Students specialized in electrical engineering will take part in this project in order to acquire knowledge and competence in the field of alternative ways to produce and distribute energy.
The needs that are addressed are: decreasing energy consuption and finding energy saving techniques linked to renewable energy sources. The project also aims at orientating students toward the new professional profiles that are being required in the European labour market. The project includes upper secondary/vocational schools in Sweden,, Italy,  Turkey and Hungary 
The main objectives for the students are to learn how energy saving techniques are used in different countries through short work placements in interesting companies and through study visits to important alternative energy power plants.
For the staff the project aims at comparing different teaching methodologies and working towards a common European Qualification Framework.
The mobility plan allows the four partner countries to visit each other during three mobilities. The last mobility will be in Turkey where all students and staff will meet in April 2011 to summarize the result of the whole project.
In between mobilities the students and staff are engaged in activities related to the theme (seminars, didactic activities etc.) and in exchanging information through a common web platform.

Partnership projects are about co-operation and exchange of information at a European level. The funding available allows you to work with partners from across Europe to share good practice, discuss problems and compare solutions on a particular topic. A Leonardo da Vinci Partnership is a framework for small-scale cooperation activities between organisations working in the field of vocational education and training ("VET") which will be cooperating on themes of mutual interest to the participating organisations. Projects can focus more on the active participation of trainees, while others will concentrate on the cooperation between teachers, trainers or VET professionals. The cooperation may not only include VET schools or institutions but also enterprises, social partners or other VET stakeholders. They can cooperate at national, regional or local level, but also at sector level, such as within VET-fields or economic sectors. 

Project Partners work on a specific topic or theme and are able to visit each other toshare their experiences and practices. The funding provided allows partners to meet,find out about each other’s organisations and working practices, and share expertise on the theme. 

Partnership projects fill a gap in the existing Leonardo da Vinci actions, i.e. the pure Mobility projects and the bigger Transfer of Innovation projects, as they allow forcooperation in VET beyond mobility activities without, however, demanding large scale cooperation involving big budgets. Partnerships could also be used to continue to cooperate on results achieved in a previous project or be a first step towards a Mobility or Transfer of Innovation project. 

Partnerships are an excellent way of enabling peer learning activities for the use ofcommon tools as described in the Helsinki Communiqué, such as transparency, EQF,ECVET, quality assurance, excellence of skills, competences for key sectors. 

Aims and Objectives 
LdV Partnerships follow the objectives of the LdV programme as set out in Article 25.1 of the Programme Decision, which reflect the general political goals of VET policy at European level. This includes the objectives linked to the Copenhagen process and the Helsinki declaration. The main priorities for VET as they have been reviewed in the Helsinki Communiqué in December 2006 set an excellent framework for LdV partnerships: 
1. Improving the attractiveness and quality of VET
2. Development and implementation of common tools for VET
3. Strengthening mutual learning
4. Taking all stakeholders on board. 

Leonardo Partnerships can be on any theme in Vocational Education and Training, however they have to be clearly VET related and allow for the involvement of  stakeholders other than just VET schools, such as enterprises, social partners, regional, local or even national decision makers. 

Which sort of topics should they cover? 
Partnerships can be on any topic in vocational education and training. The followingexamples of topics which could be covered within a LdV partnership are based on the Helsinki communiqué reflecting present priority topics in common VET policy: 
• Development of guidance and advice on VET;
• Opening VET to flexible pathways and create better conditions for transition toworking life;
• Reinforce or create closer links of VET with working life;
• Promoting the recognition of non-formal and informal learning;
• Responding to the needs of the labour market, particularly of SMEs, anticipationof skills needed in labour market;
• Improve the qualification of teachers and trainers;
• Support the implementation of Quality assurance in VET
• Cooperate in the area of transparency of VET systems (i.e. ECVET, EQF,Europass…)
• Support the development of national qualifications frameworks in relation to EQF
• Cooperate to test and apply common concepts developed at European level withthe aim to achieve a spreading at the level of the actors “on the ground”. 

What sort of activities can they include? 
Activities can be very wide ranging and include:
• seminars / workshops / conferences;• bi/multilateral exchanges of staff / learners;
• fieldwork, project research;
• curriculum development; common development of teaching and trainingmethods
• exchange and transfer of experience and good practice in training methods andcontents
• common work on training contents and topics, European dimension included
• integration of theory and practice
• application of common training contents/ concepts in VET institutions within a
• specific VET field/ economic sector 

Outcomes and Results 
An LdV Partnership will produce outcomes or results which allow for laterdissemination and further application of the results. This can be descriptive or tangible, take the form of a common report, a conference, a CD, a training concept in a specific VET field, etc…. 

Key Information 
• You will need at least 3 partners in 3 different participating countriesto apply;
• Projects last for 2 years;
• Each partner receives funding from their own National Agency. 

Funding 
Each organisation in the Partnership has to apply to its own National Agency for funding. The levels of funding available in each country vary so the lump sums available for your partners may be different to your funding amount. Your partners should contact the relevant National Agency in their country for more details on Funding.

Partnership funding will be given to each partner as a lump sum, which will be a contribution to all eligible costs for both local activities and mobility activities (i.e. travel, subsistence, local project activities, etc.). At the final report stage, institutions must be able to provide proof of activities (e.g. boarding passes, certificates from host organisations) but no detail of actual expenditure is required. The amount of the grant is linked to the number of mobilities and those shown below are the minimum required for your organisation to receive the full grant amount at final report stage.

Mobility activities can be undertaken by staff, learners, representatives of associated partners (e.g. local community organisations but these must be mentioned in the application for funding) and, in the case of mobility involving persons with special needs, by accompanying persons such as parents, guardians or carers. To be clear each person involved in visiting a partner country = 1 mobility. So for example, in Ireland a small Leonardo Partnership project, which has to commit to a minimum of 4 mobilities, will be awarded the lump sum of 10,000 Euro for 2 years.The different sizes of Leonardo Partnerships and the funding allocated in Ireland are shown below: 
Minimum of 4 mobilities €10,000
Minimum of 8 mobilities €14,000
Minimum of 12 mobilities €18,000
Minimum of 24 mobilities €24,000 

How to apply for a Partnership project! Don't forget that you can use Preparatory Visits funding to meet newpartners or discuss your Partnerships application with your existing partners.Please contact the National Agency for more information on this. 
1) Identify your partners and select a theme or topic for your project.
2) Complete an application formFor those submitting an application for an Irish Leonardo da Vinci Partnerships Project the next deadline will be 20th February 2009. Application forms for 2009 will be available closer to the time.
3) Submit your application to us by the deadlineThe next deadline for Partnerships projects applications will be 20th February 2009.Please note that when completing your application form you must also read the official European Commission call for application documents. These are available on the Commission’s website at http://ec.europa.eu/education/llp/doc848_en.htm and on our website at www.leargas.ie/leonardo. 

Who can apply? 
Any organisation involved in VET can apply to take part in a Partnership project. Youmight be a college, training organisation, business, trade union, local authority,professional association, sectoral organisation or guidance organisation. Partnershipsare particularly suitable for organisations who are new to European funding or who are looking to work with European partners on a small scale. New funding rules mean that this kind of project is more accessible and easier to manage. 

Which countries can take part?
To be eligible a Leonardo Partnership must consist of organisations from at least three of the countries participating in the Lifelong Learning Programme and at least one must be from one of the 27 Member States of the European Union.The participating countries are:
 • The 27 EU Member States (Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic,Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia,Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia,Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and United Kingdom)
• Turkey, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway.

Each participating organisation must submit an application to its respective NationalAgency. You should keep in mind that one or more of your partner organisations’application may not be approved by their National Agency (because of lack of funds for example). To ensure that you have a viable partnership you need at least three partners so consider starting with a larger partnership in case some partners are unsuccessful.