The Blue School Certificate

The blue schools' program constantly evolves to meet the needs of teachers, students, and schools. As a bottom-up initiative, the Network of European Blue Schools started with a simple recognition and a certificate confirming the successful completion of a blue project. Over the years of working with teachers, networking meetings, conferences, and events this initiative gained interest from various types of schools and teachers from EU and non-EU countries resulting in a need to adapt the program to better reflect the state of Blue Education in Europe and beyond. After careful analysis and evaluation, in the summer of 2023 three types of blue schools were distinguished: 

• European Blue School Certificate

  Issued for schools that meet the criteria and are located in an EU country: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Republic of Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden.

  Certified European Blue Schools are eligible to receive grants from the EU4Ocean Coalition for Ocean Literacy’s call ‘Challenge of the Year’ and from Mission projects ProBlue, SHORE and BlueLightS.

• Associated Blue School Certificate

  Issued for schools that meet the criteria and are located in a third country associated with Horizon Europe.   

• Certified Associated Blue Schools are only eligible to receive grants from Mission projects ProBlue, SHORE, and BlueLightS. The application for grants is done directly via the three partner project websites – not through the NEBS.
• Partner Blue School Certificate
  For VET schools that did not complete a blue school project but specialize in training in marine (blue) jobs and can support or collaborate with general education schools on their way to prepare their students for the blue market and maritime-related studies and jobs.

Additionally, to acknowledge schools' long-term involvement, and will to further develop their project, set up new collaborations, and the value that more experienced schools bring into the Network a gradation of certificates was introduced for European and Associated schools to reflect levels of involvement in the network.
 

Blue School entry level For schools that applied once or twice with a project that lasted no longer than 2 school years.

Aquamarine Blue School middle level For schools that conducted projects that lasted 2-5 years or applied 3-5 years in a row with repeated projects.

Ultramarine Blue School top level For schools that have been conducting marine projects for more than 5 years.

How to develop a project

Become a European Blue School