Broad objectives - to improve employability by enhancing academic achievement with real time work experience; through a framework of entrepreneurship to develop understanding & skills in an area designated as a key competence by the European Union; to foster innovation, creativity & entrepreneurship as per the Strategic Objective 3, Bruges Communique's objectives (2011-2020); Ireland's National Policy Statement on Entrepreneurship, seeks to increase the number of entrepreneurs, develop entrepreneurial skills & ensure survival & growth of startups. Specifically our objectives were to develop Confidence, Leadership & Creativity. CONFIDENCE - confidence in a workplace setting, the ability to work as part of a team, presentation of ideas & speaking in front of a group, confidence in working abroad. LEADERSHIP - capability of leading a team, capability of improving people around them, ability to have opinions heard. CREATIVITY - ability to generate new ideas, finding different ways to get tasks done, being creative in dealing with problems. To assess the impact of the program, we paid particular attention to the Participant Reports & we administered IEPC's 2 questionnaires, after the Preparation Seminar & on completion of the program.
This program is the 3rd program Irish Education Partners Consortium (IEPC) has completed successfully. IEPC sees value in such programs and is ready to develop and implement such programs at every opportunity. For the students, working with companies, on real time solution focused projects, enables them to gain valuable experience to compliment their academic studies in the colleges. Travelling to and working/living in a foreign country offers a variety of experiences to enhance career, social and personal needs. For the colleges, looking towards the wider European community in terms of the development of training is very important, giving staff opportunities to develop new strategies to deal with the multicultural environment in colleges. Also course practicums can enhance enrollments. Irish Education Partners (IEP) has been involved in providing mobility programs in Ireland/Europe for over 30 years. Since 2012 IEP was involved in providing PLM and Erasmus+ programs to Irish based students. For the last 4 years IEP provided mobility programs, in partnership with Further Education establishments in Ireland. For a long time IEP had been convinced of the value of mobility programs, for students and colleges of further education.