IF YOU ARE A VET CENTER INTERESTED IN THE EMPLOYABILITY OF YOUR VET STUDENTS IN TECHNOLOGICAL SECTOR…
In Europe there have been three basic vocational training models, on which current systems have been shaping (Great Britain, France and Germany). These models are based on the will to provide citizens with specific productive processes rather than theoretical ones . However, this educational process poses problems for VET students when they want to continue to higher education (university) due to the methodological differences between the two educational levels or when they want to participate in very demanding work environments where an error can lead to serious delays in the achievement of the objectives.
Especially when dealing with students at risk of exclusion, especially for social, economic or cultural reasons with no experience in the labour market.
To offer your students with fewer opportunities better employability options and the possibility to access to higher education, we propose:
A CURRICULAR DEVELOPMENT FOR YOUR CENTER
VET students who want to orient their future towards the technological sector, helping to develop innovative high-tech projects, need to develop not only technical skills but a great capacity for critical analysis, work initiative and scientific responsibility.
EDUCATIVE DIGITAL SOFTWARE
VET students at risk of exclusion will have at their disposal a digital educational software that will guide them throughout the mobility process. It will allow them to find all the necessary resources and maintain direct contact with their teacher and tutor.
VIRTUAL COURSE
VET students will have a structured virtual course specifically aimed at the student developing the competencies of the VET training curriculum related to the digital and technological field. Likewise, the student will have access to a personalized itinerary for their mobility and adapted to the needs and characteristics of the job that they will develop.
INSTERNSHIP SYSTEM IN HIGH-TECH CENTERS
The implementation of this new methodology will allow your students to participate in a high performance internship system in a network of Technology-Based Research Centers and Companies. This internship system allows a significant increase in the employability of participating students by providing them with a fundamental experience in the highly demanding work environment and enhancing the value of their curriculum, and developing in your VET students scientific and educational competencies.
HIGH TECNOLOGIES ENTITIES WILL HOST YOUR STUDENTS
This internship system involves a network of high-technology research centers araund Europe.
Actually the next centers participate in the network:
Ikasia Technologies is a technology based company whose objectives is the generation and use of new technologies for the implementation, manufacturing and/or commercialization of new products, processes or services in diverse fields, specifically 3D, additive manufacturing, composites and biomaterials
The company seeks to put on the market a new generation of non-metallic micro and nano-structured hybrid materials, more flexible and resistant than steel, for special environments, produced by patented cold process of 3D printing. In addition to the commercialization of a new additive manufacturing system and the production of series of parts on request, the group of professionals that Ikasia Technologies forms offers an advisory service and development of high-tech projects.
A research centre of the UPV aimed at research on the development, manufacturing, physical and biological characterization of biomaterials for specific application in regenerative medicine, as well as the formation of the aforesaid area. It focuses on the advance in the knowledge of the combined use of biomaterials with cells and biochemical and physical factors in order to recover and regenerate tissies and their biological function after an injury or pathology.
SOMATICA is a technology based company with a high know-how in electroactive and smart materials that emerged from the EASM groyp in 2007. The company develops effectve products and solutions to customer need, using electroactive materials as a sensor or actuator. It also gives consulting in these areas.
SOMATICA is also a leader company providing professional input devices for all Portuguese industries, such as Chemicals/Petro, Food & Beverage, Healthcare, Telecommunications, Transportation, Manufacturing, Government, Universities, Museums/Public Displays and other kind of industries.
IB-S was founded as a joint Venture between two Research Units from the University of Minho, CBM (Molecular and Environmental Biology Research Centre) and ISISE (Institute of Sustainability and Innovation in Structural Engineering).
IB-S project presently gathers researchers from several other top research units from the University of Minho besides these: CAlg, CFUM, CTAC, Fibrenamics, Lab2PT, NIMA, CMEMS, LIP-Minho. Together they participate in strategic planning as a Researchers Council.
IB-S relies on the close collaboration with a Council of key industrial players to promote the Institute image and objectives in the productive sector as well as define the main trends of development.
Nanopaint is a technology-based company dedicated to the development and manufacture of functional inks for the printed electronics industry. In addition to our range of products, we design and develop customized solutions in the fomr of inks, films and printed sensors.
Nanopaint produces distinctive functional inks which can be optimized for different printing techniques: screen printing, spray, inkjet, doctor blade, among others. We also produce standard film sheets with specific proprieties and we are able to offer customized printed sensors according to customer needs.
Nanopaint support every client´s Project from the early to the final stage of development, i.e., from concept to design, and prototyping to mass production, using always the best technology and solutions. We give consulting as well in order to créate high value products or improving the industrial processes of our clients.
The Institute of Macromolecular Chemistry of the AS CR v.v.i. is the Czech Republic´s largest institution active in the field of research of polymer materials. It ranks among the most important centres of academic (basic) research not only in the Czech Republic but also in the world. The IMC enjoys the knowledge potential of more than a hundred scientists in the key areas of macromolecular chemistry, physical chemistry, and polymer physics, but also in the fields that overlap with biochemistry, biophysical chemistry, tissue engineering, medicine, pharmacy and biotechnology, particularly in develping new polymers for medical, pharmaceutical and diagnostic use and examing Elementary principies of the interaction between synthetic polymers and organisms. The staff of the IMC includes several dozen world-renowned scientists.
Smallcodes is a company devoted at protecting and promoting linguistic diversity through technology. It wants to create a network among minorities, with the purpose of guaranteeing each language a systematic and constant presence in the written and in the IT world. The language which are currently part of SC community and uses SC resources are Occitan, Sardinian, Ladin, Walser, Francoprovençal, Lombard dialect of Italian Switzerland, Cimbrian, Mòcheno, Plodarisch, Oto-Manguean languages of Mexico, Romani and much more.
Its activity is framed in three main areas:
First area. Promotion of linguistic diversity through technology. Its purpose is to create a network between linguistic and cultural minorities in Europe, in order to guarantee each language a systematic and constant presence in the written world and in the world of ICTs. SC intends to bridge the digital divide between majority cultures and languages and minority and regional cultures and languages. To achieve this goal, it produces software systems for lexicography, spelling correction, and neology / terminology planning for lesser-used languages, as well as systems for toponymy cataloging and bibliographic archiving. These five modules are, according to SC policy, the first step towards a modern use of the language.
Second area. Participation in European projects for the dissemination of digital skills, for linguistic and social inclusion, and for teaching disadvantaged people. SC also participates in educational and materials creation projects. It also collaborates with the implementation of ICT resources for school education.
Third area. Software development in the field of medicine. For several years SC has been associated with the University of Florence, with which it designs and develops technological applications for the treatment of clinical pharmacological data, pharmacovigilance and bioinformatics.
A VERY INNOVATIVE METHODOLOGY IS APPLIED
A very innovative methodology is applied. It has been created specifically for this purpose, based on collaborative work and immersion of students in professional training internships in very innovative environments: research groups of scientific or technological excellence and technology-based companies.
The essential teaching methodology in these internships is based on critical thinking and overcoming obstacles. It is about showing students that progress in knowledge and technology is associated with a critical spirit, which calls into question any argument or explanation of an observed phenomenon, regardless from whom it comes, until one finds a satisfactory explanation through shared effort.
THE LANGUAGE LEARNING IS ONE OF MAIN OBJECTIVES
The beneficiaries of the program will have language support before leaving or during the mobility activity. In this regard, the Commission offers an online service for certain VET beneficiaries, with a view to assessing their proficiency in the language they will use to carry out practical training periods abroad.
If necessary, this service also offers them the possibility to improve their knowledge of the language before and during the mobility period[U1] . Participants with a minimum level of B2 in the main working language may take an OLS course in the language of the host country, if available. This online service will be gradually implemented in the course of the program.
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE MOBILITIES*
– Duration of mobility: 3 months
– Pocket money: The pocket money received by the mobility participant will be equal to the minimum wage of the host country.
– Workday: The stipulated by the educational program, by the E + Program and if not by the host company.
– Accommodation: The cost of accommodation will be included in the mobility and will be clearly defined in each of them:
– An apartment shared only by mobility participants in that city in order to generate complicity between them and an emancipatory experience.
– A student residence known by the host entity
– An accommodation endorsed by the University or host company
– Travel: Each participant will be assigned the amount defined by the Erasmus Plus Program in order to finance the one-way trip to the host country and the last return trip to the sending country.
– Other services: Support service for each participant and personalized supervision during time abroad. Language training and training to develop functions in positions of research centers and technology-based companies
– Evaluation: Each mobility will be evaluated by the tutor of the host company, as well as by the person in charge of IKASIA TECHNOLOGIES. These will make a report that will be sent to the VET sending center teacher. If positive, a certificate will be issued for the participant of the “Critical Thincking as a step forward in vet education” network.
*Conditions subject to the approval of the Erasmus Plus Program and the mobility being financed by it