This project has been developed in accordance with the Strategy for the Development of Vocational Education 2014 - 2020 of the European Commission, which gives priority to quality of vocational training of young people in order they to be relevant to the requirements of the labour market. "Improving the Students’ Professional Competence and Skills in an Intercultural Background" is a project in which the beneficiary is Knyaz Simeon Tarnovski High School of Economics, Stara Zagora, Bulgaria ( complete legal name- Targovska Gimnaziya Knyaz Simeon Tarnovski) . The final- users of the project are 20 students from the High School, including 10 students from the 11th grade studying Economic Informatics and 10 students from the 12th grade studying Business Administration; two teachers - mentors; the headmaster of the High School. During the last week /five working days/ the headmaster will be monitoring the professional placement of students out at ADC College, London. The project’s partner is ADC College, London, United Kingdom. Practical training will be held in March 2015 in ADC College, London, UK. The acquired knowledge and placement skills during the training will be validated by: Europass curriculum vitae (CV), Europass mobility and Certificate of conducted mobility on professional placement in real business background. The internship, held abroad, will be considered by the High School of Economics as professional placement on the specialty with the decision of the pedagogical coucil. European markets and, in particular, the Bulgarian market in times of economic crisis require competitive workforce, showing professionalism. There is a mismatch between the requirements of the labour market and skills of job seekers. The main goal that sets this project is upgrading and improving their knowledge and skills of students by providing a work placement in an intercultural environment. The specific objectives are: - To create conditions for the development of professional skills and knowledge of the students; - To encourage young people to learn about European innovative systems and best practices in order to improve the quality of professional training; - To share best practices among the partner organizations; - Encouraging mobility between European countries. To achieve the goals, the project will go through three stages covering the required set of activities: -Preparatory stage- sequencing of the programme with the partner organization; organizational activities /to become aware of the activities offered by ADC College, history of the college, the selection of end-users in the project, preliminary acquaintance with the history and culture of the UK, making a presentation of the High School , insurances, travel tickets /; -Real stage- conducting a three-week work placement in ADC College, London, practical training on the specialty through professional expert sessions, professional support, independent project work, presentations, and evaluation of the results of the developed students’ projects and monitoring on the individual development of each participant, preparation of weekly reports and filling out questionnaires; -Final stage- popularizing, reporting and multiplication of the project’s results at local and national level, analyzing the activities as well as the results of the project. Activities will be promoted among students and teachers in the High School, the Regional Inspectorate of Education, Stara Zagora, local business representatives, who must increasingly adapt to EU requirements and needs highly- qualified personnel, National Audit Office, Chamber of Commerce, Regional Agency for Economic Development, software companies and other economic institutions that are closely related to the provision of jobs for the conduct of students’ work placement. The project participants expect to achieve long-term results that correspond to the reforms in vocational education at a state and European level: • increasing as well as improving the practical competence, knowledge and skills of the students in order to use them in their future career; • encouragement of the mobility between European countries; • providing opportunities for students to apply what they have already learned in school through professional placement in multicultural background; • encouragement of young people to learn about European innovative systems and best practices in order to improve the quality of professional training; • enhancing personal qualities in an unfamiliar environment; • Users will have enriched the knowledge of the history of the United Kingdom, as well as be able to put into practice their knowledge of language culture; • promoting of Bulgarian culture, traditions and customs. The developed project is tailored to the specific priorities and objectives set out in the Regional Development Strategy of Stara Zagora for the period 2005 – 2015 as well as the High School Strategy for Development.