Introduction

It is well known that the Erasmus Program for higher education within the European Higher Education Area is a very enriching experience, insofar as it affords participants an opportunity to enhance comprehension and capacity for cooperation and adaptation to other mindsets and lifestyles.

The importance of such bilateral mobility agreements, whether academic or employment-related, is undeniable, for they allow a social and cultural experience of great value which also improves student résumés before they enter the workforce.

Institut Manuel Vázquez Montalbán (INS MVM) has a specific office for coordinating international contacts which offers abroad and incoming students and staff interested in participating, all the information they may need.

Index

1 General Organisation of Programme activities
1.1 Additional Information for HEIs belonging to an Umbrella Organisation

2 What can I study at INS MVM?
2.1 Fundamental Principles
2.2 Languages

3 When participing in mobility activities
3.1 Before mobility
3.2 Before mobility – Language
3.3 During Mobility
3.4 During Mobility – Language
3.5 After Mobility – recognising the mobility achievements
3.6 After Mobility -Measures to support, to promote and to recognise staff mobility

4 Internacional Cooperation Projects

5 Erasmus Policity Statement
5.1 Organisation and implementation of international (EU and non-EU) cooperation projects
5.2 The Impact of our participation in the Erasmus+ Programme on the modernisation of our institution.


6 Interesting Links

General Organisation of Programme activities

Mobility coordination is a service of Institut Manuel Vázquez Montalbán ( with the  acronym INS MVM ) that manages the international mobility of students , teachers and staff. In addition, it encourages the school international relations.

The mobility coordination team consist of:

  • The Mobility coordinator, named for the high school principal
  • The Apprenticeship / in-company training  coordinator
  • The Secretary 

The functions and responsibilities of mobility coordination are:

  • Improving international mobility among students
  • Improving teachers international mobility, attending seminars, courses and, afterwards, sharing their experiences with the educational community.
  • Organizing and planning the mobility programs for incoming students
  • Preparing the annual program for coordinating mobility
  • Providing advice and information on exchange programs in the educational community 
  • Perform the necessary administrative procedures

The values of the Mobility office are aligned with our institution: 

  •  Tolerance and respect for people
  •  Optimal use of resources and the environment
  •  Review and continuous improvement
  •  Adapting to change and new technologies
  •  Management autonomy and decision making
  •  Transparency

All the mobility information is published on the school website, local press and social media accounts. Furthermore, an especial mobility website is currently under construction. Finally, The mobility coordinator will report his actions to the faculty meeting

You can contact us :

Institut Manuel Vázquez Montalbán |Where we are [EN] | On som [CAT] |
Mobility and exchange office
Mobility coordinator: Lina Camprubí Santasusana
Phone: (+34) 933819005
email: mobility@institutmvm.cat

Additional Information for HEIs belonging to an Umbrella Organisation

Institut Manuel Vázquez Montalban (INS MVM) is a legal entity that depends on  the Government of Catalonia |More information [EN] [CAT] [ES]|, like the rest of Catalonia schools.

The Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport (MECS ) is responsible for initial vocational training though powers in education are transferred to the authorities of the 17 Autonomous Communities. It is responsible for non-university education policy, curriculum design, the assessment of schools’ performance, management of public and subsidied private schools.

The Catalan Ministry of Education define the regulated studies curriculum.

However, schools that provide Catalan Ministry of Education service have got autonomy,  in terms of educational, organizational and human resources and materials.

Then, in the application of school autonomy, the governing bodies of each school may establish additional objectives and define strategies to achieve them, organize the centre, determine the resources you need and define the procedures to implement the education plan which, under the law, is the highest expression of independence.

The educational project helps to promote collaboration between different sectors of the educational community and the relationship between the centre and the social environment

The teaching centres have to develop these curricula through the curricular project  and the annual programme, whose contents, assessment criteria, objectives, order and methodology are designed to reflect the characteristics of the students and the training possibilities available for them.

The Advanced VET degree that INS MVM offers is regulated by the Royal Decree 1629/2009 | More information [ES] |  and the Intermediate VET degree is regulated by the Royal Decree  1691/2007 | More information [ES] |

What can I study at INS MVM?

NS MVM offers the following studies:

Secondary school : The compulsory stage of secondary education is normally referred to by its initials: ESO (Educación Secundaria Obligatoria) . Consists of 4 years, structured as two cycles since the Organic Law for improvement of quality of education of 2013 . The second cycle contains two options: one geared towards the Spanish Baccalaureate, and the other towards vocational training. | More information [CAT] |

Spanish Baccalaureate ( called Bachillerato): it is  the post-16 stage of education. There are two parts, a core curriculum with the compulsory subjects, and a specialist part with a few pre-selected branches to choose from. | More information [CAT] |

Two VET degrees of IT family: Intermediate VET course called “Microcomputer systems and networks) and  Upper VET course called “Administration of computer network system” | More information [CAT] |

Intermediate VET course is accessed after having successfully completed compulsory secondary education (ESO) or exceptionally, by complying other conditions.Upper VET course is accessed by “Bachillerato” or by accrediting having a Technician Certificate  or exceptionally, by complying other conditions.

Study in Catalonia | More information [EN] |

Fundamental Principles

VET course  degrees are organized into  Professional Mòdules (PM) and they recognize 120 ECTS (among all PM). They last 2.000 in-person school hours and it is compulsory to attend 2 academic years.

Vocational training cycles is structured in two types of modules:

Theoretical-practical vocational modules and Compulsory in-company training module , called Formación en Centros de Trabajo (FCT), which are done through internships in a company.

Normally, students attend the Compulsory in-company training (FCT)  in the second year. It lasts 317 hours and it must recognize 22 ECTS  automatically as listed in the » Royal Decree 1125/2003 , of 5 September, where the European system of credits and qualifications is established. »  

At the same time, every professional module (PM) is divided at least into one o more training unit (TU). Every TU must be evaluated and marked. Students who successfully complete all PM obtain the qualification of “Higher Technician” and  can move directly on to university studies related to the vocational training studies they have taken

Institut Manuel Vázquez Montalban will encourage mobility participants to prepare Europass dossier. It consists in five documents that help you presenting your skills and qualifications in a simple layout throughout Europe.

Then, when mobility participants finish their exchanges, INS MVM  secretary issues (if participants meet the requirements) the following documents:

  • Europass Mobility document, which contains the knowledge and skills acquired in other European countries;
  • Supplement Technician Diploma or Certificate of Professionalism describes the knowledge and skills acquired by the owner.
  • Higher Diploma Supplement describes the knowledge and skills acquired by the holder of the certificate of higher education.

In order to complete Europass dossier mobility participants have to prepare a personal curriculum vitae (CV) and a language Passport.

Languages

The working language in the public schools in Catalonia is Catalan, according to Catalonian Education Law. However, Spanish language is another official language in Catalonia and all teachers and staff can use it perfectly.On the other hand, teachers of the short cycle have different English levels according to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. In some subjects teachers offer their syllabus or technical documentation in English as well. According to the upper VET decree, part of the subjects must be taught in English.

When participating in mobility activities

Before mobility

The Catalan Ministry of Education along with Catalonia Chamber of Commerce developed an official tool called QBID.

It is an online software program that facilitates the access to the three parts involved: students, mentors and tutors. In fact, it is an intranet.

Coordinator internship can allow access to students and mentors (creating a unique user and providing a password).

The QBID keep in touch 13  Chamber of Commerce, Council Chamber, VET high schools and the different department of Catalan Ministry of Education.

Firstly, INS Manuel Vázquez Montalban will sign an inter-institutional agreement with the partners schools.

When mobility department receives the profile of incoming students, tutor will search the most suitable company according to the student curriculum, competency and above all, students motivations and interests.

Nowadays, we are in contact with different kinds of receiving organisations which can receive incoming participants. Normally they are private small, medium enterprise and also some of them are international large enterprise. In addition, we are in contact with two foundations, some high schools and a physics research institute. Then, in-company training coordinator keeps in touch with 50 of these organisations, and every year, around 25 upper and intermediate VET students of INS MVM do compulsory in-company training in these places.

After that, the student, the school and the company will sign an agreement. QBID allows to set up this agreement. It also allows to design the activities plan that the student will do in the company. Nowadays, QBID can use different European languages such as English, French, German and of course, Catalan and Spanish. In addition, the language department will be able to translate it if it was necessary.

In this agreement there is different information:

  • Name, address, Company tax number  of company
  • Data manager of the agreement in the company
  • Data mentor in the company
  • Data tutor in the school
  • Data of students
  • Number of the hours and timetable that the student will do in the company

Then, the monitoring of abroad students is done through the online platform QBID. At the same time, company mentor and tutor will keep in touch by mail or telephone.
Before that, company mentor would have done an online training course to learn about QBID. Nowadays, there are different kinds of material for this proposal.

Every day, the student must entry on QBID the tasks and the hours that he will do per task.
Tutor reviews this information at least once a week.
Every so often check that they meet the terms set out in the agreements. Once a month, mentor must mark every task that students report and he reviews.

In addition, at the end of the program, company mentor must assess a global mark.

Before mobility – Language

Mobility coordination will prepare several actions for abroad participants and foreign participants. Nowadays, some of them are still working.

For students of the centre who will travel abroad:

  • Students will receive an additional language training in the curriculum
  • Nowadays, school offers English classes as extracurricular activity. These students can enrol in these courses after passing a level test. If it is necessary, we will increase the number of places. In addition, school offers English conversation classes to short cycle teachers.
  • Manuel Vázquez Montalbán High School together with EOI Badalona (Official school of Languages) are going to start a cooperation agreement next school year (2016/2017). The main objective of this agreement is to promote the study of the English Language among our students (despite being under 16 years old).More information [EN] | More information [CAT] |
  • We recommended abroad participants to register for EOI (Official school of Languages | More information [CAT] | ). EOI offers reservation groups to teachers and staff. Some of them are studying in EOI in different languages and levels.
  • The Online Linguistic Support (OLS) supports language learning for Erasmus+ mobility participants. The OLS offers participants in Erasmus+ long-term mobility activities the opportunity to assess their skills in the foreign language(s) they will use to study, work or volunteer abroad. In addition, selected participants may follow an online language course to improve their competence.

For foreign students:

  • There are free Catalan courses for foreigners offered by the City Council and the entity is more important than the “Consorci per a la Normalizació Lingüística” | More information [CAT] |. In the centre basic Catalan courses are free and advanced ones are available at a very affordable price.
  • The Catalan Ministry of Education offers a lot of online learning programs for foreign participants such as intercat http://www.intercat.cat/ca/aprenc-catala.jsp)
  • On the other hand, it’s easy to be in contact with Catalan language outside of Catalonia, you can do so through the University Network of Catalan Studies Abroad ( http://www.llull.cat/catala/aprendre_catala/aprendre_catala.cfm) or through any of the Catalan Communities Abroad located around the world.  (http://www.intercat.cat/docs/comunitats-catalanes-exterior.pdf)
During Mobility

Abroad students will assign a mobility tutor, normally an internship tutor.

Before the exchange, students will build an exchange dossier. This dossier must contain information about accommodation, transport, learning agreement, curriculum vitae , qualification languages, academic record, the European Health Insurance Card (EHIC),   insurance documents, International Student Travel Confederation ( ISTC )  and so on.

During the exchange the students will have a permanent tutoring with the internship tutor. Every day the students must inform on qBid online intranet about the developed task and the time dedicated in every task.

Mentor abroad tutor, internship tutor and mobility coordinator will be able to check this information. It is possible to create reports and statistics through the QBID platform.

Foreign participants will assign a mobility tutor who will be the reference. On the first day, the mobility tutor will hand out a booklet with different information such as about the town (accommodation, transport, entertainment and cultural activities, about the school (situation, staff, timetables, courses ..), about the company host, useful information (health care, list of useful telephone numbers)

All the information is related to Sant Adrià del Besòs and Barcelona |More information [EN] | [CAT] | [ES] | so the town is very near to the Catalan capital ( about 9 km).

In addition, the mobility tutor will introduce foreign participants in the school, showing physical spaces, meeting staff, teachers or/and other students.  In addition, he will provide them a username and password in order to have access to the school intranet QBID online intranet. Also, he will introduce foreign students into the company where they will realize their work placement. At the same time, the mentor of the company will also tell them about the general organization operation and will make a general description of their working place and job and the strategic plan of the company.

During Mobility – Language

INS MVM will provide appropriate linguistic support to incoming mobile participants.

Firstly, Catalan and Spanish department provide a linguistic file with the most common vocabulary and expressions that incoming participants might need. In addition, it will provide a large number of online resources.

In addition, the students will take part in the extracurricular activities according to their ages.

Then, VET teachers can provide theirs syllabus in the English and Catalan/Spanish language. If it is necessary, student participants can attend Catalan or Spanish classes in the regular groups.

It will form language partners for language exchange in order to improve the oral language skills of incoming participants. In addition, the linguistic partner can help them in little questions.

Mobility coordination will introduce foreign participants to different cultural and entertainment activities developed in the town, according to their preferences. For instance, council town offers different kinds of activities to young people. | More information [CAT] |.

On the other hand, Language Department will assign a tutor with reduced workload to give attention.

After Mobility – recognising the mobility achievements

he monitoring of abroad and incoming student is done through the online platform QBID.  It is possible to create reports, graphics and statistics through the QBID platform.

It allows planning, follow, evaluate and standardize student  internship.

During the exchange, company mentor can access it (with his username and password) and must assess every task done by the student. At the same time, company mentor and tutor will keep in touch by email or telephone.

In addition, at the end of the program, company mentor must assess a global mark.

Tutor reviews this information at least once a week. Every so often check that they meet the terms set out in the Learning Agreement.

Finally, tutor must mark the student internship and close his internship record. In addition, tutor will report this mark in the academic record.

In fact, abroad internship is a particular cause of the  Compulsory in-company training  that VET student must do in a company. As a result it is an automatic acknowledgement.

INS MVM high school will write a certificate of recognition of ECTS and a certificate of the tasks performed and their integration, both in our community and the company.

In addition, INS MVM will encourage mobility participants to prepare Europass dossier. The institution should issue a Diploma Supplement that it accompanies every short cycle degree ( when the student will complete it successfully).

On the other hand, the Catalan Ministry of Education will write a innovation certificate in order to  recognize the tasks performed by company mentors and tutor.

After Mobility -Measures to support, to promote and to recognise staff mobility

Every teacher of the school has a work timetable set up for everybody by the Government of Catalonia

The number of working hours for the position of secretary and compulsory in-company training tutor are set up according to the number of pupils or groups, the kind of school and other factors.

On the other hand, the School Principal can modify these timetables according to the decree of  school autonomy (Decree 102/2010, on 3th of August)

The headmaster school, like other high schools in Catalonia, created a mobility coordinator post. Nowadays, a VET teacher is in charge of it and he has some hours per week to dedicate to his work timetable. In addition, compulsory in-company training tutor will be assigned with hours to perform the tasks of monitoring and support abroad/incoming participants.

At the end of academic year, the school will recognize these hours and make a certified innovation activities. At the same time,  the Catalan Ministry of Education will also recognize those tasks in the official teachers’ curriculum vitae.

In addition when mobility participants finish their exchanges, INS MVM issues (if participants meet the requirements) the following  documents: Europass Mobility document and a certificate of the tasks performed.

In case some teachers or staff have to travel abroad during the academic period, they would get a special permission conceded by the high school staff.
INS MVM will encourage mobility participants to share their experiences with the educational community. On the other hand, it is very important for us to collect the results and mobility experiences in order to raise the quality of the international programs and to improve the quality of short cycles.

We support the reintegration of mobile participants and give them the opportunity, upon return, to build on their experiences for the benefit of the Institution and their peers.

Internacional Cooperation Projects

INS MVM is conscious of that Participating in the global progress of knowledge requires international cooperation.

We seek to provide an international , intercultural and global perspective to degrees that we offer, through mobility of students and academic staff and the potential for their ability to participate in the programs of international cooperation. The first step in implementing our internationalization strategy is to participate in Erasmus +.

INS MVM will provide relevant support to staff and students participating in these activities and we will exploit the results of the projects in a way that will maximise their impact on individuals and participating institutions and encourage peer learning with the wider academic community.

Erasmus Policity Statement

INS MVM is a public centre monitored by the Catalan Ministry of Education | More information [CAT] | of the Government of Catalonia located in Sant Adrià del Besòs near Barcelona.

The school offers Intermediate and Advanced VET courses in IT and Communications vocational family. On the other hand, it offers General Certificate of Secondary Education and General Certificate of Education.

Our school strongly believes in International Mobility of students and staff and we  understand that mobility is a strategic tool that  allows participants to improve their professional and personal skills. In addition, it is a fundamental point aim to improve the quality of education.

INS MVM wants to express its wish to take part in this program by applying for the Erasmus Charter.

INS MVM doesn’t have experience in Erasmus+ program but it has a little experience in other kind of exchanges.

Nowadays, one of the teachers of the English department has been organizing a languages’ exchange in our school for seven years. This exchange involves Manuel Vázquez Montalbán high school and Nantucket high school, in the island of Nantucket (Massachusetts, USA). | More information [CAT] | 
The students of Nantucket visit our school every year to meet our students and perform different activities together. They share with us not just their language, but also their customs, ways of life and loads of information about their own country. We are looking forward to visiting them one day.
All throughout the academic year, our students have previously been in touch with their American pen-pals, writing them e-mails in English in order to get to know about them and their culture.
For 5 years, between 2001 to 2006 INS MVM took part in the Comenius project called “Towards a sustainable school” in frame of Socrate program. The partners were “Grigore Antipa High School” from Bacau, Romania and “Korfez Oruc Reis Anadolu Lisesi” from Korfez/Kocaeli, Turkey. In those exchanges the participants were high school students and every year INS MVM hosted students from those high schools and after that INS MVM students spent a week in those schools.
Finally, one academic year ago, the coordinator Apprenticeship training took part in a training in Bavaria and joined other Catalan headmasters, Head of Studies and VET teachers,  in order to know the organization Apprenticeship training in Germany. It was a Catalan Ministry of Education project and involved the Bildungswerk der Bayerischen Wirtschaft and the Goethe Institut of Barcelona. | More information [DE] [CAT] [ES] |
Then, INS MVM would like to focus on improving the quality of our short cycle courses and the employability of our students. Apart from them, we would like to emphasize the improvement of learning in foreign languages, focusing on English language for both students and teachers or staff.

a)how we choose our partners

  • Our main interest is to find high education schools that offer similar VET degree. We look for schools which have set up similar agreements with companies for traineeship. Moreover, we will offer ours enterprises contacts  and experience to accommodate incoming students. In addition, abroad and incoming teachers  will be able to keep in contact with other methodologies ways and pedagogical experience, at the same time they will be able to improve foreign languages.
  • Nowadays, we are in contact with international companies which have an office in Catalonia. They would be interested in training some students in their European office.
  • INS MVM is interested in the development of a new network made of IT enterprises, specially with the ones that have work experience with abroad students for traineeships.
  • Draw on  the contacts with the “Bildungswerk der Bayerischen Wirtschaft” (Association for the training of the Bavarian industry). This institution is the forefather in the development of training modules aimed at Apprenticeship training for students and it represents many companies which are interested in training and hiring staff abroad.

b)geographical area

The English language is the most commonly language studied by our students and staff. In addition, English language is the most used language in technology, for official hardware and software documentation and for companies in the computer sector.On the other hand, in short future vet teachers will be able to teach part of their subjects in English.
As a result, INS MVM has an especial interest in choosing English-speaking countries such as UK and Ireland.
For two years INS MVM has offered their VET courses in Apprenticeship training modality and we have interest in changing experiences which have a grossly experience in these  kind of  projects such as Germany and Austria.

c)objectives and target groups

INS MVM has the following objectives:

  • Promoting the mobility among our upper VET cycle (called «Administration of computer network system» of IT and Communication vocational family) in order to make their compulsory training period. At the second stage we will introduce the student plan  mobility for studies
  • Promoting the mobility to VET academic staff so as to participate in training activities, especially in job shadowing in a IT enterprises, as well as accomplishing  these activities in other high schools. After mobility, INS MVM would like to share participants’ experiences with the academic community and introducing new knowledge in their lessons as long as possible.
  • Taking part in teaching activities in high school in IT VET degrees. As well as receiving participants for teaching activities to INS MVM.
  • Receiving incoming students for traineeships in the technology companies which we are in contact with. In addition, we can receive academic staff who would like to take part in job shadowing activities in these companies or in INS MVM.
  • Improving English skills in all academic community.
  • Consolidation the INS MVM mobility department.

At the first stage of the mobility project our objective is that 15% of students and teachers of the Advanced VET cycle get involved in Erasmus+ programs. We are a small center and it means that we would like that, the first year,  at least 2 students and 2 staffs will take part in a mobility program. Furthermore, our aim is to increase this percentage in a short-term and then introduce plan mobility study, as we gain experience.

Organisation and implementation of international (EU and non-EU) cooperation projects

The implementation of European cooperation projects is a main objective for us. Our aim is to cooperate in international projects with foreign institutions.

On the other hand, the  Catalan Ministry of Education promotes international projects that involve partners from different countries and high schools  as INS MVM.

In case that we develop an international cooperation project, previously, we will sign an inter-institutional agreement between our school and the organization involved. In fact, we have some experience in signing this kind of document with local enterprise.

In addition, INS MVM will organize the selection of mobile students and staff the transparent and coherent way and will ensure equitable opportunities for all target groups.

After that, when a student starts a mobility plan, an agreement will be signed. This document, called Learning Agreement, must be signed by the receiving and sending involved (high school, enterprise, foundation, organization.. etc..) and the student and before starting the cooperation. This document will gather up all the information/details about the project in which the student will take part such as timetables, goals, monitoring etc.

It is very important for us to collect the results at the end of the project for two main reasons:

  1. Recognising the  international activities when the participants achieve the goals
  2. Improving the next project in order to raise the quality of the international programs.
  3. Publishing and transfer the knowledge among the academic community so as to innovate and to modernize our high school and incorporate new good practises.

The Impact of our participation in the Erasmus+ Programme on the modernisation of our institution.

1 – Increasing attainment levels to provide the graduates

We strongly believe that the development of the mobility coordination is an important step on the modernization and internationalization of INS MVM , specially in short cycles.

Our goal is to increase the number of advanced VET students, at the same time, to improve our academic offers  according to the knowledge that the IT enterprises needs. In addition, the mobility project will be able to have a positive impact on students’ motivation.

2 – Improving the quality and relevance of higher education

IT knowledge is constantly changing and our strategy to 2020 is to generate a quality and coherent curriculum adapted to IT market needs.

In addition, we believe that mobility programs will help participants to increase their personals, professional, social, intercultural and foreign languages, among other skills, and, as a result, their employability.

At the end of the mobility programs, we must collect the results in a review and continue the process so as to arise the quality of the international programs.

3 -Strengthening quality through mobility and cross-border cooperation

INS MVM staff understand than program mobility is an essential point to improve the quality of higher education. Every participant will gain internacional skills and will open new working possibilities abroad

4 – Linking higher education, research and business for excellence and regional development

INS MVM is used to cooperating in different kind of projects.

Nowadays, we are in contact with over 50 organizations on IT market where our students  make apprenticeship / in-company training. Some times, staff make job shadowing in this partners.

We believe that we can apply our local experience to international projects.

5 – Improving governance and funding

We strongly believe in international programmes in order to modernise and to raise the quality of our studies

We are a small school and it is not easy to start our international plans without external funding.

Through the participation in the Erasmus Programme, INS MVM will have the opportunity to learn new management systems from other institutions.

Erasmus + | More information [EN] |

The Government of Catalonia | More information [EN] [CAT] [ES]|

The Catalan Ministry of Education | More information [CAT] |

Study in Catalonia | More information [EN] |

Living in Catalonia | More information [EN] |