ERASMUS+ POLICY STATEMENT OVERALL ESTRATEGY (ENG) 

The Institut Les Salines is willing to adapt to a world in constant change in which internationalization and global mobility are the order of the day. Hence, we are eager to boost the quality of our vocational training upon different approaches, regarding working methods in other countries, and by acquiring and improving competences in order to achieve a better qualification of all participants, both students and staff, when possible.

Keeping this outlook in mind, we want to promote as much as possible:

- VET students' mobility, allowing them to complete traineeships abroad in European companies and understanding new trends and activities in the market.

- Academic staff involvement in innovation, exchange and cooperation programmes with other institutions or companies in order to achieve new approaches that may result in improving working methods, productivity and academic results.

Which are our objectives?

- Strengthening the culture of effort focused on the acquisition of skills and competencies that allow adaptation to any labour market and educational system anyone may aim for, as well as improving academic achievements.

- Promoting transnational cooperation between our institution and others through projects and knowledge exchanges

- Contributing as much as possible to improve governance and funding for all mobility initiatives that might be carried out

- Securing the social recognition of vocational training and setting the education-innovation-business as an axis vocational training may stand for.

How do we choose our partners?

There are two different ways we can reach potential partners:

- By means of networks, such as Netinvet, that has helped us to find partners in the Netherlands and France. These partners may at the same time get us in touch with other partners in other fields. We also provide this information when required.

- By means of the Regional Ministry of Education, who gets in touch with their European counterparts in order to find institutions eager to host traineeship participants or to join international projects.

Which are our geographical areas?

As for now, we are open to all options, but the main areas we have worked with so far are the Netherlands (Zwölle and Apeldoorn) and France (Montpellier and the Rhône-Alpes Department). We are trying to open up to Ireland since the Town Council in El Prat de Llobregat is in contact with the County of Fingal.

Which are our objectives and target groups of our mobility activities?

Our mobility activities have been mainly focused on traineeships for VET Tertiary Level participants, but we would also like to expand the advantages of Erasmus+ to other sectors of the student body as well as to the board of teachers in order to ensure all the objectives above-mentioned, by means of educational and training stages, co-operation projects and such.

In order to organise and implement such cooperation projects, the Institut Ribera Baixa is willing to carry out the following actions:

- To boost and encourage projects involving entrepreneurial solutions, cultural exchanges, knowledge and methodology acquisition for both staff and students. Keeping this outlook on sight, we are eager to improve our teaching and training experiences into effective acquisition of professional and, when needed academic, competences. The Institut Ribera Baixa will stand for any international cooperation projects in any fields offered.

- To create bonds for effective and productive contact with as many institutions and companies as possible; due to our adjacency with Barcelona and the location of the airport and Barcelona harbour, we are a desirable focus of interest for many companies and cultural institutions. We want to learn from other sources and sights, but we also want to share the chances we enjoy here.

- To highlight the process and result of any initiatives taken within the Erasmus+ Programme in order to boost the interest of all the involved actors in our institution's everyday life, its potential future users, the Administration, etc., willing to result into a source of motivation and excellence.

The expected impact of our participation in the E+ Programme would spread to all five priorities in the following ways:

• As for increasing attainment levels to provide the graduates and researchers Europe needs, we need to understand, accept and adapt to a changing status-quo that requires the internationalization of knowledge and work. We want to expose all involved participants to this reality involving working methods, language improvement, interdisciplinary approaches leading eventually to the creation of a positive mentality able to act consequent and effectively to any work, research or educational circumstances.

• As for improving the quality and relevance of higher education, traineeships and staff stages should help to acquire any tools, perspectives and approaches derived from the observation of different methods, techniques and ways of proceeding abroad that would help us to turn higher education into an incentive, a desirable source of knowledge and work creation, considering it as a means for effective personal improvement and integration in any social, educational or labour context.
• As for strengthening quality through mobility and cross-border co-operation, we understand that mobility implements new contents and competences taught and shown by professionals that would not be on reach by means of the traditional or regular channels. Learning from different perspectives, cultural nuances or working methods should build a critical thought of what and the ways it has been learnt or taught and implement it into our training and educational praxis. Thus, such mobility initiatives would be an asset and, as mentioned before, an incentive for encouraging all types of training.
• As for making the knowledge triangle work: Linking higher education, research and business for excellence and regional development; we live in an excellent context for making these bonds evident and valuable. We are in a buoyant area regarding all three axes: We offer a considerable number of courses focused on the main business fields in our area (keep in mind that El Prat airport and Barcelona harbour are in our range of action), as well as Barcelona, which is a great offer for cultural and personal development in all aspects.
• As for improving governance, we are willing to find in mobility projects new approaches, methods, settings, information and procedures that may help the board of teachers, directors and managers to improve techniques, revise syllabus contents and thus optimize our managing tasks. As for funding, we count with the invaluable co-operation, help and support of the Regional Ministry of Education, which mediates and manages the funding for mobility initiatives.