Part 1 ITS Apulia Digital Maker is willing to participate in European and International cooperation projects with the aim of providing the institute with the possibility to create new international networks with similar institutions as well as with all innovation actors involved IT applications (Higher Education Institutions, enterprises, PA representatives). It must be mentioned that European Union manifests a growing need of digital skills: augmented reality and Virtual Reality, Learning Machine and Smart Agricolture applications are part of the ITS Apulia Digital Maker didactical offer, that can contribute to the promotion of the growth of human capital and job placement. a) Partner selection: The internationalization process of ITS Apulia Digital Maker has already begun through the close cooperation with partner companies, e.g. NTT Data and Sigfox present in 5 European countries and with many actors in the 3D manufacturing sector in the area of Prague (Czech Republic). Partnership plays a fundamental role in ITS Apulia Digital Maker’s strategy, and new synergies have been set with many entrepreneurial entities at EU level: UPP Universal Production Partners a.s, Simple Cell Networks a.s., Barrandov studio a.s., AAA Studio s.r.o, NTT data, Sigfox, Radio Televizija Slovenija. Through this accreditation at European level, we would like to make ongoing partnerships with various entities official and enlarge the number of partners. To further reach this goal, ITS Apulia Digital Maker is also willing activate relations with other European networks like EfVET (European Forum of Technical and Vocational Education and Training) and Chain5 (5 EQF Level School Association). The selection of foreign partners is based on their skills and level of professionalism. We aim also at bulding a database of other schools and similar institutes, operating in outer countries, in order to be able to reach out and try to estabilish international relationships. We will pay a special attention confirming if other schools and institutions’ formative offer would be similar or complementary to ours. This way, a common skills recognition will be easily possible. Face-to-face meetings or Skype meetings will be organized with selected partners’ teachers/staff/managers in order to improve reciprocal relationship and try to develop together a common collaboration strategy. B) Geographical areas: Since ICT, which is our main focus, doesn’t have set borders and according to our internationalization vision, we do not exclude any geographical areas, but our choice will be only based on partners’ quality (high level companies, highly innovative startups and schools that offer similar courses). WIth a special aim at the medium-long term, ITS Apulia Digital Maker is also willing to enlarge its partnership to other Asian countries and North America. Furthermore, all Courses delivered by ITS Apulia Digital Maker have a strong connotation on practical application to real business environments, where linguistic competencies play a fundamental role: mobility programmes can contribute to the improvement of proficiency in English and other European languages. C) Objectives and target groups: Mobility activities could play an essential role into internationalization process of our school. ITS Apulia Digital Maker participation in European and International cooperation projects will therefore contribute to: – enhancing the quality and relevance of its didactical offer – developing professional, social and intercultural skills and employability of its students – improving the professional development of its staff (teachers, tutors and managing staff) These 3 elements are considered crucial success factors for ITS Apulia Digital Maker. We are willing to increase students mobility in order to be able to offer our students the possibility to improve their qualification level. Taking part tointernational mobility, our students will improve their professional, social, inter-cultural and linguistic skills. Our school staff could also improve both on their professional and personal skills. In the context of mobility programmes, ITS Apulia Digital Maker will also provide additional support for disadvantaged students so fully guarantee equal opportunites and open access for all. Part 2 In order to develop a successful strategy for the management and implementation of international cooperation projects ITS Apulia Digital Maker is willing to develop collaborations with program partners and with other partners countries. We aim to promote and support students and staff mobility, guaranteeing no discrimination by ensuring a clear policy for developing integrated, transnational teaching activities. ITS Apulia Digital Maker will recognize the importance of, and provide visibility to, the positive results achieved by our staff and students engaged in mobility programs. ITS Apulia Digital Maker is willing to work on participating in one or several Erasmus+ Programs. Our main goal in internationalisation is to encourage every student to gain a global experience, which will help them develop intercultural competences and become stronger global citizens. Erasmus+ will be particularly welcomed by students and teaching staff, and it will be a key element in this new strategy, and will be one of the frameworks through which quality partnerships will be established and developed. The Internationalization process that we are involved now, aims for the highest quality of learning experiences as a core element of education of our institution. We will focus on the sustainable development of institutional relationships and strategic activities that will underpin ITS Apulia Digital Maker international profile in the future. Another main aim is the internationalisation at home, where incoming international students are valued and recognized for all of their contributions, including enriching institutional life and the educational experience of all students, creating opportunities for long-lasting professional partnerships and relationships that can be of national, international and global benefit. To fulfill the goals of the internationalisation process, we are implementing a wide range of institutional goals and actions, including curriculum and program design; teaching and learning development; student, faculty and staff mobility; language education and training; research and innovation; projects and services; community outreach and local economic development. We will make any necessary effort to achieve successful, cost-efficient and sustainable results by defining detailed activities before, during and after mobility within our institutional mobility strategy. Defined management procedures will take place in order to ensure the achievement and the implementation of the expected results within the given timeframe and resources. A project manager will assure the management and monitoring of the implementation of activities by designing a detailed work plan which will be made available to all partners during the early stages of the project, in order to detail and share the tasks to be done and try to achieve the best results as possible. The Project Manager will be responsible for the correct development of the project, ensuring time, cost and quality and he/she will be supported by the accountant of our institution. The project manager will be in charge of the following actions: a) Decision making; b) Cost management; c) Time management; d) Quality assurance and progress monitoring. All these activities will be supervised respecting time management and the predefined work plan. These monitoring activities will contribute to achieving the desired impact and ensuring sustainability. Part 3 The expected impact of the participation in the Erasmus+ programme in the framework of the 5 priorities of the modernisation agenda can be summarized as follows: 1) Increasing the attainment levels: Erasmus+ opportunities such as mobility programmes for students and teachers will improve the attractive potential among students, NEETs, and unemployed youngsters who are willing to acquire specific, technical competencies. Italy percentage of people with tertiary level of education is well below the European Community average and one of the most important reason is the lack of capacity of Italian University system in offering an attractive and efficient proposal for young people who are at the end of their secondary education. ITS Apulia Digital Maker offers a tertiary vocational training, closely linked to work experience, which is attracting each year a growing number of students, not just young people but also older ones, in the perspective of lifelong learning, because this kind of training can allow the integration of skills acquired during previous work experience. The possibility of participating in the Erasmus+ program offers the opportunity to learn more about the active successful experiences in other countries and increase the quality and attractiveness of the courses offered by our Institute. 2) Improving the quality and relevance of higher education: ITS Apulia Digital Maker is strongly oriented towards the development of innovation in products and processes in very specific sectors which are highly requested in the ICT domain at EU level. At the same time, ITS Apulia Digital Maker is willing to engage teachers in a new European dimension as fundamental step to foster innovation and relevance of the curricula. The confrontation with foreign institutions in higher education allows our school to identify differences and similarities and to identify best practices in order to improve the quality of our education process. The opportunity to increase the possibilities of mobility and exchanges with foreign institutions or of carrying out an internship in international companies helps the whole ITS Apulia Digital Maker community – teachers, staff, students – to acquire knowledge and competences that fullfill to the request of the labour market at international level, guaranteeing a continuous and updated analysis of needs. 3) Promoting mobility and cross-border cooperation: ITS Apulia Digital Maker will adopt ECTS and all instruments that are necessary to tackle any administrative barrier to mobility such as problems of recognition of diplomas and credits or portability of grants, so to further incentivize students to apply for mobility programmes. The participation in mobility and cooperation programmes is fundamental in order to increase the circulation of students and teachers and to favour the exchange of new knowledge, innovation and research. The participation in Erasmus+ programmes, allows students of ITS Apulia Digital Maker to develop a wider willingness to international mobility also in the work choices; teachers and staff members could benefit from new knowledge shared on international level. 4) Linking higher education, research and business: ITS Apulia Digital Maker is strongly oriented towards the development of innovation in products and processes of the IT applications of augmented reality and Virtual Reality, Learning Machine and Smart Agricolture. Strategic Partnerships with other Higher Education Institutions and enterprises operating in the fields are necessary to foster new strategic and innovative clusters. The “triangle of knowledge” is one of the ITS Apulia pillars: already from its foundation, international companies have been involved. The Scientific Committee includes professionals from the world of work, but also from university, characterized by high innovative competences and international spirit. The participation in Erasmus+ programmes would be a converter for a higher number and greater quality of the existing network, supporting and improving the skills and the quality of people, who create the triangle of knowledge. 5) Improving governance and funding. The exchanges within other European and international realities will allow to find better solutions for ITS Apulia Digital Maker governance and funding: for example, new and better models of leadership, management, didactics, tutoring and placement. Erasmus+ could support some pilot programs of governance and financial innovations, already experienced in other good practices on European level. The matured experience in other countries could be usefully shared and developed. Moreover, the internationalization is an element strong attractiveness for an higher number of students, and favours an increase of funding and a higher sustainability ERASMUS CHARTER FOR HIGHER EDUCATION 2014-2020 (EN) ERASMUS CHARTER FOR HIGHER EDUCATION 2014-2020 (IT)