Wai Yin was very pleased to host a very successful study visit for an international delegation of visitors from organisations across the EU for 4 days, in the week commencing 9th September 2013.
The project was funded by the EU Lifelong Learning Programme: Transversal Grundtvig.
The 8 delegates were senior education officials from: Italy (Rome and Sicily), Sweden (Ostersund), Croatia (Osijek), Poland (Warsaw), Spain (Valencia), Ireland (Dublin), and Hungary (Budapest).
The packed programme included visiting the sites and services operated by Wai Yin, presentations by the Wai Yin Director (Dr Sylvia Sham) and Assistant Director (Lisa Mok) on the educational and welfare systems in the UK. There were also visits to and presentations at Jobcentre Plus, Mojo Trust, a poverty relief and employability agency (formerly called BoltonWise) interspersed with cultural visits such as MUFC, a cruise on the Bridgewater canal, and meals in Manchester’s famous Chinatown.
As the purpose of the visit was to share common problems and understand the diverse ethnic cultures of disadvantaged people, and with increasing migration between EU States, a key element of the programme was an afternoon of presentations by each one of the delegates on the arrangements and services provided in their own organisations for users from other areas. This served as a very useful basis for dialogue and problem solving. We hope the insights and enjoyable experiences shared will form the basis for fruitful collaborative pan-European partnerships in the future!
Some of the feedback that we have received already…
“Thank you once again for the wonderful time in Manchester. It was really useful and I think I learned a lot. Don’t hesitate contacting me if you ever need anything or think I can help you.â€
“I just want to, once again, say thank you for your great hospitality this past week! I am now back at work and, even though the weather is lovely and I can spend time with my family, I really miss you all. Please take care and keep up the good work until we talk again (I will get back to you soon with some ideas about stuff we can cooperate in… :)â€
The next part of the programme is a follow up study visit by our Assistant Director, on the 14th October, to Hungary (for more details, see Lisa’s blog)http://llpukecorys.com/2013/08/13/transversal-study-visit-diary-part-one/