Youth Bridges To Reach Efficient European Citizenship Awareness Erasmus Project

Project Title

Youth Bridges To Reach Efficient European Citizenship Awareness

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 Schools Only

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2015

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Creativity and culture; International cooperation, international relations, development cooperation; EU Citizenship, EU awareness and Democracy

Project Summary

The partnership is made of schools from Romania, UK, Turkey, Germany, Sweden, Italy, Greece.
The main objective of the project was to activate secondary/high-school students’ awareness towards the problems in their society, in order to adopt an active attitude to generate positive changes locally and globally. By comparing and exchanging information, students can evaluate how European citizens’ life differs according to different social conditions and life styles, and can produce helpful products to enhance youthful European cooperation and integration. The project aims at leading the students to being aware of a common responsibility for a European future; at the same time they should not deny their own national identity and culture. The concrete aim of our undertaking is forming international friendship through learning and opening minds to culture varieties of the partner countries. As a result, the students learnt about the partners’ countries / regions, saw the most fundamental features of culture, touched its problems, tasted its tradition.
The main fields of research and cooperation were:
– Identification of the main common social approaches, similarities, differences from customs to lifestyle in Europe. All activities, including meetings in partner countries, were planned so that they should help the students recognize the similarities of the cultures, as well as respect their differences
– Increasing the awareness about European citizenship: “Are we aware of what we mean as a person for our country and for Europe?”
– Focusing on the interests of the new generation towards European integration and problems deriving from it, through cross-sectorial/interdisciplinary approaches and consequently ”BUILDING EUROPE’S FUTURE”
– Studying transformations in cultural/social field (human rights, political situations, role of citizens, affect of young population on social life about determining the life style, inter-relationship, modernizing trends etc)
– Exchanging knowledge, views, experience and attitudes among students and teaching staff from different European countries, by simulating a mini-European society (in order to understand and to involve them into changing social aspects through team work)
– Developing students’ skills and knowledge (learning by doing) and encouraging creativity and innovation. The students worked on their personal development, on one side, by participating in non-formal (on-the-job) training: IT (”Computer Lab”), language (”Language Lab”), basic social entrepreneurial (”Building Creative Social Business”), communication (“Efficient Communication Strategies”, ”Intercultural Communication within European Partnerships”), presentation techniques (”Surprising and Efficient Techniques of Presentation and Self-Presentation”), organisational skills, leadership, useful European legislation training for travelling, studying or cooperating with European organizations; on the other side they cooperated to create a youthful/useful European networking and a rich database with useful information and opportunities for European citizens
– Developing innovative training materials (English language book, curricula to improve teaching/learning of English and other subjects mentioned above), developing handbook (non-formal training strategies), guide (intercultural communication in Europe), book to raise European citizenship awareness and to propose aspects for a better EU
– Emphasising the advantages/opportunities of students really integrating in the whole „European world” (developing contacts and friendship, learning cultural specifics, finding training/schools/internships/helping institutions etc.).
In the established “School Project Centres” in each partner school/country, the students (coordinated by the teaching staff) created common products such as: website, magazine, ”the project through images”, a video, portfolios, presentations, albums, guides, projects and a simulation of the virtual European Mini-World (online collaboration of students and transnational meeting of the Board of the “European Mini-World”).
The project deliverables are visible and suitable for easy evaluation (on project website, EPRP etc) to generate sustainability, so that the networking and information would be available to help European students long after the end of the project.
Each partner organized an event and promoted the project results among local, regional and national stakeholders, including authorities (especially with roles in the educational area) and local/national media.
The project sustainability strategy includes ways in which the partner organisations included the results of the project in their regular activities. The network created included representatives of local/national authorities, decision-makers, European institutions, local/national press to ensure representation of all perspectives and real mainstreaming beyond the project lifespan.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 193343,88 Eur

Project Coordinator

Liceul tehnologic “Ioan Slavici” & Country: RO

Project Partners

• 4 GEL Hrakleiou
• Liceo Vittorio Emanuele III
• Landrat-Gruber-Schule Dieburg
• GUMUSYAKA ANADOLU LISESI
• Hjalmar Strömerskolan
• South Cheshire College