The project was initially addressed to 150 recent school graduates to be introduced to a professional development pathway in the SMART Specialization sectors, thanks to a business interaction based learning opportunity in an international perspective. The project has pursued the following objectives: - reinforce non-formal learning opportunities for participants, i.e. the appropriation of a professional attitude in a working environment; - improve professional skills; - stimulate the improvement of competences targeting innovation; - favour a more rapid entry into the world of work; - improve linguistic and transversal skills to be applied in professional and social contexts. While maintaining the same project objectives, the target beneficiaries have expanded with the introduction of 4th year students from upper secondary schools thus meeting the goal of approaching school careers to the labour market and bridging the gap between skills demand and supply. Additionally, thanks to a dedicated staff training programme, skills in the management of mobility aimed at weaker and disadvantaged targets have definitely been improved.
The Autonomous Province of Trento is a VET Mobility Charter 2014-2020 accredited institution. Under the Charter, the Province has implemented the PLUSMUSE (2017 call - EAC / A03 / 2016) and the PLUS-MUSE & SMART projects (2018 call - EAC / A05 / 2017). In full continuity, the two programmes have been followed by the PLUS-MUSE & SMART 2 (under the 2019 call - EAC / A03 / 2018), which has further broadened the set of interventions aimed at young people, with a view to bridging the gap between education and training and the world of work. Using both own and ESF funding, the Province has actually been carrying out multiple programmes, such as language summer courses, school year or semester abroad, financial support to secondary schools for the organization of internship programmes, support to training and vocational training courses for adults. In this perspective, the PLUS-MUSE & SMART 2 project has, no less than the previous projects under this Charter, made it possible to integrate the different programmes into a long-standing training agenda to be further strengthened under the 2021-2027 Charter accreditation.