PON projects deadline for Italian schools extended to 8 June

Last Thursday, the Italian Ministry of Education announced that the deadline for Italian secondary schools to submit their PON project proposals has been postponed. The application procedure has been extended until 8 June instead of the initially announced deadline of 28 May.

According to the announcement, the extension for the submission of proposals was granted as a result of multiple requests received from the Italian secondary school institutions benefiting from the PON 2017 funding.

The PON 2017 application procedure will therefore be as follows:

Italian secondary schools should submit their PON project proposals through the dedicated online platform by 3 PM on the 8th of June 2017. At this point, Italian secondary schools are not asked to select the foreign school they will send their students to. The only thing they need to explicitly state is their desired destination country.

Results are expected to be published over the autumn

Once Italian schools have their project proposals approved, they launch a specific procedure aimed at selecting the Italian agency that will provide all the services connected to the mobility project. These services include Travel, Accommodation, Food, Transfer and Training Programme costs. The procedure is often open to “partner” agencies only – the agencies that are registered on the Italian secondary school’s providers list.

The mobility activities within the PON 2017 framework should take place within the 2017/2018 school year. This means that most, if not all of the Italian secondary schools that will participate in PON projects will plan their activities over the summer of next year, more specifically over the months of June, July and August 2018.

What does that mean for international schools receiving or looking to receive Italian students through PON projects?

If you are an international language school or work placement provider and you want to be involved in the PON 2017 programme, now is a good moment for you to tighten up your connections with Italian agents. However, do keep in mind that this is a peak-activity time for Italian agencies and tour operators. They are now actively trying to engage with Italian secondary schools and promote their services with the aim of participating in as many PON bids as possible.

Read the full PON 2017 deadline extension announcement here (in Italian).

Watch our PON, INPSIEME & ITACA info video from the ETN PON, INSPIEME & ITACA Focus Workshop which took place over 1-2 April 2017 in Naples below:

Have further questions? Join us in the comments!