Between October and December 2020, the UniLab partners in Russia, Belarus and Azerbaijan have established and held their first focus group meetings, engaging local and regional stakeholders such as enterprises, chambers of commerce, academic staff from other universities, students, etc. In this first focus group meetings, organised mostly online between October and December 2020, the partners shared with participants the learning and results of the Study Visit organised in September 2020 by the School of Management of the University Pompeu Fabra.

The focus groups are part of the peer learning approach of the UniLab project, by which local/regional actors will be regularly consulted/involved throughout the project by each of the partner countries’ universities to discuss the work done within UniLab as well as specific project outputs. The aim is to ensure that both project work and deliverables are relevant for the specific needs and features of the actors concerned and the local/regional context. The focus group meetings contribute to raise awareness among a wide range of individuals and organisations who can contribute and have a role in improving work-based learning practices, generating useful discussions which will feed into the project work.