in particular most of them are based in the South West of the UK which has similar issues of poor level of engagement of young people and youth unemployment. This staff mobility project aimed to support the professional development of its participants by improving their competences and knowledge in the field of entrepreneurship. Through the exchange of best practices, it has developed more effective training methods of VET teachers and business incubator and business mentors. The project also aimed to address the existing gap between vocational training and attaining employment or starting a business by the improving entrepreneurial education in VET centres. Finally, TEST strengthened cooperation between VET centers and business incubators in different countries and contributed to the internationalisation and modernisation of their missions. Tellus Group recruited 24 UK residents among its own staff and the staff of other training centres and working life enterprises,filling the categories of teachers, entrepreneurs and specialists experienced in promoting and teaching entrepreneurship, or willing to approach the subject from a different perspective. They supported and guided italian young entrepreneurs studying at 012factory. The participants were divided in 10 groups of 1 to 4 participants, in order to match their skills with the weekly topics of the academy. The participants also took part in a number of online preparation activities that introduced them to the project’s partner - 012 Factory. This included some linguistic/cultural elements, as well as helping them prepare for the workshops they taught during the mobility week. During their training assignments, the participants worked alongside the 012 Factory employees and trainers. The main tasks performed were providing workshops covering the main aspects of entrepreneurship according to the week's topic and mentoring young Italian entrepreneurs attending the 012Factory "Academy programme" through one-to-one training/mentoring sessions. The modules of the academy touched, among other things, the following topics: market needs analysis, production processes, marketing, legal (intellectual property rights) aspects, business planning. Participants applied their experience and expertise as well as their techniques and teaching methodologies to train these young people and also observe 012Factory methods in order to exchange best practices in entrepreneurial education. The project’s activities successfully improved the participants’ knowledge and skills in entrepreneurial education and promotion by exposing them to a different environment. 012 Factory, on the other hand, had the crucial opportunity to familiarise with and adopt methodologies used by VET schools and enterprises in the UK and to boost the internationalisation opportunities of its students. The learners of 012 factory, as well as its future students, benefited (and will benefit in future) from a better and broader understanding of entrepreneurship due to the increased quality of 012Factory's training. At the end of the project, its success was confirmed by the agreement among the parties for a new project (between Tellus Group and 012Factory), and the establishment of new collaborations for the promotion of new EU funded projects (between participants and their companies and 012factory) and by the collaboration between Tellus Group, 012 Factory and the participants illustrated by the opening of a new 012Factory seat in the South West of England.

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