Administrations go Europe platform for e-learning and updating supports Erasmus Project

Project Title

Administrations go Europe platform for e-learning and updating supports

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 2014

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Intercultural/intergenerational education and (lifelong)learning; International cooperation, international relations, development cooperation; Open and distance learning

Project Summary

Context/Background of the Project
Internationalization is an important factor of competitiveness not only for enterprises but also for public administrations in a globalized world. The complex environment of public administrations gives room for manifold ways of understanding and approaching internationalization. Fields of action are working with international investors, the integration of migrants, foster the attractiveness for foreign tourists, just to name a few. On the other hand internationalization and in that case especially Europeanization also opens the way to find joint solutions to the central challenges public administrations face such as integration of migrants, elderly care, demographic change and environment. Public administrations are committed to create and offer the appropriate framework conditions to enable their citizens to live in an optimal environment.
EU does absolutely not only mean the application of EU-legal norms on local level. In order to enable public administrations to actively take on their role in Europe some prerequisites in different fields of action need to be met. As we analysed that staff of public administrations is not yet well prepared to act in European and international contexts the core topic of the project is to further “improve, increase and strengthen municipalities’ staff to face these challenges and chances through lifelong learning (LLL)”.
In general the development of new skills and competencies in the field of internationalization is of vital importance to fully exploit the potential of the local level for the global goals of the EU. These skills and trainings cannot be analysed and prepared just by the own experts of the individual organization, but have to be developed on European scope covering a multitude of different experiences and mentalities.
Objectives
The overall objective of AGE was and is to increase the competiveness of local municipalities through promoting lifelong learning in the context of local internationalization strategies. And as the key element of successful implementation of internationalization strategy is suitable vocational training for employees. Therefore the aim of AGE is and was:
exchanging experiences and good practices in the fields of identification of needed skills, teaching methods, training content
verification of acquired skills of the employees and
the improvement of HR-strategies of municipalities
the development of appropriate, tailor-made training content for some of the skills needed.
Number and profile of participants
The partnership: two municipalities Magdeburg (DE) and Vejle Kommune (DK), a VET agency dedicated to train staff of public administrations (CSCI) from Novara (IT), an ICT and VET expert especially for the field of public administrations (isw) from Halle/S. (DE), two member associations of the most important EU municipalities umbrella association the Council of European Municipalities and Region (CEMR) (AICCRE, Rome (IT) and RGRE, Cologne (DE)) and one highly experienced partner in the field of consultancy, training and support for public administrations from Eastern Europe (ÉARDA then HBMO, Debrecen (HU)). The majority of the partners have already collaborated in previous EU projects, especially in the LLL-“Administrations go Europe – AGE!” – project.
Description of activities, outputs and impact achieved, sustainability
• Customizing of the three training modules, starting from the existing curricula of the former Leonardo da Vinci partnership AGE-project. (A survey was successfully completed to identify the skills that are needed to actually meet the challenges of internationalization.
On that basis training modules were jointly developed, namely for
– Intercultural competences,
– International project development and management and
– Internal and external communication.)
• Development of an AGE+ e-platform (https://ageplus.magdeburg.de)
The main part of the project was the development of an “e-platform” which enables virtual twinning of public administrations. This open platform helps to exchange ideas and documents and learn from good practice.
The core of it is the teaching platform “MOODLE” which hosts the training and teaching material produced in the project. (This included the testing of the e-platform and its content as well as a training of trainers.)
• As it is good European practise, adoption of the e-platform and dissemination of project result was and is another core of the project.
Impact envisaged and potential longer term benefits
Thanks to AGE+ methods and tools, the partnership envisages these impacts and potential long term benefits:
• Intensifying the dialogue and debate among EU public administrations
• Developing more European project proposals with the involvement of public administrations
• ICT and e-learning solution increasingly used for blended learning approaches in EU civil servants’ VET
• Public administrations are strengthened in competitiveness.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 296210,5 Eur

Project Coordinator

Landeshauptstadt Magdeburg & Country: DE

Project Partners

• Vejle Kommune
• ISW INSTITUT FUR STRUKTURPOLITIK UND WIRTSCHAFTSFORDERUNG GEM GMBH
• AICCRE – ASSOCIAZIONE ITALIANA PER IL CONSIGLIO DEI COMUNI E DELLE REGIONI D’EUROPA
• ESZAK-ALFOLD REGIONALIS FEJLESZTESI UGYNOKSEG Kozhasznu Tarsasag
• Rat der Gemeinden und Regionen Europas
• HAJDU BIHAR MEGYEI ONKORMANYZAT
• Consorzio Scuola Comunità Impresa