Central College Nottingham has a proven track record of offering European Mobility opportunities to its learners. This project seeks to continue this excellent initiative with a number of mobility opportunities within the School of Creative and Enterprise, Construction and Technology. There is a great importance for Colleges to be preparing students, not only in vocational excellence, but in the skills needed for enterprise and sustainable employment, which are the key drivers of the Project. This project involves three different schools of learning which have specific needs for each; however there are some common key overall objectives and expected results which apply for all. We would like to carry out this project to support our students in: - gaining new skills, - building confidence, - problem-solving skills, - life skills, - basic language skills and cultural awareness, - teamwork skills, - transferable employment and entrepreneurial skills. Creative The Creative Enterprise Project at Central College Nottingham provides students on Creative Courses the opportunity for professional mentoring in the UK, experience of the UK and German Creative Industries, work experience in Karlsruhe and travel to a European city to broaden cultural awareness. The project will last two years with one flow per year. The students will travel to Karlsruhe, which is Nottingham's twin city. Each flow will have 15 participants and six accompanying persons. Students will be provided with a rich programme of preparation, before they travel to Karlsruhe, Germany for a 2-week work placement. The preparation involves working with a mentor covering areas of professional practice; additionally the students will learn basic German Language skills and German customs and etiquette to prepare them to communicate and live abroad. Central College has established links with the Carl Hofer Schule, a variety of designers and the Karlsruhe City Council Culture Department. The students will experience working at the Carl Hofer Schule alongside contemporary German students on collective projects, including preparation for the design industries. The students will visit new start-up businesses in Karlsruhe, and visit the Eunique Applied Arts International Trade Fair, University HfG, Design Museum, Karlsruhe Palace, Majolica Museum and Contemporary Art Galleries. Each student will have an individual work placement during their visit in an area linked to their specialism; such as a fashion designer, an architect or a photographer. This work placement will be the culmination of the student’s preparation, where they will be able to draw upon their UK Mentoring, German language and team-building and interpersonal skills. Welding The beneficiaries of this project are welding learners enrolled at the College. They will go on 2-week placements to Germany. There would be four flows of participants with 10 students and two accompanying persons. The project has been developed following a thorough consultation exercise with our local employers, who work closely with the College’s welding department, and the successful outcomes from a previous project. Following on from the last project, our learners have excelled and new learners are eager to participate in a placement that would result in learning state of the art technology documented by a certificate, issued by the German partner. The training content involves breakthrough welding technologies with laser and robotics. Upon successful completion of the placement, the German Host Partner, Bildungsgesellschaft mbH Pritzwalk, will issue a certificate for the participants in ´Laser Welding Technologies and Robotics´. Training with laser and robotic welding is not available at our college or similar colleges in the area; although it would enhance employment prospects for our apprentices within the large companies, which currently use laser and robots technology in welding applications. Construction The project will provide students from the Construction School at Central College Nottingham (areas: carpentry, bricklaying, groundworks, plumbing and electrical) with an opportunity to gain a two-week placement in the Czech Republic, Prague, with a vocational training college (Stredni skola technicka). There would be two flows of participants with 10 students and two accompanying persons. The mobility includes training at the college on new methods of preservation and applying modern insulation methods to old buildings such as insulation and renewable energy-related technology e.g. solar. The flow will include work placements which will focus on heritage skills and preservation as well as cultural and work-related activities organised by the host partners. Additionally, the participants will complete a range of short units from a programme in Construction Heritage Skills. Heritage Skills cover specialist skills in a variety of construction trade areas.