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The Autonomous Province of Trento is one of the two provinces of the Trentino South Tyrol Region which, as a consequence of a constitutional law, possesses a special form of autonomy with wide legislative and administrative powers in many important fields, among which environment, territory, transports, public works, economy, labour, production, healthcare, assistance, society, transports, culture, education, university, research, etc.

The Autonomous Province of Trento has, in consequence of a constitutional law, a delegation of regulatory power on some school subjects as the Ministery of Education, University and Research (MIUR) does in the Italian school system. The Knowledge Department is the structure of the Province of Trento which deals with Education, University and Research. The Knowledge Department, set up on the 2^nd April 2012, is in charge of the knowledge staircase that involves a person in the different learning phases of his/her life: From childhood to adult training (life long learning), through education, training and higher education. In detail it deals with:

• kindergarten and nursery school, school education of the first and second cycle (first cycle goes from the 1^st to the 8^th grade and second cycle goes from the 9^th to the 13^th grade), higher education and adults training, school and professional guidance and integration among school, training, university and companies;
• training directed to school and teaching staff, with the only exception of economic and social security;
• school building planning and activities development, and services directed to professions;
• right to education, university and scientific research and technological transfer for the development of the provincial economy.

The Trentino’s educational system is distinguished by the presence of provincial approved private schools and training institutions: kindergarten and nursery schools are 283 with 16.507 children and 2.019 teachers whereas schools pertaining to the first cycle (from the 1^st to the 8^th grade) and to the second cycle (from the 9^th to the 13^th grade) are 345 for a total of 64.284 students of which 1.394 adults and 8.116 teaching staff. The institutions dealing with vocational and educational training and with non-academic tertiary education are 23 with 4.050 students. The people dealing with the management of the Trentino’s educational system are altogether 290.

The strategic goals of the Knowledge Department, specifically connected to the SWORD project, are:

• the decrease of the distance from school, higher education, research from one side and companies from the other side, in order not only to form talents, but also to find economic structures where talented people can be adequately employed;
• the development of forms of school and professional guidance in the whole educational system, included guidance and support to the school-to-labour-market transition for second cycle (9^th to 13^th grade) institutions, the innovation of the applied educational strategies, also through peer learning activities and with students mobility on an international basis;
• the professional development of the school staff, also thank to the implementation of innovative educational models;
• the certification of formal and informal skills.