Deutschland-Nederland Leren zonder grenzen

For the inhabitants of the Euregio, it should be a matter of course to look for and find a job in the neighbouring country. To realise this goal, the project “Lernen ohne Grenzen” (Learning without Borders) worked to make vocational education in the border region on a cross-border basis. It made a good contribution to adapting vocational education to the needs of the Euregional labour market. With this, a signal was sent and the wishes and needs of the economy as well as the local authorities (D/NL) were realised. The increased use of digital tools of communication during the Corona period also made a significant contribution to the intensification of bilateral contacts. The project created stable and sustainable cooperation networks – 65 German Berufskollegs and all Dutch ROCs in the border region were involved in the project – which remain active in a sustainable way even now after the end of the project phase, so that cross-border vocational education has become a matter of course in the Euregio. More than 18,000 mobilities (student exchanges, teacher exchanges), 10 vocational competitions and more than 57 tandems were carried out within the project. Tandems are projects carried out jointly by German and Dutch pupils, such as the joint design of a roundabout in the municipality of Laer, a joint photo exhibition, joint visits to trade fairs and much more. The first preliminary results from this project can be described as follows: In a practical way, the pupils got to know the language, professional culture and education system in the neighbouring country. In this way, they considerably broadened their opportunities and perspectives for later career choices, from which the cross-border labour market also benefits. The project “Lernen ohne Grenzen” focused on the cross-border promotion of connection opportunities between the vocational education courses themselves and thus made a significant contribution to an integrated, Euregional labour market in which it is a matter of course that workers can also be employed on the other side of the border after their vocational education.