BEST Institute for vocational training and personal training GmbH

CULTOOL

Development of a virtual classroom for the acquisition and recognition of intercultural competences in job placement programmes

Background

The increasing cultural diversity of our society is reflected, among others, upon the labour market, where the coexistence of organisations and people from different origins become more and more frequent at global level. In order to successfully cooperate with people from other countries and cultures it is not enough to have a good technical and linguistic knowledge. It is also a basic requirement to comprehend ways of working, thinking and communicating. In this context, intercultural competencies become transversal key competencies for the management of Human Resources in the Organisations of the 21st Century.

Aims and target group

The CULTOOL project aims at addressing the need to transfer structures and tools to support mobility in the VET Sector as well as in Universities, particularly in the participation of SMEs and placements in organisations. To do so, the project will create an innovative Virtual Classroom for the development and acquisition of intercultural competencies for VET or University students and graduates, while participating in mobility programmes of professional practice, which take place in a multicultural environment, thereby improving their social and cultural integration together with the efficiency in their development of tasks, fostering their employability.

CULTOOL is a comprehensive online training, monitoring, mentoring and assessment system for the acquisition of intercultural competencies maximising work-integrated learning experiences. The project is a clear solution to improve and support the services offered by Europass, giving full transparency to the qualification process and including non-formal components, based on the development of professional and personal skills.

Outcomes

The most important project outcomes are:

  • Definition of an intercultural competence model for job placement programmes based on the EQF;
  • CULTOOL Virtual Classroom, for the acquisition and recognition of intercultural competencies, available in English, Spanish, Bulgarian, Czech, German, Dutch and Portuguese;
  • Pilot tests in the countries of the partners with at least 180 beneficiaries of professional practice and company tutors, certified by Europass;
  • Intellectual Committees in each country for the Valorisaiton and Exploitation of the project results;
  • A dissemination and assessment plan for the project.
EU-Program: LLP, Leonardo da Vinci – Transfer of Innovation
Coordination: Fundación General de la Universidad de Valladolid
Contact: Karin Kronika
Duration: October 2012- September 2014
Website: www.cultoolproject.com
This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.