Abstract:

Bethune IUT is part of Artois University and is dedicated to training young people. However not all of them were able to attend Bethune IUT or the other IUTs created since then in this coal mine area. That is why the importance of our Continuing Education Department is no longer to be proved.
This project matches the pattern and spirit put forward by the "Grundtvig" programme and perfecly suits our constant concern to make our learners discover other cultures.
The three universities (Hungary - Finland & France) involved in this project have vocational naturally oriented towards university research and have always been eager to develop other poles of excellence.
The International Affairs enable widespread and fructuous contacts with European partners and have always consituted a strong development line. It must also be noticed that firmly established links with the industrial world have enabled to create suitable training sessions to wage earning people wishing to improve their knowledge within the frame of Continuing Education.
Finally, a non negligible point, in the context of the creation of an educational and lifelong learning Grundtvig programme, the Continuing education department of the three partners currently welcomes unemployed people eager to find ways to reach professional integration by resuming training courses we can all provide. Creating a network of Continuing Education Centres thoughout Europe, in order to propose adult learners different training sessions.
Thus the International Affairs office up to now applied to faculty members and students but opening new projects to Continuous Education learners constitutes a new step, namely competence in information technology and language skills.
The main objective is to create a network of continuing education centres with similar problems and solutions. In this network, the exchange of experiences and knowledge is easy to realize and the impacts from these are coming directly to the partners in form of good practices, methods and tools.
The global recession means unemployment in every partner region and now it is the right time to invest to the adult education also due to the fact of the problem aging society in EU. Today the computer skills and international communication are very important and that's why the Learning Partnership is focused on information technology training and English language skills. The approach is based on 4 sessions where the learners can get cumulative information about modern communication tools, language skills and local culture to better understand the state of affairs in partner countries.
Tutors will be selected to host and guide visitors during their stay so that they could feel comfortable in the foreign country (it's very important especially for older people who are rarely travelling abroad).
In the heart of any training partner, the most concerned remains the learner who benefits from knowledge and know-how in connection with the development of European Human Exchanges and from Acquiring Skills.