Preparing a Roadmap for ErasmusPro

<< Background >>This project is a response to the growing shortage of qualified workers in key VET sectors across Europe, as highlighted by the European Commission and Cedefop. To meet labour market demands, VET providers must increase the number of learners, improve training quality and promote long-term mobilities that boost both professional and personal competences.Although ErasmusPro offers great potential, long-term mobilities remain underused due to persistent challenges: difficulty finding trustworthy partners with compatible study offers, lack of reliable on-site mentorship for learners and the need for practical guidance in organising high-quality placements, especially for those with fewer opportunities.Our partnership identified a strong need for:• A sustainable network of reliable VET partners across Europe• Good practices and tools to manage long-term mobility with confidence and quality• Inclusive strategies to engage learners, parents and companies• Support structures to ensure learners are guided, safe and integrated abroadPrep4Pro was created to tackle these needs by providing practical solutions, fostering trust and collaboration and facilitating long-term VET mobilities, especially for disadvantaged learners.<< Objectives >>Our aim is to help VET providers face significant challenges in organising long-term learner mobilities, including the lack of a reliable European partner network, limited practical guidance for mobility coordinators, hesitations from learners and parents (especially those with fewer opportunities), and concerns from companies about learners’ extended absences.Prep4Pro addressed these challenges through 3 key objectives:1.Build a strong and sustainable, trust-based European VET network with complementary study offers and strong local support ecosystems, and formalised through a charter, a new partnership agreement, a sustainability & cooperation plan and a network development plan. 2.Facilitate high-quality ErasmusPro mobilities by developing a practical roadmap covering key concerns such as legal aspects, mentoring, social integration, and inclusion - especially for learners with fewer opportunities.3.Promote ErasmusPro to all stakeholders through targeted communication strategies and tools that raise awareness, motivate participation, and address concerns from learners, parents, people with fewer opportunities, companies, and VET staff.<< Implementation >>We organised about 25 online meetings, 6 work weeks (WW), monthly check-ins and surveys assessing progress and cooperation. Meeting minutes and to-do lists ensured transparency and follow-through. Continuous stakeholder involvement included surveys, focus groups and interviews with learners (including FO), staff, parents and companies. QA was ensured through baseline, midterm, and impact assessments by the Belgian and Slovenian partners.Each partner hosted a WW (2 in Spain), focusing on specific WP outputs. Activities included workshops, dinners with students & parents, school & company visits, cultural visits & strategic discussions.We built a strong & sustainable network of VET providers with a strategy, charter, vision text, visibility plan, local networks, sustainability and cooperation plan, network development plan and new partnership agreement through needs and SWOT analyses, research, workshops and discussions during the WW.We also created a Prep4Pro roadmap with 21 chapters and 28 annexes via focus groups, needs analysis, research, content development, piloting and finalisation.And, we developed targeted communication strategies & tools for our target groups, with feedback loops and testing for quality and impact.<< Results >>Our concrete project outputs and results are:1) A strong and sustainable network of VET providers across Europe, formalised through the Prep4Pro Charter, Vision statement, renewed Partnership Agreement, Sustainability & Cooperation Plan, Visibility Plan, Inclusive Partnership Strategy and Network Development Plan. 2) The Prep4Pro roadmap to guide VET providers in organising high-quality long-term mobilities, containing 21 chapters and 28 annexes, covering key mobility aspects such as legal frameworks, mentoring, accommodation, social integration, and intercultural awareness, and easy-to-use tools and templates to implement these good practices oneself. This guide, available in 8 languages both online and in print, helps VET providers improve their internationalisation strategies and ErasmusPro applications, enhancing the overall quality and impact of their mobility programs, especially for those with fewer opportunities.3) 5 tailored communication strategies to reach out to and inform our key stakeholders: learners, parents, fewer opportunities, VET staff, and companies. The 5 targeted ErasmusPro communication tools answer each target group’s concerns. These communication strategies and tools are also available in 8 languages.