The Project "PROFESSIONAL COMPETENCE OF STUDENTS IN PRACTICE" focuses on vocational students in field of tourism and the the target is to increase students skills, social competence in the performance of activities and services in the tourism sector by increasing improvement of students? achievements and improvements of practical skills, allow higher employability on the European labor market. The project is dedicated to people in the initial training in field of hospitality and gastronomy, ie students and apprentices whose courses are focused on the area of services, food preparation and culinary arts, serving of meals and drinks, accommodation, service and activities at reception, animation activities and experiential tourism. The goals of the project are: - Enhancing professional competence of students - Personal development of students in the attitude to clients - Improvement of practical skills in the field of gastronomy of hotel services and also in the management of tourism - Upon completion of internships to gain skills and knowledge which are necessary for practice and thereby increase the applicability for the European labor market - Strengthen cooperation between school education and the business world. The project endeavors to solve the problems of students of secondary schools providing education in the field of tourism: - Low experience with foreign clients - Lack of information about the needs of practical skills for tourist facilities abroad - Lack of information about modern trends in gastronomy and their experience with the use of new trends in food processing - Small possibilities of applying new methods of decorating food on a plate from luxurious foods and alternative foods During project implementation the needs of students will meet: - Attend the long-term practical placement in linguistically different environment - Meet the demanding clientele - Get known the different approaches and procedures for services, especially in coastal and departmental centers - Get known different kinds of food, their processing and technical procedures in modern gastronomy. Number of students involved in the project is 20 and 2 accompanying persons. Internship will be implemented in tourist facilities with high credit quality and standard of services in Cyprus by one partner. During practical placement the participants will rotate in groups at workplaces of hotel (the catering, hotel services area, the area of serving meals and drinks and the area of supplementary services such as animation and management) , duration of action in each area will be determined according to the needs of students and capacity of the hotel. During the internship the participants will focus on acquiring knowledge and skills in particular areas of gastronomy, hotel services, serving meals and drinks and in the field of management. The goal is to broaden the knowledge of the area: organization of kitchen, modern techniques of food preparation in accordance with international culinary trends, implementation of food safety (HACCP), dining, health foods, organic products, local products, cleansing diets and their technological processing. In the area of hotel services will be focused on exploring systems of customer care, operations and logistics of the hotel, the reception operation, planning and management sections using IKT in cooperation with regional service providers in tourism area at the reception and accommodation section. Expected results: - Participants will improve learning results - Improvement the practical skills - Improvement social skills - Easily placement at the labor market Impact on participants of the project: - Increasing their expertise - Improving attitude to clients, they will be able to professionally communicate with clients - Improving their social relationships with superiors and colleagues in the workplace - Improving their practical skills in the field of gastronomy, hotel services and additional services - Upon completion of internships they will gain skills and knowledge which are necessary for practice and thereby increase the applicability for the European labor market Schools ? the get better trained students. Students attended practical placement transfer their knowledge and inform their classmates about reached experiences. Employers in the field of tourism ? they achieve more skilled and better prepared workforce by their experiences may be inspired changes of provided services in the field of tourism.