The main objective of the eu-WELD project is to develop a qualification according to the European Qualifications Framework (EQF) based on the continuous requirements on the labor market. The project aims at identifying the needs of the fields that use welded structures concerning the expert welder’s skills and knowledge that are necessary to meet the requirements related to the execution of welded joints in compliance with the provisions of the relevant standards in force.he European market of welded structures is a growing market with a turnover amounting to over Euro 2 billion a year, and has approximately 2 million employees. The products that are obtained by welding may be used in various fields of activity starting with personal use products until industrial use products, with the products used in the energy or petro-chemical field until the products used in the medical, military and aerospace field. The intense development of this part of the industry in various areas of Europe led to the need for the relocation of the personnel that specializes in this field. In order to be able to carry out welded joints in various European countries, the expert welder should comply with the requirements of various certification bodies approved by the client. Thus, an expert welder with a certain qualification that is tested in his country of origin needs most of the times to prove his abilities in the country he is relocated in according to the requirements of the labor market.The project aims at developing a work platform that should offer the possibility to develop the knowledge, competences and skills of the target group in the welding process and technology field of the personnel in the specialized industry.More specifically, the project aims to achieve its goald through 4 objectives: OBJ1. developing a European qualification of the European Expert in Welding Technologies (eu-WELD) with certification at ECVET level OBJ2. creating a competence profile required by a European Expert in Welding Technologies OBJ3. developing a training course for the European Expert in Welding Technologies; within the course there will be a special procedure to assess previous knowledge of existing workers in the welding field or knowledge obtained through any kind of prior working experience (formal, informal or non-formal learning) (using ECVET points); the training course will also be offered using innovative e-learning technologies 0BJ4. developing guidelines for the certification of organizations willing to provide the eu-WELD training course; this includes the application of ECVET to qualifications.The partnership includes different stakeholders involved in education and training and brings together 1 company with main activity in welding industry (P2-RO), 1 welding institute (P4-SI), 3 universities (P1, P5, P6 - RO,HU,GB) and 1 private-sector consulting firm engaging in education and training (P3-MT). The high share of universities in the consortium is necessary and justified because of the scientific complexity of the subject areas and the methodological ability of university teachers to impart knowledge in these areas efficiently.Due to a thorough valorization plan, about 6,000 people representing target groups will be informed about the project and more than 100 will be trained in pilot courses.As e-learning concepts are a fast growing market segment, a rapid diffusion of the eu-WELD products developed in this project can be expected for the time after end of the project.
The project's aim was to identify and fill the needs of the fields that use welded structures with regards to the expert welder’s skills and knowledge that are necessary to meet the requirements related to the execution of welded joints in compliance with the provisions of the relevant standards in force. The European market of welded structures is a growing market with a turnover amount exceeding 2 billion Euros a year, and has approximately 2 million employees. The products that are obtained by welding may be used in various fields of activity starting with personal use products until industrial use products, with the products used in the energy or petro-chemical field until the products used in the medical, military and aerospace field. The intense development of this part of the industry in various areas of Europe led to the need for the relocation of the personnel that specializes in this field. In order to be able to carry out welded joints in various European countries, the expert welder should comply with the requirements of various certification bodies approved by the client. The main objective of the eu-WELD project was to develop a digital toolbox course integrated with a qualification structured with respect to the European Qualifications Framework (EQF), based on the continuous requirements on the labour market. The eu-WELD project thus aimed to develop a platform/framework that would offer individuals of the target groups, the possibility to develop their knowledge, competences and skills specialized welding processes and technologies. The partnership included different stakeholders involved in education and training and brought together 1 company with main activity in welding industry (P2-RO), 1 welding institute (P4-SI), 3 universities (P1, P5, P6 - RO,HU,GB) and 1 private-sector consulting firm engaging in education and training (P3-MT). The high share of universities in the consortium was necessary and justified by the scientific complexity of the subject areas and the methodological ability of university teachers to impart knowledge in these areas efficiently. In order to identify training needs and competence of the European welder, a questionnaire was designed, „eu-WELD - training needs and competences questionnaire”, and distributed to each partner country. Based on he answers received from the questionnaires and also from the interviews, the report concerning the specific general competences for an European welder was drawn up. Taking into account the importance of each competence revealed from the analysis of the resulted report, the eu-WELD common competences profile was drafted. For each competence unit the specific competences and acquired knowledge were identified. Each competence unit was assigned with a number of ECVET points for recognition and transfer at European level. Starting from the training needs, within the project, the curricula and course support were developed and translated into each language of the participant countries. The course support contains two large parts: Part I (Technology): Basics of welding technology and Part II (Processes): Basics of fusion welding processes. Based on the course materials developed within the project (curricula and content) an official accreditation was obtained from the National Authority for Certification (ANC) for the proposed euWELD course (certificate number B 0011251). Based on the lesson plans developed, the course material was produced by the different partners and then was converted into e-learning format so that it can be freely offer on the euWELD learning management system (available at www.camnis.pub.ro/euweld ). In order to evaluate and monitor eu-weld learners' performance during the training, a methodology and a guide for validating their performance and competences was elaborated. In order to improve the competences of the eu-weld course participants, within the project, several welding cases studies were identified and integrated into the e-learning platform of the project. During the project 3 learning/training type activities were organised. The persons selected to take part to this type of activity were given the possibility to enrich their knowledge on fusion welding technologies and benefited of the learning resources made available by each organizing partner. Results and impact attained: The results of the project were presented to stakeholders by each partner within the 3 multiplier events but also in other local, national and European dissemination events. The results of the project are available in e-learning format on the project's official website and on the learning management system and can be used by each EU country in order to train welders, based on the common learning needs at European level. As e-learning concepts are a fast growing market segment, a rapid diffusion of the eu-WELD products developed in this project can be expected for the time after end of the project.