"Vocational Education without Borders"

With this slogan the Chamber of Skilled Crafts and Small Businesses in Berlin offers business owners, skilled workers and apprentices professional counselling covering all facets of mobility for learning purposes. The chamber seeks to make it easier for skilled craftsmen to gain valuable experience abroad.

Why is international experience becoming increasingly important in vocational education?

The number of craft enterprises entering the international marketplace and benefitting from business opportunities abroad is on the rise. At the same time the number of international customers is growing in Berlin creating steady demand for skilled workers who are familiar with international work methodologies.
 
Even short stints of just a few weeks abroad can be instrumental in becoming acquainted with foreign working environments and honing language skills. A three-week programme in an Italian operation dedicated to the preservation of historical monuments where skilled workers still use working methods from antiquity that are often unknown in Germany is a prime example.

Experience abroad is instrumental for:

• Becoming acquainted with foreign working methodologies
• Improving foreign language skills
• Recruiting motivated and talented youth in the craft sector
• Becoming acquainted with innovative products and services that can be implemented in the national labour market

Our services

We provide counselling for:

• Organising a stay abroad for educational purposes
• Participating in mobility programmes (e.g., "Leonardo da Vinci")
• Finding financial assistance
• Selecting and approaching suitable partners abroad

Background

The Chamber of Skilled Crafts and Small Businesses is participating in the national "Vocational Education without Borders" initiative with its mobility counselling office for Berlin`s craft sector. A total of 36 mobility counselling offices throughout Germany provide advisory services for vocational education abroad.

Detailed information on the initiative and vocational education abroad can be found at  www.mobilitaetscoach.de/ .
 
The international mobility counselling office at the Chamber of Skilled Crafts and Small Businesses in Berlin is funded by the Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs (BMAS) and the European Social Fund (ESF) as part of the "Occupational Mobility Counselling" programme.