Brussels, 11/12/2000 (Agence Europe) - Organised by the European Commission, "Training 2000" will showcase the best projects from the Leonardo da Vinci programme and will provide an opportunity for exchanges of experiences between present and future actors in the field of vocational training in Europe. The event took place at the "Parc des Expositions" (Heysel, Brussels) on 5 and 6 December 2000, with the participation of vocational training experts, businesses, the social partners, public authorities and individual citizens. There were three thousand participants at this vocational training European venue. Viviane Reding, European Commissioner for Culture and Education, visited the exhibition on the first day, Tuesday, to look at the projects on display and to talk with the participants.
The Heysel exhibition presented 120 successful projects from the programme (mainly language learning and innovative experiences) and the public were able to obtain information on the opportunities afforded by Community activities. Six workshops were set up, mainly on mobility, social inclusion, occupational integration and the new information technologies to the service of teaching. Five successful "Leonardo da Vinci" projects had been presented several days earlier by the Commission during a briefing: 1) a Belgian project relating to continuous training of linguists and translators for enterprise, which mainly aims at distance learning through the Internet, and hence the enhancement of continuous training; 2) a British project concerning computer assisted assessment at the place of work and the preparation of valid and reliable tests for determining the competence of the students or pupils (who will be able to test themselves on computer); 3) a Spanish project relating to the development of a model of training and vocational guidance for the disabled in the field of independent work, with the aim of self-employment for the disabled and their training; 4) an Italian project concerning the training of women in the new technologies, and which proposes vocational guidance practices as well as the opening of workshop activities for children in primary schools and to their families in the aim of fighting against stereotypes about male and female roles; 5) a project from Berlin on mobility and the impact that this can have on students, companies and universities, from the angle of promoting integration of international projects and ensuring academic recognition of foreign students. For further information: http: //europa.eu.int/comm/formation2000.htlm