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Higher education student and staff mobility project
Start date: Jun 1, 2014, End date: Sep 30, 2015 PROJECT  FINISHED 

IES El Escorial is a public secondary school located in the culturally and environmentally rich town of El Escorial (Madrid). Due to the location, curriculum, facilities and resources--both human and material-- and national projection, through Project Grouping Centres in Spain, and European projects with Leonardo Da Vinci and Erasmus, IES El Escorial has become a reference center for the Madrid region for Professional Family of Agricultural Training and Forestry. This includes participation and collaboration with international partners such as Italy, Finland, Slovenia and Portugal. IES El Escorial has been participating in Erasmus Mobility Projects with student interns since 2004 in an effort to resolve some identified needs. These needs include the enhancement of the practical training of students in the higher level training cycle of "Forestry and Natural Environment" and staff training in the Agricultural Department. On one hand, the program allows the students to benefit educationally, linguistically and culturally from the experience of learning in other European countries. This promotes cooperation among institutions in the forest sector and enriches the educational environment of host institutions. On the other hand, it also contributes to the creation of a community of young and well-qualified, future professionals in the forestry sector. Furthermore it forms a community with educated, open minds to help diminish the social injustices present in this field such as the discrimination against women. In 2014, fourteen students expressed interest in participating in the Mobility Project and four of them were chosen as student beneficiaries, as well as a professor from the Agricultural Department. The candidates were chosen based on a published set of guidelines wtih specific criteria. Host institutions for the beneficiaries during this course were la Universidade Dos Azores located in The Azores Islands (Portugal) and the public forest service of Slovenia, Zavod Za Gozdove Slovenije. The developed training program during the students stay corresponded with the same minimum standards set by the Superior Technical Degree in Forestry and Natural Environment (from the module FCT). As for the teacher training, a bilateral program between our institution and the host was established according to the interest and training needs of the teacher. Prior to their stay, the students received the corresponding contents of the module in English as part of the official curriculum during the official school year. Before the the exchange, they were also enrolled in an Online Language Support (OLS) course. During this stay the appointed mentor monitored the students weekly through online communication and updates, among others. The results of mobility project more than achieved the outlined goals. The students reached their own learning outcomes from the FCT module with the opportunity to improve and practice the host-city language. They also improved and enriched their resumes and facilitated the insertion of work in other countries of the European Union. The faculty acquired more skills and competencies within the forest sector, as well as an improved international outlook for this field. In order to share the results of their final project, the students utilized several different forms of media. These included the corporate website, information boards inside the school, different communication media and spreading information to other institutions. The benefits to our school from receiving long-term participation in various activities within the European framework include improving skills and competences, multiculturalism, transnational cooperation, the development of an education with a European vision and promoting equal opportunities. El Escorial continues to search for collaborations in other European areas for education and training and in promoting convergence between vocational training systems within the Agricultural Professional Family.
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