The 1st transnational meeting of the Erasmus+ KA2 project "Hybrid Learning Lab for Industry 4.0 Mechatronics" was held at the Electromechanical school Varaždin on 12 and 13 January 2022.

Partners from Tartu Rakenduslik College (Tartu, Estonia) and the non-governmental organisation SVIMA (Zagreb, Croatia) visited school, and partners from FORAVE – vocational and technical school (Lousado, Portugal) and non-governmental organisation Stowarzyszenie na rzecz innowacji i edukacji (Radom, Poland) joined the meeting via Internet. .

Purpose of 1st transnational meeting was to present project and the partners commitment in future project activities. In addition, partners agreed on details related to three Learning and Teaching activities for experts and teachers. First will take place in Lousado (Portugal) in April and second one will be held in Tartu (Estonia) in June this year. The aim of trainings is to increase the level of knowledge of VET teachers from Croatia, Estonia and Portugal for cooperation in development and implementation of curriculum.

It is also planned to analyze curriculum and labour market of all countries involved in the project, with special emphasis on the concept of Industry 4.0. Both project activities are a prerequisite for the development and implementation of curricula for elective courses in the field of mechatronics, which will be equally available to students of all partner schools involved in the project.

This implies using advanced teaching methods and techniques – combination of face-to-face and online collaborative teaching and learning in a situation in which one VET centre/secondary school delivers an internationalised elective subject to a mixed group of IVET students from different countries. At the end of the project, the students of the Electromechanical School Varaždin will visit partner schools in Portugal and Estonia (for 12 days), and School will host Portuguese and Estonian students.

With implementation of Erasmus+ project "Hybrid Learning Lab for Industry 4.0 Mechatronics", Electromechanical School Varaždin and partners take a step towards modernizing and aligning vocational education in mechatronics with the requirements of the modern labour market in the context of growing Industry 4.0.