To increase the local employment of the international students and thereby their retention in the destination countries, it is fundamental to provide all actors involved in the student journey into the labour market (i.e. company, 3rd sector and HEI staff) with the necessary competences to support the students in their employability.

WP4 builds on the results and insights of the mapping and data collection (WP2) as well as the ITJ (WP3) which will provide insights regarding what competence development is needed among staff at HEIs, companies and 3rd sector actors to support the international degree students in their retention and employability.

 The first element of WP4 is the development and piloting of 3 online training courses addressed to staff at HEIs, companies and third sector organizations and associations: Employer-Ability, Guidance & Counselling, Intercultural Sensitivity. Each course consists of 3 levels (beginner, intermediate, advanced) to accommodate for the different needs and resource limitations (e.g. time) among the target groups. This brings flexibility to the trainings and helps attract more participants with a low threshold-approach. 

The second part of WP4 consists of the development and piloting of a digital assessment based on a initial quiz (one per each course) to help learners in identifying the level to start with and on a knowledge check at the end of each course level. This aims to assess the target groups’ competences in guidance and counselling, intercultural sensitivity as well as their knowledge on Employer-Ability and their potential to support international students in this matter.

The last part of WP4 is the development of a user guide to adapt the open-source course and digital assessment tools to the local needs of HEIs, companies and third sector actors.