North West Regional College awarded €900k Erasmus+ funding

North West Regional College has been successful in securing almost €900,000 of Erasmus+ funding.

The money will send staff and students from the college to a number of European countries over the next two years, where they will undertake study or complete traineeships across all areas of the curriculum.

The aim of the project is to see students return with new skills and confidence, which will help towards their qualification. Staff will also take part in mobility transfers visiting other educational facilities, schools and industry to share best practice and develop networks and partnerships

Bronagh Fikri, North West Regional College’s European & International Projects Officer said:

 “We are delighted to have been successful in Erasmus+ and are looking ahead to starting the project.

“The college has been awarded €767,329 from the Vocational Education and Training programme which will be used for students to gain opportunities in Training through Assessment in Vocational Employability and Life Skills in Europe.

“168 students and 135 staff will benefit from the project and the opportunities it will provide to learn abroad. As well as the cultural experience and the opportunity to develop language skills, students can also develop their personal competencies and employability skills.

“NWRC has also been awarded €24,022 from the Erasmus+ Higher Education programme, which will be used to allow staff and students to take part in Higher Education programmes abroad.”

Additionally the College has been successful in securing €30K in Erasmus+ funding through a consortium bid with Corkscrew, an innovative provider of internships and business start-up programs. This will see up to 20 students travelling to Barcelona for a two week mobility programme in 2018.

A further €77,400 has also been awarded to NWRC as part of the Erasmus+ KA1 Schools mobility project, which will fund an IT based programme to improve teaching in the classroom.

This represents a total figure of €898,751 of Erasmus + funding for NWRC.

Bronagh Fikri continued: “We continue to develop and establish new partnerships thanks to our participation in the Erasmus + programme. These partnerships have resulted in knowledge and skill transfer which has enriched our staff and students.”

Erasmus+ is the European Union’s (EU) programme for education, training, youth and sport, with the EU committing £12 billion to the programme between 2014 and 2020.
The Erasmus + projects will take place between September 2017 and September 2019 when students will travel to Malta, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Italy and Denmark.