Project addresses the issue of developing students’ skills that help them enter job market, make them entrepreneurial and able to innovate as well as meet demands of business and society. This issue raises requirements for HEIs to focus on such key aspects as innovative teaching methods, practice orientation, problem-based learning, flexibility, etc.Therefore project is targeted to contribute to efforts to empower HEIs to work adequately with business to bring theoretical knowledge and learning experience closer to reality of working environment, to provide the right employability skills. Project aims will be pursued by developing and implementing innovative methodological approach to students' internships based on principles of interdisciplinarity, team-work, problem-based, project-based , inquiry-based learning as well as close collaboration links between HEIs and business companies and targeted to be as much beneficial as possible for higher education institutions, students, enterprises and society in general. In order to reach the aim, the following objectives will be met in the project: 1. Analysis of good practices on innovative approaches to internship in HE in partner as well as other countries will be carried. The main objective of the analysis is to have the state of the art report based on case studies on the best world practices which can be integrated and applied in the project partner institutions. 2. The methodology of smart practice will be developed. The methodology will serve as guidelines for developing and integrating innovative approaches to internship in HEIs. It will discuss the main points on the topic: general concepts, principles, approaches to internships; methods, responsibilities, assessment and evaluation of students’ practice; roles of HEI educators (tutors) and business representatives (mentors); students’ selection process; identification of problems and selection of the most important ones, presentation of the practice results, etc. The developed methodology will be piloted in each partner countries with at least 3 multidisciplinary students’ teams (12 students’ teams in all). 3. The handbook on smart practice results will be worked out. It will be the toolkit including the products, developed during the smart practice activities: research reports, problem-solving strategies, marketing plans, etc., as well as the feedback of the methodology implementation team members (students, university and business representatives) on smart practice challenges and obstacles as well as advantages. While implementing the above mentioned objectives the project will: - bring together members of academic society and business sector to strengthen collaborative links making preconditions for developing new ecosystems; - provide methodological background and instruments for applying innovative approach to developing students’ practical and transversal skills, making them entrepreneurial individuals able to successfully compete in the job market; - provide participants with a world - wide view on relevant educational innovation in teaching and learning; - promote the exchange of experiences between consortium institutions and partner countries on the issue; - foster development of students, researchers, educators and business interaction and stimulate implementation of research outputs in practice. The main project target group is university students. The second target group of the project is university academic staff and business representatives. At least 36 students and 28 supervisors from HEIs and business enterprises will be directly involved in the project activities. More than 300 project target group members will be reached through the project multiplier events. Project consortium is composed of 6 institutions from four European countries (LT, CY, FI, IT): 4 universities and 2 business organizations, representing general interests of the enterprises and the world of work at large.Therefore the knowledge and outcomes worked out during the project will be the result of cross sectoral cooperation in international setting. It is expected that engagement of HEIs with business sector will contribute to promotion of building bridges and share knowledge between the theory and practice, fostering education providers and employers to know more deeply one another's world, elaboration of closer links to business and world of work, in general. This will also have impact on education quality as increased cooperation with labour market will allow education systems to be better aligned to employers' needs and opportunities offered by the world of work.
The project was implemented with the aim to improve the quality and relevance of Higher education (HE) by improving students’ entrepreneurial skills. The project idea was based on the entrepreneurial learning concept which focused on innovative and active learning methods and a multidisciplinary approach which was successfully implemented during students’ SMART internships. The project was targeted to empower HE to work with business in a more intensive and collaborative manner, to bring theoretical knowledge and learning experience closer to reality of working environment, to develop the necessary skills for employability. The innovative methodological approach to students' internships was based on the principles of interdisciplinary, team-work, problem-based, project-based, inquiry-based learning as well as close collaboration between HE and business companies. The innovative methodological approach to students' internships during the project was theoretically and practically tested in the partners' countries. The project consortium was composed of 6 institutions from 4 EU countries: 4 universities (Lithuania, Italy, Finland and Cyprus) and 2 business organizations (Lithuania, Cyprus). The outputs of the project: 1. Analysis of good practices on innovative approaches to internships in HE. The developed analysis provided cases from the participating EU countries on the state of art of internships, trying to identify innovative elements which could serve as a basis for the organization of the SMART practices. This research contributed to further development of the project outputs. 2. The methodology of SMART practice (guidelines how to develop and integrate innovative approaches to internship in HE). The main points in the methodology: general concepts and principles; approaches to internships; methods; responsibilities; assessment and evaluation of students’ practice; roles of HE educators (tutors) and business representatives (mentors); students’ selection process; identification and selection of problems; presentation of the results of internship, etc. The developed methodology was piloted in Lithuania, Italy, Finland and Cyprus in 12 multidisciplinary students’ teams. 3. The Handbook for SMART practice. The main part of the Handbook was dedicated to the tools used for the preparation, implementation and evaluation of the SMART internship. It provides a list of 33 tools with their descriptions, listed in a chronological order. A successive index re-organized them according to the temporal and logical phases of the internship. The Handbook aimed to provide a guidance for HE organisations on planning, organisation, implementation and evaluation of SMART internships. The main target groups of the project were university students, academic staff and business representatives. All the groups were directly involved in the project piloting activities. Their positive feedbacks proved the high relevance of the project results. Multiplier events presented the project outputs to a wide audience. The direct long-term benefit of the project attained for the partners’ organizations (universities and their students). The impact is evidenced from the participants’ (students, tutors, mentors) feedbacks and related to the development of students’ entrepreneurial skills, the establishment of the new university-business collaboration schemes and platforms, integration of multidisciplinary groups into the innovative solutions of real, work-related challenges raised by business organisations.