The third face-to-face, transnational meeting of the 'Go For Vet in Erasmus+' project of the Erasmus+ programme of the EU was held in Finland on 23-25 January, hosted by partner Ankkapurha Culture Foundation/ Anjala Youth Center, with LTB personnel travelling to Finland to participate as one of the partners of the project.

Each partner meeting is designed to include study site visits for the partners to become familiarised with the culture of internship within each partner country, and to learn from best practices and dialogues with local businesses and organisations.

It is reminded that the project involves five partners from Poland, Finland, Cyprus and Greece who are working together to strengthen the potential of VET providers to implement vocational international traineeships under Erasmus + (2021-2027).

The partnership will achieve this by developing and implementing new learning agreement programmes for four professions; as well as development of recommendations and good practices in the field of inclusion of students with disability into international vocational mobility projects under the Erasmus+ programme.

During the meeting dates, the partners visited Café Kiipula; a restaurant that is run by students with special needs/disabilities and is part of vocational studies of restaurant catering in the region, as well as Edukovocational school, Multicultural center Saaga, Kouvola Youth Services, Youth House “NuPa” and Parik foundation, where they enjoyed dialogue and discussion on the organisation structures, philosophies and their culture of internship and hiring, with an emphasis on persons with disability.

An office conference was also held to discuss the progress of the project and its aims, as well as the next steps and responsibilities of each partner. Included in this was the Learning Agreements and the Desk Research, building upon what was presented in Cyprus in October 2023.

Larnaka Tourism Board as Cyprus partner is responsible for the ‘Hotel Technician’ vocation portion of the project and hosted the second transnational meeting in Larnaka in October 2023. As part of the Cyprus site visits the partners met with experts in the fields of tourism and hospitality and education, and employers of persons with a disability, as well as with staff from the island’s school for the blind, with each offering a different perspective on vocational internships and employment.

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January 30, 2024