The European Knowledge Center for Mobility (EUKCEM) II project aims at contributing to a European Area of Skills and Competences and increased EU mobility by offering an one stop shop for important mobility processes including ECVET. The project is a follow-up of the LLP Leonardo da Vinci project EUKCEM that supported quality in mobility by structured step by step information about mobility processes for all actors involved (host organisations, sending organisations and beneficiaries) as well as by a partner search database of quality organisations, that assured to follow certain quality standards and agreed to get rated for their performance by beneficiaries. EUKCEM II will add important components to further support coordinators in mobility and also participants. The added contents will be a growing database of ECVET learning outcomes as well as attractive and user friendly tutorials about the five important parts of every mobility project, such as application, preparation, implementation, evaluation and finalisation. While the participation in EU mobility for students in higher education has become already very usual, for VET learners this is still an exception - even if it is recommended by many stakeholders and meanwhile seen as useful not only for big companies but also SMEs. In Germany work placements abroad are even regulated in the Federal Training Act. A study carried out in 2009/2010 by the University of Jena in cooperation with the mobility consultant of the IHK Ostthüringen showed that 93% of companies and 92% of trainees were not even aware of the possibility to take part in a mobility programme. And even if known, the barriers to start this process, to apply for and manage a mobility project besides other tasks are high for all VET providers - companies and schools. Besides, there are doubts about the recognition. European mobility and tools for the transparency and recognition of skills since years have highest priority on the agenda of the European Commission. During the last years European initiatives were put in place promoting the transparency and recognition of skills and qualifications and mobility (eg. the European Qualifications Framework EFQ, tools for credit systems, quality assurance and documentation of skills and competences). The implementation of these initiatives, as it was pointed out at the conference "Towards a European Area of Skills and Qualifications", has been slow and mobility is still hampered between and within countries, both in the area of education and in the area of employment. For this reason the EUKCEM II project aims at adding further content on the EUKCEM platform addressing those doubts and further facilitating the management of mobility project, with ECVET as integral part. Video animated tutorials, checklists and training contents delivered in webinars from a practicioner point of view about topics such as "From idea to application", selection of beneficiaries, definition of learning outcomes... until how to document and prepare the final report will practically support project coordinators. A growing database about ECVET learning outcomes as basis for the own definition of the outcomes will facilitate the use of ECVET in mobility by far.
The European Knowledge Center for Mobility (EUKCEM) II project aimed at contributing to a European Area of Skills and Competences and increased EU mobility by offering a one-stop shop for important mobility processes including ECVET. While the participation in EU mobility for students in higher education has already become very common, the numbers of VET learners are still far lower - even if work and learning experiences abroad are recommended by many stakeholders, VET schools and more and more also companies. The barriers to apply for and manage EU funded mobility projects besides other tasks are high for all VET providers - companies and schools. Besides, there are doubts about the recognition of learning contents and outcomes. The EUKCEM II project therefore aimed at addressing those doubts and further facilitating the management of mobility projects, with ECVET as integral part - from practicioners for practicioners. The project was a follow-up of the LLP Leonardo da Vinci project EUKCEM that supported quality in mobility through structured step by step information about mobility processes for all actors involved (host organisations, sending organisations and beneficiaries) as well as through a partner search database of quality organisations, that assured to follow certain quality standards and agreed to get rated for their performance by beneficiaries. Based on the feedback gained for the initial web contents, EUKCEM II did a relaunch of the platform www.eu-mobility.eu and added structured information on four aspects: 1) Mobility Management including practical checklists, templates, practicioner advise and video tutorials for the five important parts of every mobility project, such as application, preparation, implementation, evaluation and finalisation. 2) ECVET: Besides video tutorials and information, the project designed a growing database of ECVET learning units and outcomes that can be either seen as source of information, as inspiration or already as part of learning agreements (transfer option). 3) Are you ready: Beneficiaries are addressed in a more targeted way with information, videos (mobility stories) but also an interactive tool for preparation. 4) The partner search tool was kept from the first EUKCEM project. The partnership, composed of experienced mobility coordinators from Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, the UK and Germany brought in their experiences and best practices as sending, intermediary and host organisations in EU mobility. The main contact person at the Dutch partner in addtion is national ECVET expert. Each partner organisation was responsible for at least one of the intellectual outputs and contributed to the contents of the web platform in addition to organising webinars and face-to-face workshops. In the last year of the project, since 25.09.2017, the web platform www.eu-mobility.eu reached ca. 31.000 visitors. EUKCEM Facebook posts partly reached more than 3.000 persons (Step by step through all phases of an Erasmus+ KA1), the same post at the facebook page of the coordinator reached more than 4.600 persons, a post about mobility partnerships more than 4.100 persons, etc. Also more than 400 people directly participated in the project through face-to-face workshops, webinars and events and provided positive and valuable feedback. Local, regional and also European partnerships were established that last also after the end of the project. The project partners integrated the materials created within the EUKCEM II project into their regular activities, use them for their own mobility projects and also together with their partners from other European countries. Therefore, the partners as well as other organisations involved in mobilities across Europe will benefit also in the long term. All web resources will be kept and also synergies are built with a project about quality in mobility.