Through the “Close the Gap” project, the National Consortium has achieved specific objectives related to all the stakeholders involved in Erasmus Pro activities, such as: -Fostering the job placement of young people within Sardinian companies, in order to boost innovation and productivity in the tourism sector; -Activating collaborations at European level in order to favour the achievement of a better link between education and the business system which can allow a greater productivity of the local production system and a better employability of young Sardinians; -To strengthen the capacity of the educational establishments which are members of the National Consortium to activate collaborations at a European level and to use the work-based learning approach more effectively and consistently; -Enhance learning developed in the non-formal and informal sphere, and the strengthening of the regional system for the identification, validation and certification of skills; -Powering the tools for learning foreign languages and for the development of transversal knowledge and experience necessary to act profitably within any work context.
The “Close the Gap” project, reference 2020-1-IT01-KA102-008162, was coordinated by ANCI Sardegna, at the head of a national Consortium that involved School institutes specialising in “Administration, Finance and Marketing”, “Tourism”, “Food and Wine Services and Hospitality”, trade associations, Oristano Municipality and the Autonomous Region of Sardinia. “Close the Gap” fostered the specialisation of the workforce to be introduced in businesses linked to the world of tourist accommodation and cultural and environmental heritage. Enterprises already in 2019 represented a consolidated strength of the production system, one of the cornerstones of the Intelligent Specialisation Strategy of the Region of Sardinia, at the centre of strategic choices because in a relevant position for the development of the various sectors that influenced the entire value chain of goods, products and services with over 162 thousand employees for the third half of 2019 (ISTAT). In 2019, however, ISTAT data recorded an unemployment rate of 35,7% for young people aged between 15 and 24 in Sardinia. Therefore, it was essential to work to foster the specialisation of the new workforce to be employed in the regional tourism sector.