VET Centre Zirmunai has been a member of AEHT (Association of European Hotel and Tourism Schools) for almost 20 years. The association gathers around 400 hospitality sector schools from more than 40 countries. The association aims to promote a European outlook among Hotel and Tourism Schools by providing means of communication between European Hotel and Tourism Schools and business, by pooling teaching methods and materials, knowledge, and skills. It‘s like a great European family with a solid reputation, a facilitator of mobilities and exchanges, provider of learning opportunities in a multicultural and -lingual context, promotor of soft skills.

The association organizes annual competitions in hospitality and tourism. Students are divided into teams of 2 or 3. Students who speak the same native language cannot be in the same team. Competition language is English. They must be from different countries. In a team, they must agree, plan what they will produce, order products, describe, draw their work plan and finally put their practical skills into practice, working in teams, within the set time, following the rules and hygiene requirements, demonstrating the creativity and professional competencies.

Every year the conference and competitions take place in a different country. In 2023, this event will take place in Vilnius, Lithuania. The main organizer is the VET Center Zirmunai, together with 5 other vocational schools, members of the association. To train students, to prepare them to compete, VET schools organize national competitions. During the competitions, obviously students must be able to demonstrate their professional skills. Moreover, together with professional competences, a wide range of entrepreneurial competences are needed, and they are assessed by judges. To prepare students to compete, teachers must be aware what entrepreneurial competences are important and how they should be developed.

Competition is the situation when someone is trying to be more successful than someone else. Competitors need to learn to perform professional skills under a variety of competitive conditions. To understand how to develop competing competence, firstly, you need to understand what entrepreneurial competences are necessary for a particular competition and look for ways to train them. These competencies crucial for competitions are teamwork and collaboration, problem solving, strategic thinking, resource management and mental toughness covering persistence, resilience, and grit. One of the most common concerns and misconceptions regarding educational competitions is the “Competition vs. Collaboration” debate. Some people mistakenly think that competition is the antonym to collaboration. However, when it is broken down, well-structured, consciously designed competitions actually foster collaboration and teamwork. Most team-based competitions require students to take on challenging tasks that require effective communication, collaboration, and teamwork.

These skills are necessary for future successful career. Business doesn’t exist in a vacuum. Whatever sector it operates in, there will always be other businesses competing for customers on price, the type of product or the quality of service in the same field.

EROVET is a group of VET stakeholders united to foster youth employability. Currently EROVET is financed by the Erasmus+ programme through the Key Action 2: Cooperation of innovation and exchange of good practices, but aims to become a sustainable network in the near future.

In September 2017, the youth unemployment rate in the EU28 was 16.6%. During the same period, Germany has the lowest rate with just 6.4%, whereas Greece and Spain got the highest with almost 4 out of 10 teenagers are in an unemployed situation.

Researchers agree that there are a number of reasons for this situation. Some believe that the lack of professional experience is one of the obstacles that prevent young people finding a job. Others state that the mismatch between the skills and the positions offered on the job market is one of the key issues.

According to this information, the EROVET’s promoters believe something should be done with the view of:

•   Helping developing high quality and labour market relevant vocational skills (with a special emphasis on work based learning and entrepreneurship).

•   Enhancing mobility opportunities in order to contribute to the international competitiveness of our labour force

•   Improving long life orientation and guidance

This big goal can be accomplished in the framework of EROVET, a group made up of European VET representatives and relevant stakeholders, such as VET training centres, economical institutions and local administrative institutions.

EROVET aims to increase youth employability opportunities, through the following working lines:

1. Improving professional competences, by developing professional orientation and providing work placement opportunities in other European countries.

2. Adapting the professional profiles to the real demands of the companies, by building strong partnerships between companies and training centers to promote students mobilities and work-based learning.

3. Fostering the entrepreneurship initiative, by improving the quality of resources related to entrepreneurship and orientation.

The first transnational meeting was held in Lithuania on November from 5 to 8, 2017. During the meeting, a review was made of the main objectives of the project, the internal organization system, the economic and administrative management and the monitoring protocols. .

The project has different working groups that were established in the meeting.

The communication plan that will give visibility to EROVET was also presented and will also aim to promote the sustainability of the project beyond its two-year duration.

In reference to the next meeting scheduled for February 2018 in Portugal, the orientation resources bank will be worked on. Among other things, there will be a brainstorming session on the existing guidance resources in each country. In addition, the project website will be presented.