Two projects are conducted under the joint headline “Lore-Lorentz goes Europe”: Project A: Thinking European: Transnational Quality Management for the Provision of Drinking Water Project B: Working European: 4you – 4 Fields of Work in Economics and Administration open up the European Job Market Project background: Lore-Lorentz-Schule Düsseldorf is committed to international understanding and quality development in vocational education through its school programme and its mission statement. For many years work placements abroad have been conducted especially with the Environmental Technicians, Business Assistants specializing in foreign languages and Foreign Language Assistants. Project A: Number of participants and their profiles: 12 pupils are taking part from the educational profile “Leaving certificate of full-time vocational school State-certified environmental technician including university entrance qualification” Activities: The participants will work in company laboratories of large waterworks in Austria and Italy. During their placements they will apply skills and competences which they acquired in class and will expand their technical and professional skills in the following areas: mastering of chemical and biological methods of quality control in monitoring drinking water, comparison of different methods of the extraction of drinking water, comparison of statutory norms and regulations in Germany and in the partner states as well as acquiring competences in IT-skills, language skills and organizational skills. Project A will be conducted in close cooperation with the school’s partner “Stadtwerke Düsseldorf” (municipal utility, water and energy company). Project B: Number of participants and their profiles: 12 pupils are taking part from the educational profile “state-certified business assistant specializing in foreign languages including university of applied sciences entrance qualification (full-timevocational school)”. Activities: The participants will open up opportunities of the diverse European job market through the example of four institutions. They will apply, practice and improve skills and competences from the fields of economics and languages which they have already been practicing in class. The aim of this professional path is to become qualified and internationally applicable through profound technical competences in the foreign language. The course of education prepares mainly for the fields of implementing procedures in a multi-lingual common European market or in international oriented administration and aims to make students familiar in dealing with factual, legal, administrative and personnel related processes of the inner European and international markets. They are prepared to apply means and techniques of modern office communication for text production, presentations and data processing and transfer. The four chosen partners are very suitable to open up European perspectives on the job market because of their areas of operation. Projects A and B: Intercultural competences: The participants will gain intercultural competences through their participation in work processes of the partner organizations as internationally operating companies and by participating in the social life of their European neighbourhood states. They will be able to experience cultural differences and similarities and will communicate the idea of Europe back into our school and inspire other pupils in other educational profiles to seek occupations abroad, be it as work placements, university education or employment. Procedure of project implementation, targeted results and impacts, long-term benefits: The partner institutions and participants have been chosen on the basis of specific criteria and long-term experience. The supervision of the participants is conducted in cooperation with parents, teachers, and supervisors of the partner institutions. The realization is primarily prepared, monitored and evaluated by the school and follows ECVET quality standards: quality and management aspects are coordinated with the partner institutions and are based on the European Credit System for vocational education. Competence-oriented ECVET-partnership and learning agreements are formulated and implemented. The Europass-CV is applied in the process and competence-oriented Europasses are issued. The aimed result for the participants is an increase in competence on the levels of professional, technical, linguistic, information-technological, organizational, social and personal skills. The aimed results with the partners are the improvement of good-neighbourly relations across borders, the increased willingness to offer work placements for applicants from abroad, the orientation along ECVET standards and the intention of finding new partners abroad. The idea of a closer union among the European states and cultures is an overall aim which we hope to further through a multiplying effect.