With our project, we set ourselves the goal of giving trainees and full-time students at vocational colleges in the Münsterland region the opportunity to gain work experience with and at foreign companies. The aim was to give them the opportunity to gain practical work experience in other European countries and to acquire or expand their intercultural and foreign language skills. We also wanted the project to support the development of competencies and skills relevant to the labor market. By working and living abroad for one month, we intended participants to improve their intercultural, language and professional skills and thus increase their chances on the labor market. Furthermore we - the two cooperating businss colleges - wanted to establish a network of educational institutions to provide individual support that prepares for and accompanies vocational training. The teachers`collaboration of the colleges aimed at continuously improving the quality of education. Number and profiles of participants: 75 students in full- and part-time commercial training courses.
We launched the project "Reaching out for Europe VI" to promote the professional mobility of young people in Europe in vocational education. By implementing a professional mobility, we wanted to enable the participants to gain valuable experience abroad and to get to know new cultures and ways of working. The exchange of knowledge and ideas was meant to contribute to their personal and professional development. Another reason for carrying out the project was to promote intercultural dialogue and strengthen European identity, thus contributing to European cooperation and integration. In order to strengthen the European idea in Münsterland, we - two commercial colleges in Münster and in Coesfeld - came together to use synergy effects and to intensify regional cooperation. This cooperation arose from a consortium and is accompanied by the EU office of the district government of Münster. It builds on the joint experience with the EU programs Leonardo and Erasmus+ mobility, which have already been successfully implemented in cooperation since 2010.