In the city of Athens, Greece, an opening meeting of the project “DiVET” (Joint Qualification for Export Specialists via Internet and Social Media) was held with the participation of the Bulgarian side of “Harmonia 1” OOD and BTPP
Six partner organizations from three countries – Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey – participate in the project, which is implemented within the framework of the “Erasmus +” program. The duration of the project is two years and its main goal is to improve the use of the Internet and social media for the needs of the export-oriented industry, which in turn will lead to an increase in the number of specialists in the sector, improvement of the capacity of SMEs and growth of the employment of graduates of professional education and training in this field.
The main activity of the project consists in the development of an innovative course for acquiring skills in the use of the Internet and social media for the realization of export activities. For this purpose, a curriculum will be prepared and pilot training will be conducted, which will include a combination of face-to-face classes and a three-month internship.
A total of 26 trainees from VET institutions related to vocational education and training and 26 SMEs with an export orientation are expected to take part in the pilot training, which is scheduled to start at the end of 2019. Some of the trainees will have the opportunity to spend an apprenticeship period abroad. The qualification acquired through the training is expected to be equated to level 4 of the European Qualifications Framework.
In the period March-April 2019, BCCI is going to hold information days with focus groups, in which representatives of SMEs and branch organizations will participate. The purpose of the focus groups is to discuss the steps in the preparation of the joint qualification profile, on the basis of which the curriculum will be developed. Participants will be provided with a pre-prepared list of skills expected to be acquired during the training.