Mobility of trainees and teaching staff in the area of vocational training Within the project called “Euro Netwerk ET/IT- for individual skill development in electrical engineering and information technology during vocational training“ trainees and vocational staff from the Heinrich-Emanuel-Merck-School (HEMS), Darmstadt and the staff of their associates such as training enterprises, IHK, HWK and school authority were sent to European countries to study abroad. 56 trainees of electrical engineering and information technology participated in three-week practical training sessions abroad. These practical training sessions were implemented in cooperation with our partner schools in Austria, Czech Republic and Latvia, where the programme, the learning contents, the training plans and the cultural events were arranged together. The participating trainee electricians were in their first and second year of training and most of them have gratuated middle school. They are training to become electricians to operate technology, energy and building technology or devices and systems. The participating information technology trainees were in their second year of training, having gratuated middle school as well and are learning the occupation of an IT specialist and system integration. The project contributed to a differentiated range of educational programmes from the HEMS, which is encouraging strengths and compensating weaknesses of trainees. Through this project the school is able to offer a personalised, individualised and intercultural learning concept in the European context. Studying for a time in another European country is now an integral component of the school’s concept. Moreover, for our cooperating training enterprises such as Merck, Deutsche Bahn AG, Entega AG, Evonik, the Forschungseinrichtung Gesellschaft für Schwerionenforschung (GSI), der Technischen Universität Darmstadt, Telekom, Software AG, Fraunhofer Institut, mg.softec and KMU the periods of studying abroad are a significant part of the profile development of the trainee programme and the staff qualification concerning global operating enterprises. 56 professionals in vocational education participated in the two to seven- day programmes. In addition to the mentioned partner schools from Austria, Czech Republic and Latvia, a new study abroad programme with a partner school in Portugal could also be implemented. The group of professionals participating in this programme is composed of partners from the training enterprises, teachers, representatives of the chambers of industry and commerce and the departments in charge of the school authorities. Concerning the “educational experts“, the goals, which were set, such as; european curriculum development, didactical and methodological teaching methods, technological transfer, challenges due to a shortage of skilled workers and future oriented energy generation have been archieved through discussions in workshops, training and work shadowing. The profiles of our partner schools ensure that the participants (trainees and teaching staff) for the study periods abroad, especially from a technical point of view regarding the diverse possibilities available, complement the courses on offer at the HEMS. The options include: • the modern training centre for renewable energies and sustainable and future oriented energy supply in Sokolnice (Czech Republic), Pand • Our partner schools in the area of information technology with their certified Cisco-Academy training facilities in which the trainees can reach parts of their Cisco certification • Training centre for cable technology and overhead line construction • Cooperation cotacts of our partners in Czech Republic enable the access to training courses in new technologies (e.g. Skodawerke, EON, employers associations, photovolatik, vocational training fairs) • Vocational school of Vienna with its´ IT and ET educational offers • Vocational school of Eibiswald together with IT- companies and IT-concepts • Liepaja: vocational school for IT/ET and media technics with modern equipment, and the cooperation with mg.softec in Darmstadt