“ACCESS TO VET” – with Competence Development and Skills Recognition Erasmus Project

Project Title

“ACCESS TO VET” – with Competence Development and Skills Recognition

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 2017

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: International cooperation, international relations, development cooperation; Recognition (non-formal and informal learning/credits); Overcoming skills mismatches (basic/transversal)

Project Summary

The two-year project entitled ‘ACCESS to VET – with Competence Development and Skills Recognition’ has been implemented by an international partnership composed of 6 members representing 5 countries (Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Spain, Romania) and led by the Government Office of Békés County with the support of the European Commission’s Erasmus+ programme.
The project focused on improving transversal skills needed for taking up a job as well as learning, mutually becoming acquainted with best practices applied by the international partners in the topic of recognition and validation of prior knowledge, and further developing the professional activities of partner organisations.
The exchange of experiences was realised in the form of holding 2-day transnational partnership meetings in each 5 partner country. During the meetings, besides carrying out project management related tasks, the hosting organisations presented the best practices, methods and the experiences of implementation applied by them or with organisations cooperating with them in the field of VET that are in accordance with the project aims. Presenting the methods was practice-oriented, besides receiving theoretical pieces of information, the participants could meet people implementing as well as participating in the programme in the form of on-site visits.
Methods seen and acquired during the meetings could be further studied in more details between subsequent meetings, professional consultations and exchange of professional materials were continuous all throughout the entire project cycle.
The project primarily intended to provide further development for professionals responsible for career counselling and guidance, VET, adult education and forming employment policies at the particular organisations, however the ultimate aim was to integrate the best practices seen and considered to be adaptable into the operation of the implementing organisations, and to further improve the level of their professional work with amending the methods, if needed.

One of the major results of the project is the Brochure of Best Practices presenting the methods and approaches applied to improve access to training and qualifications by the partner organisations and the results and experiences of their operation in practice. In the document 2 best practices, labour market programmes per partner country are described, which contribute to reach entering adult learning, raising the motivation towards learning of adults excluded from the labour market or at a risk of losing their job without any learning activity, acquiring a new qualification thus their labour market integration.

During the implementation, measuring impact received special attention. In the second half of the project, each partner selected one or some elements of the best practices seen, the testing and later adaptation and application of which they considered to significantly improve their own professional work. The project partners measured the impacts according to a pre-defined system of criteria, in which they described which methods they had chosen to test and in what ways they had integrated them into the operation of their organisation, and what amendments they would suggest in order to improve the method.

Besides the Brochure of Best Practices, the study summarising the experiences of integrating the acquired methods into the operation of the organisations is also available at the http://bekes.munka.hu/Engine.aspx website under the menu item ’International projects’ and the partner organisations’ websites. The results published are recommended for any organisation and professional responsible for the project topics because they offer beneficial guidelines related to motivation towards participating in lifelong learning, the activity can be supported in any of the EU member states.

Besides collecting, testing the best practices and measuring their impacts, it is another added value of the project that the further development of the so called ‘4-zone model’ seen in Ireland and tested, among others, in Hungary as well can be realised with the implementation of a new strategic partnerships project including the development of intellectual outputs. In the project started in October 2019, the Government Office of Békés County is also participating in the international partnership creating the former model.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 78435 Eur

Project Coordinator

Békés Megyei Kormányhivatal & Country: HU

Project Partners

• BALLYMUN JOB CENTRE CO-OPERATIVE SOCIETY LIMITED
• AJOFM COVASNA
• Békéscsabai Szakképzési Centrum
• CAMARA OFICIAL DE COMERCIO E INDUSTRIA DE GRANADA
• A ROCCA