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GRADual: Increasing Students/Graduates Employment Readiness
Start date: Sep 1, 2014, End date: Aug 31, 2016 PROJECT  FINISHED 

Given the unprecedented unemployment challenge in the EU and multiple commitments to get back European youth into work, it is of utmost importance of closing the skills gap between learning provisions and the universe of work. This would assist both, enterprises to employ new hires having relevant knowledge/skills and students in making their bumpy road from education to employment less challenging. In this light, a better cooperation between universities and businesses through provision of innovative education, international mobility, knowledge transfer, entrepreneurial education and secured placements is considered a cornerstone for the modernisation of higher education in Europe. The objective of the Project is to maximaze organisations impact in terms of speed, quality and innovative services provided to universities and business for improving employment readiness (students and graduates internships schemes and other measures). The Strategic Partnership that brings together partners from EU-15 having solid experience in promoting university and business cooperation/entrepreneurial education and EU-25 that were "breaking ice" in the same areas only for a couple of years and ensures well calibrated geographic balance (Spain, UK (Scotland) and Lithuania) will employ in-house knowledge and skills to achieve the articulated objective. The partners engaged were previously cooperating in bilateral formats. The Strategic Partnership will be established between: 1) 3 intermediary organisations (Fundación Universidad-Empresa-FUE (Madrid), Saltire Foundation (Glsgow) and LPK/Partners 4 Value (Vilnius) being prominent actors in promoting business and universities cooperation, early investment in human capital for business leadership in their respective countries, 2) Universities (the Spanish university that has a solid experience in developing academic modules for graduate internship programme jointly delivered with FUE and 5 lead Lithuanian universities willing to learn from good practices on how to prepare Curriculum for graduate programmes to be delivered jointly with Partners 4 Value under the financing instruments programmed at national level); 3) Global Lithuanian Leaders - the NGO willing to learn and share on how to best engage professionals from diaspora to investing in young talents (placements/mentoring services). The joint work will be organised creating a learning/experience/expertise exchange network to interact, codify and exchange information on good practices, produce tangible outputs to address common challenges/promote expansion of effective practices and build closer working relationships that will go beyond the Project. The outputs based on codified knowledge will be used for knowledge transfer and fueling national/EU level debates and facilitating evidence based policy making. The intellectual outputs developed will be shared via relevant OERs for prompting global learning. Main planned activities will entail: 1) Preparation of peer learning methods; 2) Delivery of 2 Joint Staff Training Events/Study Visits and the Intensive training Programme for participating Lithuanian universities' teaching staff; 3) Development of Guidelines on Establishing and Effectively Running Students/Graduates Internship Programmes; 4) Multiplier Event in Brussels aimed at presenting intellectual outputs developed to prompt expansion of effective practices while bringing together potential promoters of similar initiatives, representatives from lead business associations, EU policy makers; 5) Identification of Lithuanian Business needs for graduates skills; š) Preparation of Curriculum as an integral part of graduate internship programme to be commenced in Lithuania. Triangular cooperation modality will result in: A. The established and operationalised learning/knowledge exchange and management platform for promoting greater students/graduates employment readiness/business leadership through intensified university-business cooperation. B. Codified practices on students/graduates internship schemes. Intellectual outputs ready for knowledge transfer. C. Strenghtened capacity of participating organisations to provide quality and innovative services that would increase employment readiness. The Project will impact on advanced professional development of the staff of participating organisations, modernised organisations to effectively address the challenge of skills gap by developing and delivering students/graduates internship programmes nationally and across Europe. At national/EU level the Project will impact on evidenced based Education to Employment (E2E) policy formulation, intensified collaboration among stakeholders, greater EU's involvement in helping the most successful E2E interventions to reach bigger number of students within the EU. In the long run, the project will impact on improved students employment prospects and job satisfaction contributing to more competitive Europe.

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