The innovative research project tackles acute questions of organisational renewal capacity and change management in the radically changing media sector. The key question is how media organisations can renew their thinking, resource bases and capabilities in order to stay competitive while addressing the challenges of digitalisation. The research is carried out by conducting qualitative and quantitative analyses based on data collected in the German media industry. The media context offers an excellent example of a dynamic business environment brought about by technological convergence, rapidly changing media usage behaviour and increasing global competition. The theoretical framework is based on modern theories of strategic management research, especially in relation to the dynamic capability view and the managerial cognition tradition. The combination of the two frameworks forms a unique multidisciplinary research approach that comprehensively helps European media organisations tackle organisational path dependencies and drivers of change. Understanding the factors that keep the media industry competitive is of great importance, because vital and diverse media is a key element of European democracy. The project is a pioneering piece of research into media management and opens many new options for projects and international collaboration as well as applications in other industries facing digital transformation. The unique interdisciplinary approach and research setting combined with a highly important topic of European interest remarkably improves the senior researcher’s competencies through applying new theories and analysis methods. The project also extends her teaching skills through opportunities at the host institution related to strategic management and the media sector than at her home university. As a result the fellowship considerably widens her career opportunities, especially as the study will spur wider interest in both academia and practice.

"<< Objectives >>The aim of a student design competition called the Digital Decathlon is to develop an innovative curriculum-integrated learning offer to increase digitalisation competence in higher education, to teach the Building Information Modelling (BIM) method, to promote interdisciplinary through collaboration of construction-related disciplines on a common project, and to internationalise higher education to promote social and intercultural competence and strengthen European identity.<< Implementation >>The ""Digital Decathlon"" is a student design competition at European universities. A digital platform will be created for the event, supporting participants with teaching content. Two competitions are planned, each of them to be realized within one semester. At the beginning of each competition there will be held a joint symposium for all participants, and at the end of each competition - a central final event with the presentation of results. The projects results will be published on the website<< Results >>Increasing digitalisation competence in construction industry is an important goal of the project. For this purpose, a new learning concept related to BIM methodology will be developed and tested so that after the two-year runtime, the competition can be opened to other interested universities and the international cooperation of the universities will be strengthened."

The issue addressed in IMPROPAL (Improvement Project for Active Learning) is the quality of learning for students, mainly during their studies but also in the preparation and training for upcoming employment.The project is particularly relevant for 2 of the 8 key competences for lifelong learning highlighted in the EU policy documents: learning to learn and sense of initiative and entrepreneurship. It is in line with the EU horizontal priority of developing basic and transversal skills using innovative methods. The complexity of the project enabled additional value when it comes to increasing key digital and technical competence of staff and students, as well as insights related to the key competences of cultural and intercultural awareness.The question of interest for the project is: How can we change the way our schools and universities teach, so that the students are training to take on a greater responsibility for their own learning, both during their education and, later on, during their professional life?The goal of taking more responsibility for the own learning is well recognized in EU policy documents. In the reference literature presented in the project application, responsibility is mentioned as an important cross-curricular key competence. Objectives:(a) An overall objective of the project is increased responsibility for the own learning among students during higher education and upon entering professional practice.(b) Development of a toolbox of innovative pedagogical approaches to support the first objective, to help train students to become more responsible for their own learning through: flipped learning (IO1), entrepreneurial approach to learning (IO2), co-creative learning (IO3), project work (IO4), coaching and counselling (IO5) and formative assessment (IO6).Project partners:Xenter Botkyrka, Sweden - Higher Vocational Education Institution, project coordinatorJade UAS, Wilhelmshaven, Germany - Higher Education BBS Wilhelmshaven, Germany - Sec. Vocational Education Windesheim UAS, The Netherlands - Higher Education Worms UAS, Germany - Higher EducationFaculty of Architecture and Urban Planning, TU of Cluj-Napoca, Romania - Higher EducationThe main activities undertaken in the project are related to the development (planning, implementation, evaluation, dissemination) of the Intellectual Outputs 1-6. For this, IMPROPAL used a working procedure where one partner was leading the development of a particular pedagogical approach and other partners were following the input, pursuing to implement the ideas of the chosen approach in their own context.Activities were organised based on the Followers visit Leaders or Leaders visit Followers principle, as learning, teaching and training activities for teachers and/or subproject managers. The project also included Transnational Project Meetings, for project coordination purposes, once a year.Activities for dissemination and spreading of results were performed by each project partner at local, regional, national or international level or added in connection with each partner visit in order to add value to the planned activities and allow further networking or receiving feedback about the ideas and work within the project.The project organized two Multiplier Events where all six Intellectual Outputs were presented to a wide audience.One main result of project IMPROPAL is the tangible output - a toolbox consisting of six pedagogical approaches. Ment for teachers, school leaders and different stakeholders in the field of education, the toolbox gathers all implementation and good practice examples tried out during the project. It also contains guidelines, the do’s and the dont’s, descriptions, theoretical considerations and evaluation tools - in cases where this was applicable, as well as analyses and recommendations on the experience of implementing the pedagogical approaches. The toolbox is useful and applicable to different educational levels and sectors, not only in using the pedagogical approaches separately but also in combination with each other, having one common goal - educating for responsibility in learning. Another main result is the intangible outcome of increased awareness for the project participants and others coming in contact with the project, about how working with the mentioned pedagogical approaches can lead to empowering of learners and thus having effects on their lives in general - education, work, citizenship. This is one of the long-term benefits of project IMPROPAL, something we hope to investigate and develop further.Knowledge and practical examples about how responsibility in learning can be stimulated in all educational settings is also important for promoting equity and inclusion by facilitating access to education and success in performance for special groups facing challenges. Some of the pedagogical approaches contained in the IMPROPAL toolbox can serve to improve education systems for these groups.

"CONTEXT AND BACKGROUNDThe shipping industry is a key component of the global economy. It is regulated by the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), the UN specialised agency for maritime affairs. Over 80% of reported accidents and incidents at sea and in ports are due to human errors and over 30% of these accidents are due to linguistic and communications mistakes. Language and communication are fundamental elements of the shipping sector, especially with Maritime English being the language of the sea. The IMO approved the newly revised Model Course 3.17 for Maritime English in January 2015. The IMO states that because educational systems and the cultural backgrounds of trainees in maritime subjects vary considerably from country to country, the model course material has been designed to identify the basic entry requirements and there are no mechanisms for controlling the variation of the output from such courses. To remove the acknowledged variation this project has set out to develop a new set of assessment and training standards for the IMO’s revised Model Course 3.17 for Maritime English and include the new categories of seafarers. A number of studies (OECD, 2010, European Commission, 2011 and BIMCO, 2005, 2010), have demonstrated there is an imbalance of seafarers in different EU countries. A reduction of this imbalance has been targeted with the development of a new set of assessment and training standards for Maritime English. OBJECTIVES AND UNDERTAKEN MAIN ACTIVITIESThe MariLANG project has had two major objectives. On the one hand, a universal Maritime English proficiency test has been developed to cater for the latest amendments promulgated by the IMO, and on the other hand a new language training platform has been implemented which allows language teachers and learners to use state-of-the-art technology to improve international cadets' language skills and communication capabilities. Further to these two main objectives, a book has been written by project partners which summarises all relevant findings in the project's work on Maritime English assessment and training activities.Language AssessmentMariLANG has undertaken to develop a universal Maritime English proficiency test which includes the five discrete language competencies of Reading, Writing, Listening, Speaking and the Standard Marine Communication Phrases (SMCP). For each of these competencies, task descriptors and specifications have been developed and validated, and a high number of test tasks have been written and piloted. The new assessment standard is in-line with the revised model course 3.17 Maritime English and linked to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR). This linkage ensures seafarers can learn and work throughout Europe, through the application of common content and assessment. This will help seafarers to be mobile, and have a better access to job opportunities and career progression across Europe and the world. Language TrainingThe language training platform has been developed to prepare language learners for the assessment tasks described above. The implemented Moodle platform includes a high number of training tasks and quizzes as an element of formative assessment. The platform also establishes a free portal for co-operative tasks and exchange of good practices.MariLANG bookThe project outcome has been disseminated by a number of activities including international conferences. These conferences were used to present the project and its results to the international target audience. The working papers presented at these conferences were modified and included in a book titled ""Establishing a universal assessment framework for Maritime English: The MariLANG project (Maritime English Language Training Standards)"". This book is published in paper form, but also freely available on the project homepage.PARTICIPATING ORGANISATIONSThe MariLANG project was carried out by seven European partners from Belgium, Bulgaria, Germany, Greece, Slovenia and the United Kingdom (UK). Partners included a maritime vocational training school, maritime universities and research institutes with a specialisation in maritime affairs. All partner institutions had a considerable experience in language assessment and teaching and a keen interested in the project's objectives.RESULTS, IMPACT AND BENEFITSThe project's dissemination activities have demonstrated that a real need exists to standardise maritime language assessment and training further. Feedback from European and Asian maritime stakeholders has been positive throughout, with companies and state organisations showing an interest in integrating the project's results into their existing portfolio. The joint effort co-funded by the European Commission has created a strategic alliance between project participants, associated partners and interested third parties which is expected to have a lasting effect on seafarer assessment and training."

"The TRAILs project focused on the preparation, design, and implementation of an innovative and robust Europe-wide teacher training programme for teachers of specialised languages (now LSP), in response to the worrying finding that most higher education teachers in this field have not received specific training, in a context where language skills are expected to enhance mobility and employability. The reports and documents corresponding to the different phases of the project have been uploaded on the valorisation platform.Defined at the kick-off meeting, the approach adopted in this project enabled the eight partners to respond to the challenge posed by the extremely specific context of LSP, in a transnational and collaborative approach with exchanges during transnational meetings, discussions by email and working documents posted on Google Drive. Based on a study of the real situation in the field, carried out in synergy with the possibilities offered by research, the work was divided and organised in several interdependent phases, from preparation to implementation and evaluation. The first step was to review the supply of LSP teacher training programmes in Europe in the European Higher Education Area: they are scarce and very heterogeneous. Following this exploration of the institutional side, the work focused on the target audience: LSP teachers in higher education. The field research (surveys and interviews) identified the needs of this audience and their expectations in terms of training. The gaps identified between the existing training offer and the training required for these teachers were used to define relevant and applicable teaching-learning objectives, and then to design a training programme for LSP teaching aimed at supporting the development of the competences of the target audience (in-service participants and students). The lesson planning is divided into teaching modules that alternate between interactive plenary sessions and group work. Originally scheduled for September 2020 in Zagreb, the training event had to be moved to February 2021 due to the pandemic. All the elements had to be reworked in view of providing distance learning. Despite the difficulties, the partners managed to adapt their working methods and their training offer to the new requirements of distance learning. Each lesson plan was reviewed in detail to ensure that the pilot course would meet its objectives.Conducted online from 22 to 26 February 2021, the training included 11 modules addressing the needs of future and current LSP teachers in terms of teaching methodology, with particular reference to the use of ICT. Participants were also provided with the technical support of an accompanying document to support the activity and extend the process of reflection. It was noted that all the training sessions were clearly appreciated by the participants who showed real commitment and managed, together with the trainers, to create an atmosphere favourable to learning and friendly collaboration.Throughout the project, the work was disseminated (http://trails.inspe-bordeaux.fr/, https://www.researchgate.net/project/TRAILS-LSP-Teacher-Training-Summer-School) and the results obtained were made known to the stakeholders through the organisation of dissemination events which gave rise to debates and made it possible to strengthen cooperation with networks working in a similar field, such as the Erasmus + CATAPULT project. A booklet was produced and translated into each of the partners' languages to complement the presentation. The final conference allowed the approach to be further consolidated. The work was also presented at conferences and workshops. Among the writings on the project, we should mention articles in the proceedings of several conferences as well as chapters published or in the process of being published, notably in the framework of a collective work ""LSP Teacher Training Summer School. The TRAILs project"", which is expected to contribute to the dissemination of the LSP teacher training programme, evaluation methods and tools.Building on the work of TRAILs, the Erasmus + LSP-TEOC.Pro project, which started in September 2020, aims to develop a multilingual online course for LSP teaching."