CONTEXT: The Departament d’Ensenyament (DE) is aware of the importance of the work placements carried out in other countries, to strengthen and improve the training quality of students. For this reason, it is intended: 1) to promote and encourage mobility projects. 2) to increase the number of partnerships between Catalan and foreign institutions, to organize training through their own networks of collaborating companies. 3) to overcome the existing obstacles to mobility: internal organization aspects, official recognition of the trainers’ contribution, etc. 4) to promote the inclusion of the FCT (in-company training module) within EU companies in the school’s Educational Project, thus expanding their own curricula. PARTICIPANTS: Project intended for 3 accompanying teachers and 155 participants, of which: A) 135 IVET (intermediate level EQF-4) students, distributed in 40 flows of a duration ranging from 24 to 82 days; these students will be placed in companies located in 11 different countries (Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, United Kingdom) from 16 different professional fields (diplomas regulated either by the LOGSE or LOE education acts). These students come from 30 different VET sending institutions, which together with the DE will manage the flows. B) 20 students following basic vocational education (EQF-3). Their organization, management and follow up is directly carried out by the Service of Initial Professional Qualification Programmes, within the Directorate General of Initial Vocational Education and Training and Specialised Education of DE. Students are organized into a single flow of 20 students and three accompanying teachers, for a work placement period of 2 weeks in the region of Piedmont (Italy). They belong to the professional fields of Cooking, Restaurant Service, Trade and Marketing. NEEDS: This project answers the need of improving the transversal and professional competences, to which is added the need to further increase mobility actions of students with special difficulties (intermediate level and basic vocational training). The task of supporting sending training centres, carried out by the DE in the last years, has contributed decisively to the promotion of mobility among this target group. On the other hand, the need for more accurate selection makes the number of participants per flow (3’5 in the current edition) even lower than in previous projects (3’7 in 2013), tending to individual mobility, instead of the group mobility existing so far. This explains the inclusion in this project of an even greater number of sending training centres and host partners than in the previous proposal. OBJECTIVES: 1) To increase the level of professional skills of people involved in initial vocational training through the performance of tasks in different working environments, with a full recognition as an integral part of the compulsory in-company training module. It contributes to improve the employability of participants. 2) To increase the level of cooperation between VET training centres from Catalonia and counterparts in other European regions, as a source of innovative initiatives, even outside Erasmus+ programme. Creating dynamic, open and internationally projected training centres. 3) To open the educational system to a wider world, complying thereby with the EU objective of guaranteeing a qualified workforce able to work and communicate with people from other countries. METHODOLOGY: The DE understands that a quality collaboration between partners is based on the principles of: - Mutual Trust - Reciprocity of actions, based on a mutual interest - Respect for the sending training system The DE works on two levels to ensure that these conditions are met: a) Regional level: - The unit of international VET programmes becomes a mobility platform facilitating quality experiences: supporting sending training centres, identifying potential host partners, etc. The DE selects sending centres though a call for proposals. Afterwards, sending centres are organized in a network through the creation in 2014 of the Programme for training mobility and international cooperation in VET and the use of a Moodle platform for the project management. - Public liability and accidents insurance policies taken by the DE for mobile students. - Full recognition of the work placements as part of the in-company training using the qBID system. b) Transnational level: - Participating in transnational networks of cooperation in VET - Establishing bilateral agreements with other territorial authorities to work together in promoting and improving IVET. - Participating in EU programmes and initiatives. RESULTS AND IMPACT: In addition to the achievement of the objectives mentioned above, the participants have carried out 4.824 days or work placements, equivalent to approximately 30.000 recognized hours of official in-company training.