CONTEXT AND BACKGROUND The construction sector has great potential for economic activity and job creation in the rehabilitation of the built stock and the restoration of built heritage. Multiple reasons reinforce this trend: aged European housing stock; improvements in energy efficiency; social demands on accessibility and comfort; patrimonial and identity value of the built fabrics and monuments; reinforcement of circular economy, impact of rehabilitation on the quality of life of people and social cohesion, among others. All this, has led the European and world political leaders to establish agreements and to promote measures to encourage the rehabilitation activity from different perspectives and objectives. Despite this, most European universities consider rehabilitation as a marginal discipline and do not train the expert professionals required by the sector. OBJECTIVES SMART REHABILITATION 3.0 aims to mitigate or correct the big gap between educational offer and the social reality above commented, by defining, a new professional profile of "Expert in rehabilitation" and the creation of homogeneous curricula, validated at European level, for the training of these experts, within the framework of higher education. Reversing this trend and innovating in the higher education system is the fundamental objective of the Project, responding to the "2020 Construction Strategy" by improving specialized training and making the sector more attractive for young university students, and anticipating the needs of professional qualification, which allow greater transnational mobility. This must be done by innovation and digitalization, using the latest technologies, both in training tools and in the knowledge of the most innovative constructive systems, to be applied in rehabilitation. It will be the opportunity to incorporate the digital world in the training and professional stage by the use of BIM. PARTICIPANTS Seven members belonging to five European countries constitute the Consortium for the Project elaboration. The Project coordinator is an expert organization in rehabilitation issues and has extensive experience in the management of international projects. Four universities contribute their academic capacity and experience for the Project development and for the results implementation in the appropriate framework. A professional organization contributes its experience in the development of digital tools and a professional European association of the sector, assumes the coordination of dissemination activities, also the progress and results of the Project. ACTIVITIES The Project proposes activities in different areas, all of them interrelated and that allow to reach the proposed objectives: Training. Development of 8 short courses, 4 oriented to knowledge of innovative interventions and 4 oriented to technological innovation in rehabilitation. Intellectual outputs • Definition of the professional profile "Expert in rehabilitation" and the training program development; • Creation of on-line training courses; • Creation of a tool for access to technological innovation; • Creation of a tool for access to innovative interventions. Multiplier events • Implementation of on-line pilot courses; • Final conference. Dissemination • Various actions to disseminate the results; • Universities-Sector agreements for sustainability of the Project. METHODOLOGY A clear responsabilities distribution among the partners in each of the activities has been established, with the coordinator taking on administrative management and supporting the partners at all times. To this end, the procedures, criteria, indicators and resources for each activity will be defined through a Quality plan, with a precise timetable and a permanent communication among all the participants to follow up on the time, quality and budget. The creation of four advisory committees will allow an external evaluation of the progress and results, by experts in the subject. RESULTS AND SHORT-TERM IMPACTS • Definition of a new professional profile as "Expert in Building Rehabilitation" and the training program for them; • Have innovative pedagogical tools for mass training "on line" in the rehabilitation and restoration field; • Collaboration agreements between universities and the rehabilitation sector to use the results. These results will allow European universities to implement innovative training, to correct the gap between the training and the requirements of the sector. LONG-TERM BENEFITS • Improvement in the adjustments between demand and requirements of the Sector and university education • Have expert professionals in rehabilitation and restoration of buildings; • Consolidate innovation in the use of digital technologies in educational institutions; • Professionals sensitized to the European cultural and and architectural heritage environment.
The objective of the Smart Rehabilitation 3.0 Project was to mitigate or correct the mismatch between the higher education offer and the social reality by defining an innovative professional profile of "Building Rehabilitation Expert". For this purpose, homogeneous curricula were created, validated at European level within the framework of higher education, supported by educational institutions, organisations and companies in the sector, recognised in the participating countries. The main objective of the project was to reverse the current trend in the higher education system by improving specialised training and anticipating professional qualification needs to facilitate transnational mobility. Generating this change in the education sector could only be done through innovation, with programmes that incorporate the latest technologies, both in terms of training techniques and tools, as well as in the knowledge of the most innovative materials and construction systems for rehabilitation. Therefore, the digital world has been incorporated both in the training stage, with MOOCs, and in the professional stage with the use of consistent databases for HBIM information management systems.
The rehabilitation of the built stock and the restoration of built heritage are a driving force for economic activity and job creation in all European countries. A reality that is based on the existence of an ageing housing stock, on the new energy efficiency requirements of buildings and on the heritage value of monuments, among others. Meeting this challenge means strengthening the circular economy, improving people's quality of life and reinforcing social cohesion. European political leaders are pushing for measures to promote renovation. It was a fact in 2019 when we formulated the Project and, during its implementation, economic investments and proposals such as the NextGenerationUE funds have multiplied. Faced with these social and political demands, few European universities have made a firm commitment to rehabilitation and are training the professionals that rehabilitation requires. As a result, university graduates cannot offer an adequate professional response to the challenges of rehabilitation and, in order to integrate into the labour market, they need complementary training that is currently only offered through informal channels.