Higher Education Learning Partnerships (HELP) is a three year project funded by EU Tempus. A key outcome of the HELP project has been the establishment of higher education learning partnerships (HELPs) based on the preparation of specialist training between the partner higher education institutions (HEIs) and enterprises.Through the HELPs the main results of the project have been to:

• identify and prioritise the main learning and training needs to promote local enterprise development;
• evaluate the existing learning and training opportunities at the local level and the ways these could be improved within HELPs in terms of the access, structure and content of learning and training programmes;
• share experience of local HELPs at the regional level and explore existing models of partnership for knowledge exchange between education and enterprise;
• to increase the availability of relevant information at the regional level on the nature and extent of skill shortages affecting economic development;
• prepare learning and training programmes within HELPs tailored to local enterprise development needs and priorities;
• pilot, monitor and evaluate the learning and training programmes, especially the potential for sustainability based on private provision;
• disseminate results widely, particularly at the regional policy-making levels to support economic transition within Central and Eastern Europe.

Within each HELP HEI, partnerships have brought staff together across departments to collaborate with enterprises in the many project activities.The cooperation between the HELP HEI partners and informed by the dialogue with stakeholders specialist training courses have been developed.These respond directly to the training needs identified by the project and cover areas such as soft skills and human resource development, business development and finance, business strategy and innovation, project management and specialist training for the food industry. These specialist trainings are now available through the HELP One Stop Shop and delivered through the consortium of HELP HEIs.Other trainings can be prepared to meet individual business needs by contacting the One Stop Shop.