Taking stock of Xarxa FP work in 2019

Last 10^th of October the Executive Committee of Xarxa FP met in the city of Berlin (Germany) to review the network’s implementation of 2019 work plan and explore new projects and partnerships for 2020.

With regards to the work plan implementation, the mid-term mobility report was reviewed, highlighting the new users’ survey that will allow students and teachers to evaluate Xarxa FP services, in terms of finding a suitable internship, accommodation and further support received. The survey results will be shared for the first time during the next General Assembly 2020.

The implementation of the users’ survey was a recommendation of the External ISO 9001 Auditor. In this sense, last June Xarxa FP renewed the ISO 9001:2015 quality certification for the next three years (2019 – 2022). During the month of April the Secretariat, Barcelona, Berlin, Madrid and Munich were successfully audited according to ISO 9001:2015 Quality Standards. The certificate awards all 33 member cities and runs until 2022. During this three-year cycle all member cities will be audited internally and a few others externally.

The Industrial VET Hub and Port VET Hub projects’ planning and implementation were also reviewed during the meeting, the first Erasmus+ KA2 Strategic Partnerships supporting the exchange of good practices that Xarxa FP is running.

During the last meeting of the Industrial VET Hub project, which took place in September in Viborg (Denmark), an infography reflecting the main facts & figures of the current state of affairs of proportion of women studying industrial VET, women employed in industrial occupations or gender wage gap in the industrial sector in all project countries was presented. During the next months, partners will be progressively collecting and submitting initiatives, methodologies, projects or processes with good potential for learning and inspiration. The final output will be the elaboration of a Manual of Good Practices that will be presented and discussed during the next transnational meeting that is going to take place next February 2020 in the city of Tartu, Estonia.

The kick-off meeting of the Port VET Hub project will take place in December in Barcelona, gathering four European cities with ports distributed from North to South and West to East of the continent, including Ventspils (LV), Barcelona (ES), Lisbon (PT) and Constanta (RO).

The Executive Committee also reviewed Xarxa FP participation as Dissemination partner at the PE-LE project, “The Personalized competence-based Learning paths for VET in Europe”, which aims at strengthening competence-based vocational education and training students’ international study paths in Europe. During the last project meeting, which took place in Tartu (EE) in May,  participants discussed about the prototype of the Personal Digital Support platform, the coaching programs for students and teachers and the necessary actions required before, during and after the VET student’s mobilities.

When it comes to the network’s enlargement strategy, the Secretariat visited last September the city of Groningen in The Netherlands, and there have been some advanced discussions with the cities of Roskilde (Denmark) and Leuven (Belgium).

A new idea that was discussed during the meeting was to start exploring possible partnerships beyond Europe. In this sense, Jordi Castillo, Xarxa FP Secretary General, will participate at the Conference of the Americas on International Education (CAIE), which will take place on 23-25^th of October in Bogotá (Colombia). There have also been some contacts with the city of Montreal (CA) during the International conference on “Dual VET Management: The role of Cities and Local Governments” that was held in Barcelona in September.

Executive Committee members also reviewed the current and future budget of the Association and work on the organisation of the General Assembly 2020, which will take place next 18^th of February in Viborg, Denmark.

The cities member of the Executive Committee are Munich (Presidency), Barcelona (Secretariat), Rome (Treasury), Rovaniemi (FI), Berlin (DE), Toulouse (FR) and Alcoi (ES).