Who - Robotics, Automation Careers in Engineering in the 21 Century (RACE21) is a partnership between six VET colleges (UK, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Finland and Romania) and a VET host organisation in the Czech Republic. VET partners will also act as a host for 60 local businesses to participate.What - This is a three year project whereby 12 VET staff and 270 students from seven countries will participate in a ‘problem based learning’ project aimed at developing new, innovative, creative curriculum in the field of robotics and automation. New pedagogy will be developed for teaching staff enabling higher level ‘applied’ automation and robotic skills amongst VET learners increasing innovation, creativity and entrepreneurial skills thereby narrowing the gap between academia and the world of work. 60 manufacturing process businesses will participate and provide a real world learning environment leading ultimately to 12 integrated robotic solutions.Where – RACE21 will be delivered through a Robot Club comprising of 270 VET students, 12 STEM/VET lecturers and 60 employers. Each partner will engage with ten local industry world of work partners with experience or the desire to implement innovative automation or robotic solutions.When – RACE 21 will commence on 1 September 2016 and finish on 31 August 2019.How - RACE21 is a unique opportunity to engage VET engineering students with employers in an innovative way. RACE21 seeks to build on the shared learning from its predecessor Robotics, Automation Careers in Engineering (RACE) project that identified an unexpected learning opportunity. During the RACE project students learned about automation and robotics careers opportunities as well as developing practical skills in ‘How to Build a Robot’. In explaining the rationale for the use of automation and robotics, employers highlighted the dual gain of increased productivity and their ability to release employees’ creativity and innovation capacity.RACE21 focuses on this duality of purpose and seeks to move students from ‘How to Build a Robot’ to ‘How to Integrate a Robot’ and develop the skills amongst VET students to enable them to ‘hit the ground running’ in an industry sector that has an in-build bias towards entrepreneurship, creativity and innovation. In keeping with the global industrial norm for this sector the working language will be English. Key documents will be translated in to partner languages.RACE21 will provide opportunities for VET staff and students to participate in blended mobilities and short-term joint staff training events leading to the development of new pedagogy in applied robotics and automation enabling closer links between employers and VET providers. Transnational meetings, blended mobilities and joint training events will be used to coordinate the project and showcase results. All participants in blended mobilities and joint training events will be credited through EuropassParticipation within this project is an opportunity for collaboration between VET providers, students, employers and relevant stakeholders in the same VET field across Europe. The project partners will exchange methodologies and good practices approaches, to improve the expertise of VET teachers and to embed extra-curricular activity in the field of automation and robotics.
Context/background of the project; OECD’s figures show that enrolments in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) subjects have been falling for a prolonged period across much of the developed world including most regions in Europe. In addition OECD highlighted advanced manufacturing technologies that add value to existing products, processes and services, in a sustainable approach will boost competitiveness, create jobs, and support growth that will determine Europe’s position in the global market. Robotics Automation Careers for the 21 Century (RACE21) is a network of six VET colleges in the UK, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Finland and Romania and a specialist evaluation partner based in the Czech Republic that sought to increase STEM learning through a three year industry focused applied robotics and automation project. In addition partners sought to increase their capacity to operate transnationally through the sharing and confronting ideas, practices and methods. Project Objectives; RACE21 aims to develop creative and innovative teaching practice relating to Robotics and Automation and narrow the gap between what is taught and the requirements of the world of work. The primary programme objectives are: 1. To work collectively as a network to develop a transnational Robot Club 2. To increase the technical understanding and activity of 10+20 VET staff and 270 VET students throughout the project lifetime and by 20% thereafter. 3. To narrow the gap between academia and the world of work through the use of problem based learning techniques thereby creating better conditions for transition to working life. 4. To deliver 12 robotic solutions for local micro-SMEs 5. To create a new unit in ‘integrating a robotic solution’ Number and profile of participating organisations; VET partners created a Robot Club and through it VET students engaged with local employers to create a RACE21 Employer Database (RED). In total 65 organisations participated in the project. These included multi-national companies, local medium sized businesses, small enterprises and micro-businesses across a range of sectors including, power generation, construction, manufacturing (mechanical, electrical and electronic), tourism hospitality and retail, transportation and logistics, material handling, agriculture and food production. Higher Education Institutions (four universities) also participated by hosting study visits to their robotics labs. Description of undertaken main activities; In total 270 full-time VET students and Apprentices participated in this project through a RACE21 Club. Each VET Partners recruited 15 young people annually, 270 in total. Working with VET staff, local employers RACE21 Club participants developed case study materials (A1) business Case for a robotic solution, (A2) developed 15 integrated robotic or automated solutions and (A3) and undertook impact assessments on upstream/downstream processes. Each year 24 VET Students (3 per VET partner) were selected from the RACE21 Club to participate in a blended mobility for learners (C1, C2 and C3) to share case study material and showcase their proposed robotic solutions to transnational Robot Club members. 12 Academic VET staff met three times for short-term joint staff training events (C4, C5 and C6) to develop new careers advice and guidance material to attract new students and new pedagogy (unit lesson plan) in applied robotic and automation solutions. The new material focused on the shared learning accrued during student blended mobilities C1, C2 and C3. VET students and staff also undertook transnational study visits to 12 RED companies and wider innovation-focused stakeholder organisations to see first-hand real-world-of-work robotic solutions. VET students also participated in joint technical workshops in microprocessor controls, PLCs and robotic programming. Steering group representatives met four times during the lifetime of the project in Transnational Meetings to discuss and agree project management, coordination, dissemination and evaluation issues. Results and impact attained; The activities undertaken by participants achieved the desired results, in that the model of Project-Based-Learning was tested and proved to be positive in enabling students to explore and test ideas in a real-world-of-work setting in the field of robotics and automation. A significant achievement was that 12 robotic solutions were designed and presented in the form of prototype modes. The impact on the VET partners has been the increase in reputational ranking with local employers as a key resource in assisting them to apply innovative continuous improvement techniques. VET staff and students attained higher level professional and technical skills and gained confidence to have closer engagement with companies locally and transnationally. VET partners have a viable model for implementing PBL techniques in different sectors.