The IFU project, financed under the Erasmus+ program, has completed the preparatory phase and started the implementation phase.
It is worth recalling that his priority is to adapt European vocational education and training systems to support refugees – and in fact mainly refugee women - from war-torn Ukraine. In accordance with the assumptions of the so-called “The 3rd University Mission” to solve this topic was undertaken by universities from three countries: the University of Gdańsk, the Czech Tomas Bata University in Zlin and the Loránd Eötvös University in Budapest. The project consortium also includes an academic partner from Ukraine - National Technical University of Ukraine “Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute”, which brings added value to the project - knowledge of potential training participants and facilitates reaching a specific target group. The coordinator of the project – very highly rated by FRSE, the national operator of Erasmus+ – is the Perspektywy Educational Foundation.
The main goal of the project is to test in theory and practice the effectiveness of various methods of vocational education offered to refugees in order to increase their competitiveness on the labour market. The institutions involved in the project will not only become centres of reflection and practical know-how on this topic in their countries, but will also check how to optimally structure and conduct retraining training for adults in the IT&TECH industry. This is a resource with great potential, as each of the partner countries (like other European countries) faces a shortage of workers with these skills. The know-how created as part of the project can be used to meet the needs of other refugee groups, but also of migrants of both sexes from countries other than Ukraine.
After a series of preparatory meetings conducted online, a group representing all IFU partners has been gathered on the occasion of the Seventeenth annual conference “Study in Poland” in Poznań. Project coordinators from individual institutions discussed individual project tasks and planned in details events until the end of 2024. In addition to organize training courses, it is planned to organize in September this year a hybrid conference in Ukraine (dedicated to Ukrainian universities) in order to implement tested IT&Tech vocational courses as additional educational tasks of the university. All project partners announced their participation in this project.