Context/background of the project CollegesWales employed a full time International Coordinator in November 2010 to engage the Further Education Colleges in Wales in European funded projects. The job was funded for one year (1/11/10 - 1/11/11) by the Welsh Government who specified that a key outcome of the International Coordinator's role was to submit a centralised application for Leonardo da Vinci funding in February 2011 on behalf of the FE sector in Wales. This funding would enable apprentices to undertake two to three week work placements in Europe. The application was successful and subsequent centralised applications for funding in 2012 and 2013 have also been successful and have attracted funding between them of over 400,000 Euro enabling 138 participants(the project has included apprentices and IVET learners since the 2012 application) to undertake short tem work placements in various European countries. This is the second year that CollegesWales has submitted a centralised application for funding for staff mobility under Erasmus+. A successful application for funding was made in 2014 that will enable 18 Teaching & Learning Managers to undertake staff training in Finland in May 2015. Methodology to be used in carrying out the project The Erasmus+ guidance specifies procedures for bids to be entered on behalf of VET consortia - CollegesWales has adopted this methodology of applying for funding since its first Leonardo learner mobility application in 2011. This is CollegesWales' second application for staff mobility funding and CollegesWales is the applicant organisation with 8 FE colleges in Wales as consortium members. The objectives of the project are to: - ensure CollegesWales' commitment to the sustainability of the Rainova project - to further develop the FE sector in Wales' knowledge and engagement with innovation - to improve the FE sector in Wales' interaction with SMEs in relation to innovation - to provide a platform for the FE sector in Wales to become part of a wider European network of actors involved in innovation and knowledge transfer. Number and profile of participants There are 15 participants involved in this staff mobility project:- 14 of the participants are from eight Further Education colleges and one participant is from CollegesWales. The participants are all senior members of staff within their organisation and would be capable of affecting change in practices within their own colleges based on the good practice that will be seen during the visit. The European partner is Tknika, a centre for innovation in the Basque Country, that has provided CollegesWales with a letter of agreement commiting itself to organising an appropriate training programme for the participants in the Basque Country. Tknika has worked for over four years with CollegesWales on learner and staff mobility projects as well as on the Rainova project. CollegesWales has hosted a delegation of Basque teachers in 2012 exploring strategies for teaching entrepreneurship in Wales. Activities that will take place The visit will last 5 days - 2 days travel and 3 days training - an outline of the proposed training programme is in Section G. Impact and longer term benefits Participants will return to their partner organisations & report on the visit to the senior management team at the college - there may be ideas that could be immediately put in practice and ideas that need to be considered in more detail or piloted before putting in to action but the main reason for implementing or piloting these ideas is that they will lead to a raising of awareness of strategies for innovation within the FE sector in Wales and its engagement with SMEs. CollegesWales will seek to maximise the dissemination of the project to ensure that it has as wide an impact as possible on the greatest range of relevant groups.