All trainings at our school prepare for jobs that are evolving particularly quickly. This development requires continually adapted qualifications and skills. LIFELONG LEARNING is the key. Getting acquainted with new techniques, other working methods and contexts through an internship abroad promotes CREATIVITY and PROBLEM-SOLVING THINKING. In addition to these professional competences, we also wanted to sharpen the SOCIAL SKILLS of our students through a three-week group stay abroad. We also wanted to encourage them to further develop their LANGUAGE KNOWLEDGE in a PRACTICAL CONTEXT, which leads to more courage to speak and more self-confidence. The roots of our students lie in more than 70 different countries. Despite this rich diversity, the world of a significant number of our students does not extend much further than their own living environment. Literally, because many students rarely or never cross the national border. Figuratively, because there is a feeling that what is different is strange and threatening. We wanted to create more OPENNESS and EUROPEAN AWARENESS through internships abroad.
Our school provides technical and vocational training in the fields of construction, woodworking, (electro)mechanics, electricity, welding, pipe fitting, industrial sciences, ICT, printing and graphic communications. We prepare our students for higher education and employment on the labor market. Before graduating, our students are introduced to the workplace for the first time through VET-internships of three weeks within their field. In 2019 we submitted our first project application for organizing internships in companies abroad within the Erasmus+ program. In January 2020 we realized our first mobilities in France, Orléans. In the same year we submitted our second project application for internships in other parts in France: Normandy and Perpignan. Through internships in foreign companies and organisations, we can offer our students a broader horizon in which they can strengthen their acquired professional knowledge and skills. In foreign companies and organisations they come into contact with new or different techniques within their profession. They also strengthen their language skills in a practical way in the workplace. By staying abroad together for three weeks, they also further sharpen their social skills.