Our school Súkromná stredná odborná škola s vyučovacím jazykom maďarským (Secondary VET school) - Magyar Tannyelvű Magán Szakközépiskola in Kolárovo, Slovakia started to be interested in international mobilities years ago. We have a wide range of professions to study, so we try to send abroad different study fields every year.

In September 2019 we had a chance to send 20 students form the fields of: tourism (4 students), promotional graphics (6 students), computer network mechanic (6 students), cosmetician (2 students) and hairdresser (2 students). Our destination was Budapest, Hungary.

It wasn`t easy to find suitable partner organizations at the beginning, but after years of experience it was much easier: we could rely on previous cooperation with partners. Some of them we visited several times and they were really helpful also with finding new partners.

Last year we sent our students to 10 different organizations (GRIS ART Kft., Oasis of the Hair Kft., MINDTECH Kft., Helpy Kft., Impact HUB Kft., Jet Travel Kft., Dob Corner Kft., TechEmbassy Kft., Cargo-Viszed Ltd., Turizmus Kft., IseeQ Kft., Mater és Társa Szolgáltató Betéti Társaság). Since we had only 1-2 students at one workplace they had the best circumstances to apply individual approach and to take out the most from the training.

The students of these disciplines have only limited opportunities to gain practical skills in vocational training and this project enabled them to develop already acquired knowledge with the teachings of the international working environment. We consider it important that participants become familiar with the terminology of their departments and they develop communication skills in interaction with co-workers, supervisors, customers.  Since our partners had prior experience with hosting interns, that allowed them to give our students not just their best knowledge and practice, but they were also aware of the most suitable educational methods to fulfil our workplans. Furthermore, they got to know the work ethics of the country, within the framework of cultural programs they learnt about the history of Hungary and the historical attractions of Budapest.

To sum up our last mobility experience in some advices we can tell, that it is crucial to find suitable partners, preferably with prior experience, but at least they need to be open for working with young people and to help them with professional growth. It is also important to prepare the workplan together with the partners, because the school knows their students` abilities and needs, but the partners are aware of the reality of the practice of their profession with all the innovations and practical skills.

Our students are aware of all the advantages of the international mobility, that`s why there is a big competition every year to get the possibility to participate, but we assure them that we will do everything to enable the international mobility for them even the following years.

Coordinator: Anikó VINCZE