Creative InternPrize Erasmus Project

Project Title

Creative InternPrize

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for vocational education and training

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2016

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses; Early School Leaving / combating failure in education; Entrepreneurial learning – entrepreneurship education

Project Summary

Creative InternPrize was a partnership between 11 organisations including 3 VET schools, 1 VET provider, 1 adult education provider, 3 universities, 1 enterprise centre and 2 NGOs working in education and training who have come together to develop a concept and start the practice of project oriented apprenticeships and internships in the creative industries.

Project work is generated by the school in partnership with local industry and players in culture, media, social work, youth and other fields and in this way it places students in contact with the labour market. The project work is supported by the use of a virtual digital platform that the partners created.

This platform is designed to become a common working place and cooperation between students under the instruction and mentorship of teachers and the local industry that benefited from the work of the students. This cooperation therefore not only brought VET schools closer to enterprise but also brought enterprise into the school space. The platform is available online so that students can work from home, in their own time, alone or together with others instilling in them a sense of responsibility, cooperation, autonomy and a sense of enterprise.

Teachers and students worked in a startup environment during pilot activities in the partner organisations and then even before the end of the project lifetime partners adopted the InternPrize practice for themselves.

There were two training activities for teachers in Greece and in Spain on the subject of startup and on the InternPrize methodology, use of tools and virtual workspace. 46 participants attended the trainings.

The partners created training content for teachers in VET on the subject of startup and this included resources and materials, manual and user guide of the virtual digital platform. This training on startup is also available as an OERs supported by a telematic university even outside the partnership and beyond the project lifetime. To supplement the training resources the partners created a video gallery of narratives of the InternPrize experiences in the school in which teachers, students and entrepreneurs shared the experience and anecdotes. This process created a wide ownership exercise and at the same time will help future beneficiary teachers and students learn from real life experience of InternPrize. This was also an asset on the curriculum of the students sharing their experience in startup.

The benefits of Creative InternPrize are intended for a wide spectrum of student profiles including :
– gifted students who wish to explore career possibilities in the creative industry,
– students often labeled as having learning challenges due to their aptitude for the practical as opposed to formal education,
– students who have a particular creative streak possibly accompanied by a sense of entrepreneurship and
– students from any gender and geographical, cultural, religious, economic, social background given that InternPrize worked through projects generating positions and vacancies and therefore giving merit to skills and aptitudes.

During the project the partners also explored possibilities of the transfer of the InternPrize experience to other sectors outside the creative industries and indeed some transfer did take place with the use of the resources and platform outside VET and outside what strictly belongs to the creative industries.

The partnership was one based on track record of experience and geared on networking and sustainability beyond the project lifetime. It was oriented towards taking an active part and making a proactive contribution towards further competitiveness in the creative industries, combating of early school leaving and youth unemployment that are at the heart of the strategies of the European Union.

7 Multiplier events were organised by partners and 293 people attended the events. It was planned to disseminate it to 230 people in multiplier events. All the project outputs introduced to the participants. Moreover, local news are published in 11 different newspapers in Antalya. The project is also disseminated at Ohio state University in US by one staff from Akdeniz University. Akdeniz University also disseminated the project to its 158 students and 12 staff of Faculty of Education with a local event in the campus.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 258167 Eur

Project Coordinator

AKDENIZ UNIVERSITY & Country: TR

Project Partners

• UNIVERSITA TELEMATICA INTERNAZIONALE-UNINETTUNO
• INSTITUTO POLITECNICO DO PORTO
• Stucom SA
• Dungannon Enterprise Centre
• Klaipedos r. Priekules Ievos Simonaitytes gimnazija
• NORGES TEKNISK-NATURVITENSKAPELIGE UNIVERSITET NTNU
• EYROPAIKO INSTITOYTO TOPIKHS ANAPTYKSHS