ENHANCING STUDENTS' EMPLOYABILITY SKILLS THROUGH INTERNATIONAL PROJECT IWBLABS

The number of young unemployed people is growing due to the fact that they lack employability skills which employers need. The development of these skills can be fostered through Work-Based Learning (WBL). This pedagogical approach offers added value to learning opportunities which can be particularly appropriated for employment and careers. To develop new job-oriented skills and connect education with work, an international project under the title Internationalization of Work Based Learning in Agribusiness Sector (IWBLabs) was implemented in Latvia, Italy, Spain and Slovakia. In this project, Latvia was represented by Latvia University of Life Sciences and Technologies (LLU). The article looks into the strategies used by the LLU project team to involve target groups: 90 university students and 20 secondary school pupils, 7 vocational education training (VET) institutions and 20 companies. They were involved through informative mailings, discussions, diverse dissemination activities, individual meetings and consultations. Activities with learners, VET trainers and company representatives for producing intellectual outputs (IOs), to be used for enhancing of students' employability skills, are described. The article focuses on testing the contents and usability of the Repository of E-learning video lessons and video interviews as well as guidelines for the organisation of international placements. As the theoretical framework for creation of these intellectual outputs the WBL approach has been used. The focus groups included 9 students, 8 VET trainers and 5 company managers. The results of their evaluation questionnaires showed that Intellectual Output 1 was evaluated very highly: the average score was 8.8. All focus groups held the opinion that the "Guidelines and Operative Tools for Students" were highly usable, and the quality of the available contents was very high. An evaluation "9.0" was given for both of those criteria. The content analysis of the e-learning video lessons and interviews showed that company managers expect from graduates a wide range of skills apart from professional knowledge or the knowledge of a product. The most frequently mentioned skills in the order of priority were: team work, creativity, foreign language skills, IT skills, interpersonal communication skills, problem solving skills. The relevance and quality of the contents of the Intellectual Outputs, the organisation of their structure, the design and easiness of navigation encourage and support independent studies, and could help students achieve work-related outcomes and prepare for the work environment. The impact of the project activities on the target groups was presented. Students can connect education and work, have new learning opportunities, become familiar with the international work environment, acquire international experience on a business level, and develop new job-oriented skills; companies can identify talented interns, who can become employees in the future; owing to the data base in the virtual platform, companies can form networks with other companies and VET providers; VET providers have access to video materials for use in the study process and useful guidelines for organization of virtual internships, the date base of companies can be used for identifying possible internship placements and forming networks with companies and other educational institutions; and organizing internships through the virtual platform is cost efficient, saving time, human resources and financial resources. The conclusion emphasizes that Work-Based Learning should be integrated in the curriculum to enable learners to achieve specific work-related learning outcomes while studying at university. These outcomes should have parity with academic learning outcomes.