The project will be a new approach to preparing students to their future professional career: it will combine theoretical and practical knowledge in the field of economics, foreign languages and cultural awareness. The main objective of the project is to equip students with practical skills necessary to set up and run a company on the international market. The project aims at developing participants’ entrepreneurial skills, digital and linguistic ones. Thanks to the project, students will be able to have an insight into the workings of foreign companies, they will establish personal and business contacts with students from abroad and will get to know other cultures, customs and traditions. The project will also instil values such as tolerance, openness and responsibility. There are four schools involved in the project. Zespol Szkol Ekonomicznych Nr 1 in Krakow, Poland is a four-year vocational upper-secondary school providing education to students aged 16-20 in economics, hospitality and tourism. St. Ciaran’s Community School located in Kells, Ireland is a co-educational community school with 600 pupils aged 12-19. IIS Fermi-Galilei is a secondary school based in Ciriè, Italy with 1,100 students. It offers education in Administration, Finance and Marketing, Surveying and scientific subjects. Colegio Rafaela Ybarra is an educative catholic institution located in Madrid, Spain which offers tuition to 1,200 students at Kindergarten, Primary, Upper-Secondary and Vocational Schools. There are 185 students in upper-secondary school and 158 students doing vocational training in business, hairdressing and nursing. The project involves regular classes in each of the schools and short student exchanges in Italy, Spain, Ireland and Poland. All of the partners will go through the standardised procedure and will use English as a means of communication on every step. Students will deal with differences and peculiarities of Irish, Italian, Spanish and Polish markets such as legal system and regulations regarding setting up companies, economic climate and tax conditions, customer needs, marketing activities, ethics in business and negotiations. During student exchanges they will become familiar with the basics of other participants’ mother tongue and acceptable/ unacceptable behaviour. They will visit local places of interest in the area, learn about its history and geography and meet local residents. They will visit local enterprises and get an insight into the workings of each department in these companies. When running fictitious companies students will be expected to act in a professional manner as if they were employees of the company. They will register the company in the national base of fictitious companies and later on in EUROPEN-PEN International base. Students will use textbooks, magazines, the Internet and will set up a website, blog, social network site and apps to advertise their enterprises. In this way they will unwittingly learn about Electronic Conferencing, web design and many other communication skills, including English. Peer-learning, decision-making, workshops, pair work, group work and preparing e-learning courses will be invaluable means of acquiring new skills. Establishing international trade contacts will help improve students’ linguistic skills: business English and the basics of Gaelic, Spanish, Italian and Polish. By the end of the project students will have known legal, economic and tax systems in the four countries. Teachers will be trained in digital skills and they will also improve teaching techniques and language skills. They will promote student-based and problem-solving approach to learning and they will use ICT to a greater extent. Each student will act as an advertisement for their schools to add to their popularity among potential students and their parents. They will promote their region and their motherland. New skills and qualifications will enable students to find jobs easily and add to country’s development. Local enterprises will be aware of highly-motivated students able to work on the international market and willing to hone their skills. After the end of the EU funding all IT labs created for this project will be used by students to continue the running of fictitious companies. Moreover, students not involved in the project will be able to take e-learning courses and gain certificates. All of the participants will easily contact foreigners and will effortlessly get around in foreign countries with no fear of or distance towards other cultures. The experience gained throughout the project will strengthen the entrepreneurship and resourcefulness among students. Being aware that risk is an integral part of business activity, students will not withdraw from such actions but will eagerly take part in business undertakings. All schools involved in the project will consider international cooperation in the future and may initiate similar projects funded by the European Union.
The project was a new approach to preparing students for their future professional career: it combined theoretical and practical knowledge in the field of economics, foreign languages and cultural awareness. The main objective of the project was to equip students with practical skills necessary to set up and run a company on the international market. The project aimed at developing participants’ entrepreneurial, digital and linguistic skills. Thanks to the project, students gained an insight into the workings of foreign companies, they established personal and business contacts with students from abroad and got to know other cultures, customs and traditions. The project also instilled values such as tolerance, openness and responsibility. There were three schools involved in the project. Zespół Szkół Ekonomicznych Nr 1 in Krakow, Poland, is a four-year vocational upper-secondary school providing education to students aged 16-20 in economics, hospitality and tourism. St. Ciarán’s Community School located in Kells, Ireland is a co-educational community school with 600 pupils aged 12-19. IIS Fermi-Galilei is a secondary school based in Ciriè, Italy with 1,100 students. It offers education in Administration, Finance and Marketing, Surveying and scientific subjects. The fourth school mentioned in the application form- Colegio Rafaela Ybarra from Spain resigned in October 2015 therefore it didn’t participate in the project. The project involved regular classes in each school and short student exchanges in Italy, Ireland and Poland. All partners went through a standard procedure and used English as a means of communication each step of the way. Students dealt with differences and peculiarities of Irish, Italian, Spanish (the Spanish school pulled out of the project at the start of the project) and Polish markets such as legal system and regulations regarding setting up companies, economic climate and tax conditions, customer needs, marketing activities, ethics in business and negotiations. During student exchanges they became familiar with the basics of other participants’ mother tongue and acceptable/ unacceptable behaviour. They visited local places of interest in the area, learnt about its history and geography and met local residents. They visited local enterprises and got an insight into the workings of each department in these companies. When running fictitious companies, students acted in a professional manner as if they were employees of the company. They registered the company in the national base of fictitious companies in Poland and in Italy and later on the Polish company worked in EUROPEN-PEN International base. Students used textbooks, magazines, the Internet and set up a website, blog, social network sites (Twitter, Instagram, Facebook,) and apps to advertise their enterprises. In this way they unwittingly learnt about Electronic Conferencing, web design and many other communication skills, including English. Peer-learning, decision-making, workshops, pair work, group work and preparing e-learning courses were invaluable means of acquiring new skills. Establishing international trade contacts helped improve students’ linguistic skills: business English and the basics of Gaelic, Italian and Polish. By the end of the project students gained some knowledge of the legal, economic and tax systems in the four countries. Teachers were trained in digital skills and they also improved teaching techniques and language skills. They promoted student-based and problem-solving approach to learning and used ICT to a greater extent. Each student acted as an advertisement for their schools to add to their popularity among potential students and their parents. They promoted their region and their home country. Students gained new skills and qualifications to improve their chances of finding employment and their ability to become self-employed. Teachers provided the students with references to further enhance their employability, highlight the skills gained in the process of their participation in the project. This project has an impact on the local economy through the students interaction with their tutor companies, this project benefited the country’s development by motivating these students to become part of the skillful international workforce, local enterprises will be aware of highly-motivated students able to work on the international market and willing to hone their skills. After the end of the EU funding all IT Lessons created for this project are currently being used by students to continue the running of fictitious companies. Moreover, students not involved in the project could use the e-learning courses, AppShed and web design and gain certificates. All of the participants developed the skills to communicate with foreigners and also gained valuable experience in European travel and exposure to other cultures. The project strengthened the entrepreneurship and resourcefulness among students.