Our project consists of giving the opportunity to our apprentices to have a 3-week work experience in Europe, finding a balance between the standards required for their diplomas and the benefits of an experience abroad. We have already started the Leonardo Programme since September 2011 with 5 countries in the fields of cooking and catering.

The European mobility is an integral part of our CFA project, on a long-term basis. Developing within Europe is important and fits with our values and our other projects.

Our project only involves our apprentices who are of age. Some of them come from modest backgrounds and have never had the opportunity to discover Europe through personal travel.

The skills they need to acquire have been pre-determined. They are in both technical and general fields (language, employment law, world culture...). We also wish to work on transferable skills, such as adaptation, autonomy, taking initiative...

Our scheme for each country :

Sending academic institution (CFA EN85)-> Receiving academic institution (training centre)-> Host company

- Sending academic institution (CFA EN85)

We are the sending academic institution and we choose the « candidates » from those who volunteer. They are chosen according to their skills. They are looking for an enriching experience, and want to increase their chances of finding a job. The companies they are working for support the project and the paper agreements are signed. They have to follow a specific training course in language preparation of 8 to 14 hours. They also exchange with apprentices who have had an experience abroad. They also study legislation and on how to introduce themselves to the host company (4 teachers follow these tasks).

- Receiving academic institution We are looking for Receiving academic institutions. The potential benefits are multidimensional (i.e. cultural, historical, and economic) and are an important aspect of our project. We want to encourage our apprentices to become culturally open-minded and to pool the apprentices' experiences after their travel. We need one advisor in every Receiving academic institution that we can rely on to take care of our apprentices. Refer to Seeking receiving academic institution

- Host company

Host companies agree to welcome apprentices for a 3-week period. These companies are selected by the Receiving academic institution on the basis of their size, compatible working periods, working conditions, and on-site follow up. The skills that the apprentices must acquire are listed in the standards.