CONTEXT The context for this project is determined by the changes in the Education sector where, in the short term, the health emergency forced universities to lockdown their face-to-face activities and where “traditional” universities are challenged by new players such as digital universities and digital education platforms. In front of these changes, “traditional” universities are challenged not only on how and how much they are able to develop digital courses/contents fit for a rapidly changing job market but also on how they can recognize and certify the skills that learners are acquiring also in terms of digital micro-credentials. TARGETED SKILLS GAP In an overall scenario where Europe is facing a significant digital skills gap, ProcToGo proposal focuses on the area of “Procurement” - and in particular of “Sustainable Procurement” - considering developing digital courses aimed to provide future procurement professionals the new required digital skills and the digital certifications that will allow them to more effectively spend their new skills on the job market. MAIN OBJECTIVE The project objective is twofold: -design two short digital courses on digital sustainable procurement practices, certifying through a digital badge the acquired skills; -develop a micro-credential framework based on which learners (including life-long learners) can build up progressively new digital skills as required by their professional career in the area of procurement. The intellectual outputs will match the twofold project objectives. PARTNERSHIP The 5 project partners (Universiteit Antwerpen, Universität Bremen, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Universidade Nova de Lisboa and Università degli Studi di Roma ‘Tor Vergata’) are all members of YERUN (Young European Research Universities Network) and are already cooperating in several Erasmus+ Strategic Partnerships. Associated partners will strengthening this partnership contributing as checkpoints in the content development phase (ASVIS and CSCMP), as reference in the setting of the micro-credential framework (DCU and YERUN) and as amplifiers for the dissemination (YERUN and CSCMP). PARTICIPANTS The project addresses with its activities to master level students and teachers at higher education institutions. Students, taking part in the two planned mobilities, will be up to 50, however the digital courses running on Open edX platform will have a wider potential participation, for a total target reach of 250 learners. According to a “train the trainer” approach, there will be at least 10 teachers that will go through a comprehensive training path providing them with new skills on digital course design and digital micro-credential development. METHODOLOGY All the project activities related to development of learning contents will be designed taking into account the ILO (intended learning objectives) approach segmented till the level of the micro-credentials. The actual development of the contents and of the framework will be managed through an agile iterative approach. The quality evaluation of the results will be assessed by the quality departments of the full partners (in particular by the programmes that will be recognizing the credentials in their degree courses). RESULTS By the end of the project, the following results will have been achieved: - the design and development of digital course materials based on the new specific skills required by the job market - the packaging and delivery of these digital contents in two digital learning modules, customized depending on whether they address private or public procurement; - the free accessible access of these courses on Open edX platform - the testing of the use of micro-credentials and digital badges towards both enrolled and non-enrolled students; - the training of trainers in order to be able to further develop digital courses and digital micro-credential in the respective universities. IMPACT The project will provide new digital teaching contents allowing learners to acquire the new digital skills required by the labour market. The project will also contribute to development of a different teaching approach and recognition of qualification based on digital contents and micro-credentials, supporting “traditional” universities to be more effective in the Digital Education arena. The solid and long-term commitment of the project partners to their respective areas of expertise matched with the intrinsic characteristics of digital platforms requiring large investment for the building-up phase and limited costs in their operations, indicates that the ProcToGo approach will be sustainable in the long term and will have a wide impact in the long-term in with reference to learners trained on line to the digital skills required for sustainable procurement .
The Project wanted to achieve three major objectives: responding to the demands of new skills coming from an ever-changing and globalised labour market by designing a blended learning pathway tailored to the needs of master level students who wish to acquire new competencies for their future career as procurement professionals; strengthening the employability of graduate students by involving the industry professionals in the content design of the blended learning pathway to make the acquired skills relevant for the labour market; improving transparency and recognition of skills and qualification by adopting digital badges to display, in a more transparent way, evidence of the skill or competency acquired by learners.
The economy and society are constantly changing. Digital transformation and green transition are two key drivers of this change. This rapid escalation requires innovative practices to train graduate students in acquiring new combinations of skills necessary for emerging job profiles. Despite several initiatives across higher education institutions, there is still a mismatch between what students learn and the skills that employers are looking for. Therefore, the role that universities play in equipping students with the competencies, knowledge, skills and attitudes that are in demand is crucial. In this context, ProcToGo partnership has decided to apply to exploring innovative ideas in education as key elements for connecting higher education institutions and the labour market, in particular in the area of digital and sustainable procurement, focusing on skill-based learning approach, modular learning, and the use of digital technology for the recognition, transferability and portability of learning outcomes.