Escola Profissional de Agricultura e Desenvolvimento Rural de Marco de Canaveses

Epamac is an inland rural school with VET courses- level IV existing since 1989. It is a national public school integrat-ed within the Portuguese Ministry of Education and Sciences Network. There are three areas of specialization: agri-culture, rural tourism and equine management.

Located in a region that is one of the poorest in the North of Portugal with serious problems in the area of litteracy and high rates of school leaving. Nevertheless, 90% of our students finish 12th grade and can, actually, apply for jobs. There are several organizations that ask for our students to do trainships, such as Hotels, Tourism Centers, City Halls, Entertainment Companies... and to cooperate in some of their events because they have a big experience and practise in some ativities organized by our school. One of Epamac's main concern is to provide our students with a wide range of pratical experiences.

Our school is applying for this kind of projects since 2014 (Project approved on Key Action 1 (ended 2016), pro-jects approved on Key Action 2 as partner - one still running.

As one of the areas of greatest development in the country, the tourism sector associated with the environmental aspect, constitutes one of the safest and most interesting options in terms of training and the way forward for our young people.

EPAMAC, located in rural areas, is a reference institution in training in the different areas of education it teaches, where the training and knowledge of students is a priority.

The school itself can be seen as a practical open-air workshop, where students have the opportunity to organize and implement different types of activities, of different dimensions,

which greatly contributes to their training. The practical nature of the actions and the training provided proves to be an added value for the training of students as well as for their preparation for active life.

In the Technical Course on Environmental and Rural Tourism, students are guided in an appreciation of the practical dimension that focuses on know-how, but also on knowing how to be and knowing how to be, since in this area the direct relationship with the customer is of utmost importance.

The existence of several integrated internships throughout the three years of the course, also allows a strengthening and approximation with the business fabric, which constitutes an added value in terms of employability.

Therefore, we work with the objective of training students according to the pre-defined exit profile and providing them with tools that allow them to make the best choices, whether entering the world of work or continuing their studies.