In a world that is growing together more and more every day, especially in a European context, cross-cultural competences and work experiences abroad get more and more important -especially when looking for a place of employment. Therefore the facilitation of individual competences concerning the ability to get a job after finishing school or the apprenticeship is a focal point of the project 'Competences for a European Future'. The project consists of three activities. With the first activity (A1) the Max-Weber-Berufskolleg facilitates internship abroad for 80 apprentices. Most of the participants in this activity are completing a two-year additional qualification called IM/A (International Marketing / Trade. The additional qualification IM/A is offered in cooperation with the chamber of commerce Düsseldorf. An important part of this qualification is an internship abroad lasting at least three weeks. At the beginning of this course the companies the apprentices are working at had to commit to this course and state that they will support the apprentices doing this course and the internship abroad. Many companies in the Düsseldorf-area have good connections to companies abroad or even have branches in other countries. Therefore most of the participants in this activity will be able to find a work placement abroad with the support of the companies they are working for. The course will consist of about 25 students per year. The other participants in the activity A1 will be apprentices not completing the additional qualification. For the last few years the Max-Weber-Berufskolleg has been supporting students doing their apprenticeship getting financial support from the European Union via the GEB, which is a special department of the district government. Max-Weber-Berufskolleg has also been preparing the apprentices for their stay abroad and monitoring the work placements. As the number of apprentices interested in work placements abroad and financial support has been increasing steadily we estimate that there will be roughly 15 students per year in this activity. As most of the companies the apprentices are working for have connections to or branches in other European countries most students will be able to find a work placement abroad on their own or with the support of the companies they are working for. The activity A2 is designed for students attending commercial college (zweijährige Berufsfachschule). With this activity we would like to give a total of six students the opportunity of a three-week work placement abroad. Graduates of this form of commercial college often have problems finding a suitable apprenticeship afterwards. Therefore this activity aims at improving the employability of the students. With the activity A3 Max-Weber-Berufskolleg aims at improving the quality of education at the vocational school. The focal point is to facilitate the competence-oriented approach in vocational education. This approach is widely used in vocational education in Finland, so we plan to develop best-practice examples in cooperation with our Finish partner in Oulu (OSAO). During the 24 month of this activity six teachers from Düsseldorf will visit our partner institution in Finland. The search for work placements in activities A1 and A2 will be conducted by the students or apprentices themselves with the help of the companies or teachers from Max-Weber-Berufskolleg. Only in special cases OSAO will assist with looking for work placements in the Oulu area. Assisting the students before, during and after the mobilities will be Max-Weber-Berufskolleg -including a seminar for the cross-cultural preparation. The monitoring will be done via a blog written by the students. The participants of the activities will be provided with a tablet PC from the school. Before going abroad every student has to sign an individual learning agreement. This will be the reference for the monitoring during the work placement. After the mobility every student will be given a EUROPASS-mobility as well as a certificate issued by the school. With the EUROPASS-mobility components from ECVET are used in certifying the work placements abroad. With the mentioned activities Max-Weber-Berufskolleg intends to support the students doing an apprenticeship (activity A1) and the students attending commercial college (A2) to expand their competences as agreed upon in the individual learning agreement. The focal point here is to help the students gain a better position for entering the job market. Furthermore we aim at further embedding the European idea in young people's heads. Additionally the participants get the chance to improve their skills concerning ICT while blogging and using tablet PCs. A long-term objective of activity A1 is to make work placements abroad part of a normal apprenticeship. The aim of the teachers' stay abroad is the facilitation of the competence-based approach to education.