The Recognition and Validation of Agricultural Management in the Framework of the European Credit System for Vocational Education and Training (ECVET)

Although, agriculture is recognized as a sector of utmost importance in the EU, especially since the EU has an approximate total of 12 million farmers with a further 4 million people working in the food sector, informal and non-formal training in the field of agriculture is limited. In the field of agriculture non-formal training and knowledge-based expertise are the most important. The project consortium had identified a gap in the area of Agriculture VET courses namely the setting up of a new European common professional qualification standard in Agricultural Management within the ECVET framework. This project is the 2nd phase of the project, as the project consortium has applied in 2013 under the Leonardo da Vinci Transfer of Innovation. The main output of this project was the MoU AgroECVET, signed in Madrid in December 2014. This MoU established a new common professional qualification standard in the agricultural sector for non-academic managerial and entrepreneurial competences shared by Maltese, Italian, Spanish, Greek, Hungarian and Belgian VET providers, enterprises, social partners and not-for-profit associations operating and public authorities in the agricultural sector. This project aimed at extending the ToI project by now focusing on the accreditation of Agricultural Management within the ECVET Framework. The Project Objectives are: - To implement the second phase of the AgroECVET project by recognizing and validating Agricultural Management ECVET in line with the results and MoU concluded by the ToI project; - To strengthen cooperation between the organisations taking part in this project by establishing exchanges of practices in the field of Agricultural Management; - To promote coherence between EU and national transparency and recognition tools in the field of Agricultural Management ECVET; - To test the implementation of innovative practices in the field of AgroECVET namely: the testing of a Blended mobility combining short term physical mobility with virtual mobility; and - To implement a Virtual Online Platform to facilitate virtual mobility The duration of the project was 2 years and it involved partner organisations coming from Malta, Belgium, Spain, Italy, Hungary and Greece. All of the organisations involved are active in the VET and/or agricultural sector. The target groups of this project were persons involved in the agricultural sector and interested in acquiring more information related Agricultural Management such as: - Farmers managing farms; - Farmers who would like to manage a farm; - Students who are interested in working in the agricultural sector; - Young people who will take over their families' farm; and - Elderly having experience in farming. This project entailed 5 Multiplier Events (4 Transnational Conferences and a Final Conference), 6 Transnational Project Meetings and the following 6 Output Identifications: Output Identification 1: Preparatory Accreditation Report to accredit Agricultural Management ECVET in line with the national competent authorities governing qualification systems Output Identification 2: Design of A European Common VET Curricula for Agricultural Management Output Identification 3: Agricultural Management ECVET Accreditation in the form of a Blended Mobility (Training, Work-Based Experience and Virtual Interaction) Output Identification 4: IT Tool for Agricultural Management ECVET Output Identification 5: Agricultural Management ECVET Training Package (entailing Training Material for the Trainer and the Trainee) Output Identification 6: Policy Recommendations on Agriculture related Vocational Education and Training The project also introduced a pilot project for 20 participants coming from the various participating organisations. This pilot project featured a Blended Mobility, with around 30 days of Physical Mobility followed by Virtual Mobility. By the end of this Blended Mobility the participants were awarded an ECVET Certificate and a Europass Supplement Certificate. The working methodology used in this project was a structured one whereby most of the activities were led by Koperattivi Malta but all of the organisations were actively involved at all stages of the project. Furthermore, each organisation was assigned important tasks in relation to the implementation of the project, according to the expertise of each organisation. Thanks to this project, it was possible for interested stakeholders to follow a course based on non-formal and informal learning in Agricultural Management and this was also accredited under the ECVET Framework. As part of the sustainability of the project, the project consortium retained the IT Tool and will start negotiations at national and EU level to determine the promotion of this training course with the key stakeholders, including local and national educational institutes such as MCAST and other.