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EcTour-European Creditsystem for tourism Qualifications
Start date: Sep 1, 2016, End date: Aug 31, 2018 PROJECT  FINISHED 

In the context of the vocational training as Staatlich anerkannter internationaler Touristikassistent (= State Approved Assistant in International Tourism), the BFT – Berufsschule für Tourismus gGmbH would like to follow the route taken in 2008. With the help of Erasmus+ and its project “EcTour – European Credit System for Tourism Qualifications” we intend to incorporate learning contents and EU education programmes into our vocational training; we thus want to improve our strategy of providing an international framework for the courses at our school.The school’s project consists of a 24-week internship for State Approved Assistants in International Tourism; we organise this internship in cooperation with our long-term partners of the Spanish tourism industry.The period of the internship is an integral part of the curriculum for State Approved Assistants in International Tourism and takes up the third semester of this course.20 trainees of the current course want to take part in the project. The trainees will start their internship in Spain in two groups (September/October 2016/2017). The majority of them have passed their “Abitur” (A-levels). They are of diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds, their ages range from 18 to 27.During the time of the internship the trainees will apply, develop and improve their language (Spanish, English and French) and social skills as well as their knowledge of the tourism industry, of hotel management, of IT and intercultural communication; they will have the chance to work in different departments of the respective service providers. The students will do their internships in different positions of our five long-term partners in the Spanish tourism industry (hotels and travel agency/tour operator).The hotels provide different posts, for instance in the management’s office, at the front desk, the guest service and the department for leisure & entertainment. In the travel agency the tasks consist of planning tours, administrative work and accompanying groups of tourists as a tour guide. The trainees are instructed and supervised by experienced staff of the respective travel agencies or hotels. They are fully integrated in an international team and will profit from a wide range of experiences.For most trainees the internship will be the first stay abroad, far away from home; so, this period will be an opportunity for becoming more independent and experiencing intercultural communication on a daily basis.The most important goal for the trainees is improving professional competencies in an international setting while practicing relevant skills and applying theoretical knowledge leant in our courses. Looking back onto the projects of the last few years, we realised that we were able to reach this goal; this has been illustrated by the fact that most participants of the projects found a job in the national or international tourism industry right after graduating from the BFT – Berufsschule für Tourismus gGmbH. Considering the total number of graduates, we saw that one out of three students has found work abroad after graduation.Since 2013 it has been our goal to introduce and improve ECVET projects. In project DE/13 we developed two ECVET learning outcomes and their respective feedback sheets in cooperation with one of our partners. (Unit 1: Front desk and guest service. Unit 2: Performance of service tasks). In the current Erasmus+ project these learning outcomes are being used and tested by all our hotel partners in Spain. Furthermore we have developed a third learning outcome (unit 3: Assistance in management and in food & beverage), which is currently being tested.In the context of our current project, we are developing and applying a fourth learning outcome in cooperation with our Spanish tour operator. (Unit 4: Organising and arranging trips and excursions).After completing all four learning outcomes, we intend to include all our project partners in the ECVET-process for the following Erasmus+ projects. As a long-term goal, we want to contribute to improving the transparency and mutual recognition of acquired skills and competencies within European vocational training programmes.
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