ERASMUS POLICY STATEMENT IES DE FOZ
The IES de Foz is a center in which medium and higher level Hostelry Training Cycles are taught: Middle Cycle of Cooking, Middle Cycle of Services, Higher Cycle of Kitchen Management and Dual Cycle of Service Management. The hostelry cycles in the IES de Foz have been a benchmark in the training of the sector in Galicia for more than 30 years.
With the request of the Erasmus Charter our educational center wants to show its desire to participate in the program, as part of the strategy to carry out the modernization and internationalization of the education of our institution.
Our school currently participates in a KA102 program for middle school and basic vocational training, which encourages mobility and collaboration between European educational centers. Erasmus +.
They have given us the opportunity to establish contact with educational centers and companies from various countries in Europe: Italy, France, Portugal, Hungary and the Czech Republic with whom we have a close relationship, both with companies and with counterpart institutes. Through these contacts we hope to establish partnerships with other higher education educational centers and companies in their environment. Finally, we mention that we also currently use the direct search of companies for the realization of mobilities of practices, through the use of information and communication technologies and thanks to the attendance to courses organized by "SEPIE" and to contact seminars .
The geographical area in which we want to move is that of the European Union, as we understand that it is the geographical framework in which we live and with which we relate more closely. We are preferably interested in Italian, Portuguese, English and French speaking countries. We have teachers who can teach support classes in all of them.
At present, our center carries out, through the Erasmus program, student mobility (middle cycle) to carry out internships in companies and "job shadowing" activities for professors in equivalent institutes. The application of this Erasmus letter allows the IES of Foz to carry out the purpose of intensifying the international training of its students of Higher Level Vocational Training by completing, in part or in full, their compulsory practice (FCT) and his continuing education in companies from other countries.
We want to address the following groups:
.- With the Mobility of students for internships, students will be able to carry out an internship for a period of time in a company from another European country. Up until now, we were only a center for students who did internships in European companies. We intend to expand this section by being recipients of internships. Through these actions the students will have as objectives to acquire professional experience and also to know the demands of the labour market at European level, acquire specific skills and improve the understanding of the economic and social environment. These practices will be recognized through the ECTS credits system and will validate the module "Training in work centers".
We believe that these types of actions favour the creation of better qualified future professionals. We are committed to grant full recognition to the period of study abroad through the system of academic credits or a compatible system depending on the case. Also to have updated the offer of courses annually as well as to make the necessary documentation to establish study agreements and certify the results obtained.
.-With the mobility of personnel for training in companies or institutions of higher education, our teaching staff will be able to develop practical skills that they can later transmit to their students. Train to form better. We also want to extend this mobility to the non-teaching staff of our center so that they can also enrich themselves by sharing experiences and good practices that they can apply in their jobs. In 2017 an “International European Plan” was carried out so as to have our institution upgraded and internationalised. It is our hope to establish alliance for knowledge with firms both to promote innovation and entrepreneurial spirit, as well as strategic partnership with partner institutions, businesses or any other entity to foster transversal cooperation in the field of education. Cooperation is to be accomplished in the context of achieving sustainable, balanced results for all the partners and therefore, with a clear focus on the future.
By taking part in an international cooperation project we mostly aim to strengthen our staff and student´s professional development and to contribute to our institution modernization.
Countries will be chosen according to:
- Students´preferences, as long as the host organization follows key procedures, training and programme.
- Countries where the students can learn a language that will provide then with easier access to labour market.
- Previous contact with host partners, who facilitate the whole process as well as the efficiency of the mobility activities involved.
We strongly believe that these international cooperation projects can mean a labour opportunity for our students, opening up new horizons and job prospects.
Moreover, they also provide them with cultural enrichment.
It is in this sense that we are committed to:
- Both hosting and sending staff and students
- Providing support measures on an international departmental and administrative level, so that those taking part in the project may be able to carry out their tasks.
- Make sure that the activities, the finance system, and the end results of the project are widely spread on the Internet, through oral and poster presentations, gastronomic workshops, specialised courses or any other spreading activity. As a result, the whole of the academic community, high-teaching institutions and other partners (firms, educational authorities, organizations, associations….) can get to know them.
We rely on the full support of our entire institution. In this regard, we will encourage students, teaching and non teaching staff to participate in this kind of projects.
The impact IES de Foz expects to achieve by developing this kind of project, regarding “The Modernization and Internalization Agenda” and its five basic priorities is as follows:
1) Increase the number of qualified students in Vocational Training to meet the UE needs. Due to the current complex labour situation caused by the economic crisis, a major training need and a greater suitability to new markets arise, mostly among young people in Spain.
By providing this kind of mobilities, our school aims to give students new opportunities to improve their future expectations as well as their professional chances. At the same tame, the UE is being promoted as a study-and-research destination. Our ultimate aim is to encourage students to get to higher education since they are given the chance to train abroad.
2. Improve the quality and relevance of higher education in the EU. The development of this type of projects will promote the improvement of the quality of this type of education, since it will provide added value beyond the classroom training, basically through the mobility programs. We want to make higher education more attractive and of quality. We intend to promote the information and communication technologies of the institution. Our center currently has two wired networks. We also have a wireless wifi network and we have a virtual classroom based on a Moodle platform and hosted by the Ministry of Education. We also decided to adopt the WhatsApp application, with it we could create groups and, in addition to sending and receiving messages through the Internet, we could exchange images, videos and audio messages with what the monitoring of mobilities would gain in quality.
3. Reinforce quality through mobility and cross-border cooperation. Cooperation with other European countries will contribute to the improvement of the quality of education in the school. Staff mobility will be the key to this task, through the knowledge of the way other European organizations act with the main educational opportunities and objectives. An important point for us in our strategy of modernizing the center is the close contact with the companies with which we collaborate now and with those we will collaborate in the future.
4. Make the knowledge triangle work. Relate higher education, research and business to promote excellence and regional development. On the one hand, cooperation projects are always related to research and training, especially Multilateral Projects, in continuous contact with the working world in order to ensure that research is focused on the real needs of society. On the other hand, mobility fosters this type of collaboration between education and educational organizations with companies, contributing to an improvement in the quality of education. With the mobility of teaching staff, in addition to strengthening the link between education, research and companies we will have the opportunity to be up-to-date on the most innovative technologies, which will allow us to update the contents of our educational offer, to better train, and in a more according to the real needs of the labor market way, to our students.
5. Improve management and financing. The development of the Erasmus projects will put our organizations in contact with organizations from other geographical areas and cultures, bringing the experience of these organizations in management and financing matters, contributing to the improvement of our country in both areas. The financing mechanisms in support of excellence to meet the needs of the labor market will also help to achieve it. The companies will have better trained employees, which will ultimately promote the regeneration of the economy of the regions and generate a positive impact on the environment.
