UniLab project comes to an end

UniLab project has been running from January 2020 to January 2023 co-founded by the Erasmus+ programme (KA2 CBHE-JP Call) project 610245-EPP-1-2019-BE-EPPKA2-CBHE-JP. COVID-19 irruption changed the initial schedule and activities (webinars, focus group meetings, etc) continued mainly online.

From March 2022, European partners organised three study visits to learn from experts on WBL issues that is: Lille (University of Lille, France. 15-18 March 2022), Krems (IMC Fachhochschule Krems, Austria. 6-9 September 2022), and Barcelona (UPF Barcelona School of Management, 15-17 November 2022).

As in the previous study visits, during the UPF-BSM Study Visit, participants were able to exchange their expertise and experiences relating to work-based learning, student employability, and university-industry collaboration.

The Peer Learning Seminar hold in Barcelona, 10-12 March 2022 was the first on site meeting of the project. This two full days seminar gave to the consortium the opportunity to share the collected materials and conclusions from the desk research done at national level in RU, BY and AZ. It also was an opportunity to present the identified case studies of successful practices of Work-Based Learning programmes from European countries.

The focus groups are part of the peer learning approach of the UniLab project, by which local/regional actors will be regularly consulted/involved throughout the project by each of the partner countries’ universities to discuss the work done within UniLab as well as specific project outputs. The aim is to ensure that both project work and deliverables are relevant for the specific needs and features of the actors concerned and the local/regional context. The focus group meetings contribute to raise awareness among a wide range of individuals and organisations who can contribute and have a role in improving work-based learning practices, generating useful discussions which will feed into the project work.

The UniLab project ended on January 15 2023, however, the project's outputs will maintain their relevance to any HEI committed to boosting their students' employability through work-based learning.

The WBL tools for Higher Education Institutions developed as part of the UniLab project can all be accessed and downloaded here!

UniLab consortium, promoting work-based learning in Higher Education institutions

The UniLab consortium has joined four partners in Europe: eucen - European university continuing education network (Belgium); IMC Fachhochschule Krems (Austria), Université de Lille (France) and Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona School of Management (Spain) and eight universities partners from outside Europe.

Two of these institutions were from Belarus (Gomel State University and Mogylyev State University), two from Azerbaijan and four were from Russia (Siberian Federal University; Financial University; Almetyevsk State Oil Institute and Orenburg State University). Russian partners of UniLab terminated by the European Commission according to the Council Regulation (EU) No 833/2014 and withdrawn UNILAB project before its end.

The main goal of UniLab was to promote work-based learning (WBL) in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) both within and outside the EU. For this purpose, the UniLab consortium developed various resources, documents and tools aimed at HEIs, with the goal of improving their collaborations with industry partners and developing their students' work-related skills and employability. Drawing from the project consortium's vast experience in implementing WBL both in EU and non-EU countries, these resources can be adapted to different contexts depending on the HEI's needs.