Over the last decade, educational partnerships have proliferated across Europe. Some have developed in response to the European Commission recommended strategies for 2010 and for 2020. The EC has promoted an impressive number of projects under the framework of the Leonardo da Vinci programme, whose aims are: to strengthen the link between the various ‘actors’ involved in vocational training, to improve the quality, European dimension and visibility of activities or issues of common interest in the field of vocational and educational training. Project partnerships have become vehicles for fundamental educational actions and reforms. Many of the partnerships have delivered training services to students and teaching staff, have  improve education or resulted in systemic changes. Partners undertaking joint endeavors vary greatly in size and collaboration potential. Partnership relationships are built among different organisations and involve a variety of players capable of contributing to the partnership objectives. Its members may include local authorities, chambers of commerce, trade organisations for employers and employees (social partners), companies, including small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and research and vocational training centres, including universities. Inclusion of political decision-makers, such as local and regional authorities, will ensure the durability of the partnership.

Partnerships state their objectives and deliverables, both tangible and non-tangible, in realistic terms. Major objectives of Leonardo da Vinci partnerships involve: cooperation between VET actors, enterprises, economic sectors, social partners and training organisations on a sectoral basis, identification of the trends and skills requirements in this area and improvement of the anticipated benefit of vocational training programmes, the dissemination of  the results of work undertaken.

Throughout the life time of a LdV project the partnership undergoes at least three major stages which impact the outcomes of the project: the building up of the partnership stage, the project implementation stage when the partners work together towards reaching the desired aims, and the post implementation stage (evaluation stage). 

It is against this compelx background that the paper examines the requisites that ensure healthy  and succesful Leonardo da Vinci partnerships in the field of VET by discussing projects in which the Romanian Tourism Training Centre was a partner. The paper goes out from the identification of the aims of partnerships in general, looks at the reasons that contribute to the selection of project partners  in an attempt to highlight the factors that ensure success to partnerships and avert on the factors that may hinder the fulfilment of the project aims. The issues tackled are to do with: looking for partners, finding partners, choosig from a list of potential partners the ones that are most likely to ensure the fulfilment of tasks, establishing the conditions for collaboration, setting up communication mechanisms, drawing up a firm timetable, ensuring an effective coordination based on a permanent and firm monitoring, realistic evaluation of progress and results. Additional research variables are communication- and educational management-related.

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