About the project

Description:
The amount of care- dependent people in Germany has increased steadily over the last year. The German Federal Statistical Office indicates in their latest care statistics from 2019 4,13 Million care- dependent people throughout Germany. This is an increase of 21% compared to 2017 (Statistics of the Federal Labour Office- Dec., 2020). The demographic development has led to an increased need of labour in the Health care sector. This tendency is expected to grow even further and is similar in most EU countries like Austria, Greece and Cyprus.

At the same time Germany and many other European countries suffer of A SHORTAGE OF SKILLED LABOUR IN THIS SECTOR. The shortage in Germany focusses especially on certified nurses. In Greece and Cyprus it focusses on helpers. Even though there are initiatives to qualify staff within the country the current and future demand of qualified staff cannot be covered without recruiting personnel abroad.

But Care Institutions, who recruit care professionals from abroad, report back that even professionals with a degree in the health sector are not appropriately qualified for the daily work routine in Germany. This is because requirements and daily work routine in care institutions do differ between countries. NEWLY ARRIVED MIGRANT NURSES are therefore FACING DIFFICULTIES IN INTEGRATING smoothly in the world of work in the new home country. In addition cultural competences- an especially sensitive topic in the care sector- along with sufficient work based language skills hinder the smooth integration of the migrants.
The project therefore aims at closing the skills gap between the theoretical qualifications of NEWLY ARRIVED MIGRANTS WITH A NURSE DEGREE (TARGET GROUP) and the requirements of the CARE INSTITUTIONS (BENEFICIARIES) of the new home country including work based language skills and missing intercultural competences and motivational aspects which allow a better integration and a more efficient onboarding of newly arrived migrant workers. This is designed as a flexible learning offer adapted to the learning needs of the target group (blended learning translated into an mobile app).

Furthermore and based on the need analysis executed during the former EU- Project “Health Care 4.0.” we found out that the occupational group of HELPERS is facing similar problems in regards to the integration in the work place in a new home country. The project consortium therefore aims to highlight the existing similarities within the curriculum (Result 1) so that a SECOND TARGET GROUP namely CARE HELPERS within the health care sector can benefit from the project result (Result 3: Health Care 4.0. Mobile App).

The PROJECT THEREFORE CONTRIBUTES TO INCLUSION AND DIVERSITY IN VET AS WELL AS INNOVATION AND THE ADAPTATION OF VET TO LABOUR MARKET NEEDS and increases the flexibility of opportunities in VET.

As the partner countries are facing similar threatening developments in regards to the demographic development and a lack of qualified labour the project is equally important for all participating countries and beyond which opens high transferability opportunities and high sustainability.
This project is based on the former EU-project Health Care 4.0. (2020-1-DE02-KA202-007553), which was accomplished with the same project consortium.

The project consortium of this project consists of four partners from three different countries namely Europcare (Germany), BEST (Austria), Frontidastospiti (Greece) and MATERIA (Cyprus).