The SMART skills 4.0 project addresses the transversal skills shortage with respect to the capacity to think autonomously and creatively, to manage complex information, use resources, including digital ones, smartly, communicate effectively and innovatively, integrating digital progress into the new Business 4.0 models. The 2018 CEDEFOP Skills forecasts for tasks content of jobs up to 2030 shows the shift towards more autonomy, fewer routine tasks, less physical work, more social and intellectual tasks, and a large increase of ICT skills. Also, the 2019 CEDEFOP Skills analysis acknowledges the high-level skills mismatches, the most frequently occurring shortage being associated with high-skills level occupations for which a tertiary qualification is required. Given the challenges of workplace digitization, our project fits into the 1st priority of Renew EU Agenda for HE by tackling future skills mismatches and promoting excellence in skills development. It addresses the horizontal skills mismatches with particular regard to forward thinking skills (i.e. mix of digital, cognitive and social skills) of students, teachers and workforce in sustainability-relevant sectors posed by Business 4.0 which further enable their fully engagement in society as responsible and productive citizens working in a technology-rich environment. The project commits a series of activities which channel transformational change for a coordinated response of education to the complex social issues in a digitize world, strengthening cross–sectoral cooperation between education, training and practices. It addresses the need for shared values, personal fulfillment, sense of initiative and intercultural competences, civic and responsible behavior to drive sustainable Business 4.0 to contribute to well-being of local community. The SMART skills 4.0 project targets developing and transferring collaborative learning practices that shape complex skills for higher education students and practitioners involved in blended learning sessions to foster intelligence skills for sustainable Business 4.0 creation, and HE teaching staff trained to design and deliver future-oriented curricula for forward thinking skills needed to resolve complex social issues. It entails the involvement of a multicultural frame of transnational stakeholders in knowledge exchange for innovation in education and training for a better alignment to the skills for Business 4.0 by means of four project objectives: O1. Studying the emerging knowledge and related Forward Thinking skills required by industry 4.0, and designing future-oriented Curricula to drive innovation in business 4.0 by engaging transnational stakeholders from various sustainability-relevant sectors in survey research, and HE learners in intercultural knowledge exchanges and experience sharing. O2. Unlocking the transformative potential of education and training through developing modern learning, teaching and training resources in line with Business 4.0 trends, and exchanging of good practices, centred on the concept of forward thinking development, through the involvement of HE learners in intercultural knowledge exchanges. O3. Deploying the Educational Initiative by pilot testing the future-oriented Curricula to support the development of forward thinking skills required by business 4.0 through cross-border exchange, making the most use of ICT-based and collaborative learning practices, engaging learners in blended learning sessions and transnational teaching and training activities to foster innovation in business engineering education and training, and to enhance civic and responsible behavior. O4. Scaling-up the Educational Initiative in the area of business 4.0 by promoting synergies between education, training, and labor market, and engaging a multicultural frame of transnational stakeholders (students, teachers, practitioners, educators, managers, and entrepreneurs) in cooperation for stimulating forward thinking skills, civic and responsible behavior in line with new Business 4.0 trends. These give meaningful opportunities for collaborative learning which translates into impactful, measurable and scalable development results for students, teachers, and other practitioners which improve the capacity to take up a sustainable education culture and to make curricula more relevant to societal needs. The added value comes from cross-border cooperation opportunities which channels positive changes at the institutional level, adoption of new curricula approaches for better alignment to current technological advancement and Business 4.0 trends, strengthening cross-sectoral cooperation between education, training and practice for a coordinated response of education to the complex social issues in a digitized world.
Our intervention developed and transferred future-oriented curricula that underpinned complex skills development for 336 HE students and 80 practitioners involved in the Educational Initiative-pilot course on forward thinking skills for Business 4.0. It engaged 79 HE learners in transnational learning and 47 teachers in designing curricula with sustainability-related outcomes, as well as 107 stakeholders in knowledge exchange for a better alignment to the skills for Business 4.0. Achieved objectives: O1. Designed future-oriented Curricula to drive innovation in Business 4.0. It engaged 281 stakeholders in the e-survey of forward-thinking skills and 24 learners in intercultural knowledge exchanges. O2. Developed modern educational resources and exchanged good practices, by the involvement of 23 learners in knowledge sharing. O3. Fostered innovation in business engineering education and training; enhanced civic and responsible behavior for 336 HE students and 80 practitioners benefited from collaborative learning sessions, and 79 learners benefited from transnational learning. O4. Promoted synergies between education, training, and labor market; extracted good practices and exposure of 107 stakeholders to cooperation opportunities.
Our project tackled the horizontal skills shortage defined by the 1st Priority of Renewed agenda for HE, improved the quality of education and training, and promoted excellence in skills development. It equipped students with forward-thinking skills for Business 4.0 models, contributing to their engagement in society as productive citizens. Our intervention addressed the forward-thinking skills mismatches of TGs (e.g. capacity to process complex information, thinking across disciplines, making connections between sustainability-related subjects, and using digital technology to solve social issues in an integrated manner) and integrated future-oriented curricula with sustainability-related outcomes and digital practices into the teaching and learning practices, enabling to mainstream the sustainable dimension of education into the design and content of curricula. Having common development needs and complementary expertise in developing curricula and educational materials, the partners assumed a mutual commitment to the shared EU values, sense of initiative and intercultural awareness, and civic and responsible behaviour which enabled innovation in education and training and a better alignment to the skills for Business 4.0.