The British Council Croatia has teamed up with a range of partners to produce a customer care manual for teachers in Vocational Education Training (VET) schools.

The partners included:

			The VET Agency in Croatia
			The Croatian Sector Council for Tourism and Hospitality
			People 1st, the UK Tourism and Hospitality Sector Skills Council.

Together, they ran a series of workshops to create a manual that will familiarise teachers of tourism and hospitality with the latest industry requirements. In turn, teachers will be able to pass on important insights to their students that will improve their skills.

The project is part of the British Council’s Skills for Employability programme, which is building  policy dialogue between the UK and other countries to explore how to improve skills and employability.

Sharing knowledge and skills

Croatia and the UK shared their experience in customer care in tourism and looked at guidance from the UK on the overall framework and research methods into the development of standards.  A team of experts in Croatia then came together to write the manual, sharing their knowledge for the benefit of Croatia’s tourism industry and tourism students.

The group included the Director of the Zagreb tourist board, the Deputy Director of the tourism sector in the Croatian Association of Employers, the Principal of the partner college, and an external associate of the VET Agency for the tourism sector.

The VET Agency then published and distributed the manual to all schools in Croatia that offer tourism and hospitality programmes.

Results: sparking new links

The manual received high praise from both teachers and employers, and has sparked interesting new links between education and industry. Following a presentation, employers offered to give lectures to students in tourism and hospitality schools and to enable teachers to visit their hotels and observe the latest working methods.

A Principal of a School for Hospitality said  'The manual is very well adjusted to teachers' needs, both content-wise and methodology-wise and it is good material not only for teachers but also for people working in all levels of the tourism sector (entrepreneurs, managers, staff in hotels, bars, restaurants).'

In 2008/09, the Skills@Work programme in Montenegro took important steps forward in two directions: quality assurance for Vocational Education Training (VET) colleges and implementing the new National Vocational Qualification (NVQ) law. Skills@Work is part of the British Council’s Skills for Employability programme, which is building a policy dialogue between the UK and other countries to explore how to improve skills and employability.

Quality assurance in VET colleges

The first project addresses quality assurance issues in VET colleges and is being implemented in partnership with the Ministry of Education and Science and the Centre for Vocational Education. For this project, quality assurance representatives from 15 colleges received training, information and guidance on a new model. The self-assessment handbook was revised and adjustments were made to provide a framework that addresses both individual and systemic needs. The training for a range of VET colleges took place in February 2009, led by a quality assurance expert from the UK for the Policy Dialogue 2 component of the programme.

The first NVQ law in Montenegro

The second part of the project deals with supporting the implementation of the new NVQ law – the first of its type in Montenegro. The British Council assisted local authorities to set criteria for recruiting work-based assessors and developing assessment guidance. A UK expert from the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) worked closely with the Examinations Centre and other partners, by looking at their system, bringing in good practice and exchanged ideas to help draft these documents.

Results: more effective learning and improved employability

Project results include:

			A new model of quality assurance for VET schools drawing on experience from the ‘Framework for Excellence’.
			Improved management and leadership skills for school staff.
			NVQ by-laws and regulations in place, based on good practice used in the UK.
			Better understanding of work-based assessment, its procedures and quality standards.
			More effective teaching and learning, leading to improved employability.
			Greater flexibility for work-based learning.

In Bosnia and Herzegovina, thanks to a fruitful partnership with Derby College, the School of Economics from Bijeljina became the first school in the country to get a Moodle virtual learning site in English. The project established foundations for an e-learning centre to support students across the country who cannot attend full-time classes.

This Skills@Work project is part of the British Council’s Skills for Employability programme, which is setting up partnerships between institutions in the UK and other countries to inspire new ideas to improve skills and employability.

A positive experience on both sides

Staff from both institutions took part in exchange visits and gained valuable and practical knowledge that enabled them to undertake some brave steps towards developing new courses. 'We developed a completely new ‘Banking and Finance’ module,' said one of the teachers from Bijeljina. 'We have also created a completely new profession of ‘bank technician’, which hasn’t existed before in this country.'

Students from the two institutions are also working together on an ‘Entrepreneur of the Year’ competition. The winning team from Bosnia visited Derby College and partner businesses in April 2009, while the UK winners will visit Bosnia in April 2010.

Results: sowing the seeds of change

The seeds planted by this partnership have the potential to inspire permanent changes in the national curriculum of Bosnia. 'What you have achieved has to be applied in all other schools in this country. And we will make sure it happens,' said the Deputy Minister of Education from Republika Srpska.

A new partnership between Dundee College and the ‘Ikarus’ Tourism Professional Training Centre in Tbilisi is helping Georgia to enhance its VET skills. The Skills@Work project is part of the British Council’s Skills for Employability programme, which is setting up partnerships between institutions in the UK and other countries to inspire new ideas to improve skills and employability.

The project is timely as it coincides with the President’s special initiative to increase VET’s popularity in Georgia by raising the standard of VET schools and skills so that people are better equipped to compete in the global labour market.

Sharing best practice in hospitality and tourism

The project aims to:

			Create a sustainable training partnership in hospitality and tourism between Georgia and the UK.
			Promote quality and relevance in training through professional development and active employer engagement.
			Create innovative training units and materials in inter-cultural understanding in customer care.
			Test new approaches in learning and teaching through reciprocal student exchanges.
			Evaluate and disseminate project results in both countries.

The British Council funded partnership allows Ikarus teachers and students to get in touch with their counterparts in Dundee to help improve the level of professional education and skills development in Georgia. Georgian teachers have visited Dundee College to receive training and develop learning materials, and students will also have the chance to visit the UK.

Results: new courses and a higher profile for VET

The project is on track to help make a significant contribution to the development of vocational education in Georgia. Ikarus is now developing food and beverage courses and aims to expand its travel and tourism programmes. 'In just one year, we’ve seen fantastic changes,' says the project manager from Dundee College.

During Winter 2008/09, a series of youth entrepreneurship competitions took place in nine countries across South East Europe, aiming to foster creative solutions. The Skills@Work Challenge is a partnership between Junior Achievement Europe and The British Council. It forms part of The British Council’s Skills for Employability programme, which uses these enterprise awards to promote entrepreneurial skills.

The competition was open to young people aged 15-18 in vocational schools in nine countries in South East Europe (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Georgia, Israel, Macedonia, Romania, Serbia and Turkey) and the UK.

More than 2,000 students took part in the 2008/09 national competitions. Businesses set the students challenges, and participants had just a few hours to solve the problems and make presentations in front of a jury.

Enterprising solutions

Amazing solutions to tricky problems included the following:

			Inspired to improve the working environment, young Israelis came up with a work surface illuminated with red light for dark rooms and lecture halls that would enable people to write comfortably in a dark environment.
			Challenged to rethink a bottle of water, Romanian students responded with a double layered plastic bottle containing a ‘eutectic liquid shield’ – a space filled with a sodium salt and water solution - that maintains the temperature for up to five hours.
			Young Bulgarians proudly demonstrated their eco-awareness by proposing 'home flooring that generates energy from the stomping of your feet'.

Results: inventions, teamwork and self-confidence

The ideas impressed the judges with their inventiveness, and students enjoyed the sense of exploration and teamwork. As one Macedonian student said: 'I was given a chance to learn about the knowledge that other students possess. I must emphasise that the competition has also given me greater self-confidence.'

Forward-thinking young people from across Europe impressed judges with their entrepreneurial flair at the final stage of the international Skills@Work Challenge in Bulgaria in March 2009.

Fifty-six students from ten countries gathered in Sofia to compete in multinational teams, having won their national competitions in Autumn/Winter 2008/09. The Skills@Work Challenge is a competition that encourages young people to use their skills in enterprising and innovative ways, ultimately increasing their employability and entrepreneurial talent.  

The competition is run in partnership with the Junior Achievement Europe,  as part of The British Council’s Skills for Employability programme, which uses these enterprise awards to highlight excellence in entrepreneurial skills.

24 hours of brainstorming

After an intense 24 hours of brainstorming, collaboration and idea generation, the teams presented their innovations to a panel of judges from business, including leading figures from the project’s business partners, Microsoft and Astra Zeneca. The winning team was made up of students from Bulgaria, Israel, Romania, the UK and Serbia. They developed an idea for an ‘Easy Vote’ online voting system aimed at increasing voting activity and reducing the cost and impact to governments.

One of the judging panel, Zoya Paunova, Executive Director of Astra Zeneca Bulgaria, asked the team: 'Could you make sure your idea is implemented by the Bulgarian government in time for this year's elections?'

Results: 2,000 young participants

More than 2,000 students took part in the national competitions that were held in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Georgia, Israel, Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, Turkey and the UK. In Sofia, the groups were mixed and new teams were formed of mixed nationalities. The competition was organised by the British Council in partnership with Junior Achievement Europe, Europe’s largest provider of enterprise education programmes.

The project resulted in significant media coverage in participating countries, and news of the challenge is estimated to have reached 37 million people.