Xarxa FP reaches three new achievements: number of mobilities (801), number of member cities (33) and 1st strategic partnership leadership.

Xarxa FP held its XX General Assembly last 5th of February in Barcelona gathering more than 50 representatives from 29 European cities. During the General Assembly (GA) participants reviewed the results of the network in 2018, discussed new actions and projects for 2019 and welcomed four new cities: Espoo (Finland), Herning (Denmark), Lublin (Poland) and Prague (Czech Republic).

2018: a new record in mobilities

A total of 801 mobilities have been managed by Xarxa FP cities in 2018, setting a new record in the history of the network.

During 2018 the network managed 510 mobility actions for students, most of them internships (67%), and 291 training activities for VET teachers and professionals, the best performance by far in the history of the network. The previous record was set in 2017 with 678 mobilities (+123 in 2018).

A total of 25 cities participated in mobility actions in 2018, with three cities coping more than half of all mobilities done within Xarxa FP network (sending and hosting): Barcelona managed 345 mobilities; Zwolle 239 and Berlin 209.

Xarxa FP network: 33 cities from 15 European countries

With the incorporation of Espoo, Herning, Lublin and Prague Xarxa FP membership enlarges to 33 cities from 15 European countries, which confirms the sustainable growth of the association in the recent years, going from 21 member cities in 2015 to 33 in 2019.

Espoo is the second largest city in Finland and is located next to the capital city of Helsinki. Omnia, the Joint Authority of Education in Espoo Region, offers Upper secondary vocational education and training, apprenticeship training, general upper secondary education, workshops and liberal adult education courses. The institution has the VET Mobility Charter 2016-2020 and every year organises hundreds of students and staff mobilities.

Herning is a Danish city situated in the middle of the Jutland peninsula with a population of around 90 000. The city is Denmark’s center for international events and counts with two Vocational Colleges. Herningsholm is the biggest VET Centre, educating 2500 students per year and is very keen to promote the internationalisation of their students and teachers.

Lublin is the largest city in Eastern Poland and the 9^th in Poland, counting with a population of around 365 000. The Municipality hosts the VET City Council, a local structure that gathers the 18 Vocational Education and Training (VET) Schools of the city in order to promote its education and internationalisation.

Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic with more than 1.3 million inhabitants, has more than 120 Vocational Education and Training Schools working in close cooperation with almost all the economic sectors of the city via the support of the Chamber of Commerce. Between 2014 and 2018, 28 VET Schools from the city have participated in Erasmus+ projects, sending abroad more than 1400 students and hundreds of teachers.

Industrial VET Hub

The network is also leading for the first time strategic partnerships across Europe towards high-quality education, skills training and gender balance in economic sectors of the highest value, such as the industrial sector. The Secretariat is coordinating the implementation of an Erasmus+ KA2 project about VET 4.0 in Europe.

The general objective of the Industrial VET Hub will be to build a sustainable transnational partnership to exchange good practices and implement strategic recommendations to tackle the industrial skills mismatch in general and to address industrial gender imbalances at school and the industrial sector.

2nd edition of Mobility Impact Study

During 2018 Xarxa FP has developed the 2^nd edition of its Mobility Impact Study.

Between 2014 and 2018 the network has arranged 1663 work placements for VET students. The greatest tangible value of this study is to demonstrate the positive impact that our daily work has had on the personal life and career paths of thousands of youngsters over the last four years, and the benefits in their skills and employability.

The study is based on an online survey distributed among students taking part in mobility actions since 2014. It is the only one of its kind focusing on VET students at the European level.

The first edition of the study was launched on 2017 and the second in February 2019.