Program Erasmus + Call: 2014 Core event KA1: Educational mobility of individuals Mobility of university/college students and employees Project start: June 1, 2014 Project end: May 31, 2016 Project duration: 24 months Project framework: Higher Education The project aims to fill in a gap in practical preparation of students and their faster adaptation in the environment of potential employers. It puts emphasis on gaining personal competencies and language skills with the focus on intercultural communication. Internship stays provide students with practical experience, which can eliminate the initial absence of professional skills as required by employers. Study abroad stimulates personal growth of the student. Project goals: Firstly: support of project activities aimed at creation of new educational approaches, which will interconnect European educational institutions; secondly: increase and development of the quality level of student participants in relation to their easier transfer to the working environment. Partnerships enable educational institutions to implement innovation, increase quality, cooperate, learn from each other, as well as strengthen their capacity of modernization, accessibility, internationalization and intercultural awareness. Our goal is continuous expansion of the partner portfolio focused on quality rather than quantity. Number of participants: 34 outgoing, 8 incoming Profile of participants: employees and students of a college/university Outgoing students: - students of the School of Management, including external students – mostly with high level language skills and experience in the working process or foreign studies - proactive students with language skills Outgoing employees: - full-time employees of the School of Management with proficiency in the English language or the language of the target country Incoming students: - mostly students from Spain with limited language skills, followed by students from Lithuania and Finland Incoming employees from partner schools: - teachers of specialized courses from Finland who are interested in differences in educational and intercultural segments Description of completed activities: The project includes administrative, organizational, and communication activities throughout the whole duration of the project. Activities of the Erasmus coordinator: Search for new partner institutions, making bilateral agreements – communication with the partner institutions Selection process of students and employees (in coordination with Erasmus Committee) – appeal, selection, announcement of the results, communication followed by nomination, organizational and informative meetings Before mobility – collection of the required documents, approval of selected courses in cooperation with the academic Erasmus coordinator, preparation of contracts, language assessment for students, bank transfers During mobility – consultation regarding course changes in cooperation with the academic Erasmus coordinator, collection of documents after mobility – the second language assessment, collection and check of the output documents, in some cases making addendums, recognition process after receiving grade transcript in the cooperation with the academic Erasmus coordinator and study advisor. Outgoing employees and students: Employees of the university – teaching, trainings, job shadowing at a foreign university (studying work methods and operations in different departments, dependent on the type of the employee) students – study, internship Achieved outcomes and their impact: Our school is a partner institution with two languages of instruction – Slovak and English. Therefore, we enable incoming students to improve their language skills as well as directly integrate into the group of „local“ students, which is a great advantage for them. Departing mobility program participants have improved their social competencies related to the host countries and partner institutions. They have got an opportunity to gain an international overview of the studied field and differences in education strategies. Mobility has supported their personal and academic maturity and provided directions for their future professional careers. Participants of student internship programs have developed their organizational and planning skills and their ability to handle real-life work-related tasks both individually and in a team. Thanks to the internship, some of the students have managed to get full-time employment abroad or in the home country. In general, mobility program participants are more proactive, proficient in languages, independent, and adaptable in the working process. They have increased their personal communication skills by creating both formal and informal relationships with their teachers, mentors, students, and colleagues from partner institutions. The project has stimulated their active participation in international activities and increased their employability in