1 4th International Seminar on Engineering Education and Professional Realization of Young Engineers July 23rd, 2012, NIŠ, SERBIA Ph.D. Fănică Vatră Ph.D. Ana Poida S.I.E.R. - SOCIETY OF POWER ENGINEERS IN ROMANIA

2 At present, the freedom of movement and the mutual recognition of initial VET learning outcomes in the electrical engineering sector are not yet developed in the European Union and suffer from a series of barriers hindering the workers of the sector to move and to be recognized in the European Union outside their national borders. This aspect is also limiting the strength of professionals in the European Union to deal with to the global competition in the sector. The evidence of a lack of harmonization in the VET learning path and the difficult process for the recognition of these titles between the EU Member States has therefore convinced the ELEVET Project partners on the opportunity to set up a project going in the direction of solving this issue and going towards a harmonization of learning outcomes. 4th International Seminar on Engineering Education and Professional Realization of Young Engineers July 23rd, 2012, NIŠ, SERBIA ELEVET Project - Electrical Engineers Vocational Education Transparency

3 In this context, the European Union considered that it is necessary to undertake a project under its aegis, ELEVET - Electrical Engineers Vocational Education Transparency, which is mainly aimed at creating a Pan-European Unified Education and Professional Competences System for electrical engineers to be adopted by an appropriate EU Directive. Granting rights based on the same requirements should help the mutual recognition of professional qualifications by the EU companies which employ electrical engineers, without any distinction in which EU country they have learned and have obtained professional certification. 4th International Seminar on Engineering Education and Professional Realization of Young Engineers July 23rd, 2012, NIŠ, SERBIA ELEVET Project Electrical Engineers Vocational Education Transparency

4  ELEVET Project runs in the framework of the Leonardo da Vinci EU Program, which is part of the educational program of the European Union "Learning for Life'' (Lifelong Learning Programme).  The project ELEVET: 1 October March  Coordinator of the project is the Association of Polish Electrical Engineers (SEP) from Poland, and the partners are as follows: - PIGE (Polish Chamber of Electrical Engineering) - Poland, - CECE (Spanish Confederation of Teaching Center) - Spain, - SIER (Society of Power Engineers in Romania) - Romania, - CONSEL - ELIS (Consortium for Secondary Professional Training) - Italy, - SDE College - Denmark, - EFVET (European Forum of Technical and Vocational Education and Training) - Belgium. 4th International Seminar on Engineering Education and Professional Realization of Young Engineers July 23rd, 2012, NIŠ, SERBIA ELEVET Project - Electrical Engineers Vocational Education Transparency

5 General objective:  To improve the mobility of the young professionals through the creation of a European system of recognition and transfer of the learning outcomes of VET in the electrical engineering sector. Specific objectives:  Improved transparency of the initial VET titles within the ECVET framework (The European Credit system for Vocational Education and Training)  Improved mobility of the professionals of the sector  Mutual recognition of the learning outcomes, both acquired in formal and non-formal training path.  Setting up of standard quality indicators to grant transferable VET learning credits at national and European level.  Reinforced cooperation between companies, social partners and educational organization in the elaboration of the training paths and in lifelong learning. 4th International Seminar on Engineering Education and Professional Realization of Young Engineers July 23rd, 2012, NIŠ, SERBIA ELEVET Project - Electrical Engineers Vocational Education Transparency

6 Specific objectives (continuation):  Improved links with working life and environments in order to make VET more responsive to the labour market needs.  Modernization of the electrical engineers and professionals’ VET paths through integration of a set of soft skills (team working, languages, communication, leadership, etc.). Notes:  The European Credit system for Vocational Education and Training (ECVET) aims to give people greater control over their individual learning experiences and make it more attractive to move between different countries and different learning environments. The system aims to facilitate the validation, recognition and accumulation of work-related skills and knowledge acquired during a stay in another country or in different situations. It should ensure that these experiences contribute to vocational qualifications. 4th International Seminar on Engineering Education and Professional Realization of Young Engineers July 23rd, 2012, NIŠ, SERBIA ELEVET Project - Electrical Engineers Vocational Education Transparency

7 At the end of the project: –Improved mobility of the professionals of the electrical engineering sector. This will be possible thanks to the mutual recognition of credits and learning outcomes; –The CV of the target group will become more attractive and modern thus facilitating the access to the labor market, thanks to the insertion of a professional path strongly rooted on modern soft skills; –A certain number of VET centers, at medium term, will have reformed their courses and offer by taking into account the learning outcomes proposed by the new framework; –The ECVET credits will be tightly connected with ECTS (European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System). In this way a harmonized lifelong learning path for electrical engineers, linking university and VET will be proposed in Europe. Note: European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS) makes teaching and learning in higher education more transparent across Europe and facilitates the recognition of all studies. The system allows for the transfer of learning experiences between different institutions, greater student mobility and more flexible routes to gain degrees. 4th International Seminar on Engineering Education and Professional Realization of Young Engineers July 23rd, 2012, NIŠ, SERBIA ELEVET Project - Electrical Engineers Vocational Education Transparency

8 WP 1 - Project Management WP 2 - Analysis of the contexts and best practices: –Legislation and methodologies mapping (Existing legislations and learning outcomes certification procedures of the sector will be the object of this analysis in each involved country) –Analysis of the best practices on VET programmes brought to discussion by the partners. –Analysis and proposals for improvement. The final objective of WP 2 will be the analysis of the background and of the contexts, starting from the existing best practices models and legislations at EU level, in order to identify common weak points and/or similarities in order to create the most appropriate certification and credit transfer methodology. Compendium of best practices (Identify good practices to be used as background for the final product) - it will be used for the development of WP 4. Report on existing qualifications and titles (Mapping of the existing qualifications in the EU countries in order to proceed to the elaboration of the common framework) - This report will create a list of existing qualifications in electrical engineering in the different EU countries. 4th International Seminar on Engineering Education and Professional Realization of Young Engineers July 23rd, 2012, NIŠ, SERBIA ELEVET Project - Electrical Engineers Vocational Education Transparency

9 WP 3 - Mapping of soft and business skills for VET path: In order to create a modern certification methodology and VET path, it is necessary to identify which skills the labour market is requiring. The main stakeholders will be consulted (companies as well as other related entities) with the aim of identifying the necessary competence/ vocational skills required (social intelligence, communication, languages, leadership, team working, etc.) The consultation will be implemented through a questionnaire, which will take a structured list of competence/vocational skills as reference. The target groups of the consultation will be mainly companies or organizations from the construction and engineering sector operating in the involved countries. It is expected to receive response from 75 companies per country. The results at national level will be then summarized into a global report. This global report will be used as input for WP4, jointly with the mapping resulting from WP2. 4th International Seminar on Engineering Education and Professional Realization of Young Engineers July 23rd, 2012, NIŠ, SERBIA ELEVET Project - Electrical Engineers Vocational Education Transparency

10 WP 4 - Design of the transfer methodology of VET credits (9 months) wider consultation with professors, curriculum developer and experts through national Focus Group organized in the involved countries; first draft with specification of common skills, learning categories and outcomes; revision through online consultation and questionnaires; An international focus group will be organized in Poland with 15 experts selected by the partners. In this phase, a first VET analysis and assessment grid with indication of ECVET points will be drawn. A road map for setting up mobility programmes within the new framework among the VET centres will also be drawn. adaptation and integration of the learning methodology within the ECVET framework and the Certificate supplement. Integration between ECVET and ECTS system and final version of the framework. 4th International Seminar on Engineering Education and Professional Realization of Young Engineers July 23rd, 2012, NIŠ, SERBIA ELEVET Project - Electrical Engineers Vocational Education Transparency

11 WP 4 - Design of the transfer methodology of VET credits (continuation) Definition of the national legal frameworks necessary for national validation and accreditation. To achieve this goal, a study to identify the legal framework for the accreditation procedures to the national regulation requirements will be carried out. The proposed model will be built around about 50 learning units and will include a set of 15 common soft skills as part of the learning path. 4th International Seminar on Engineering Education and Professional Realization of Young Engineers July 23rd, 2012, NIŠ, SERBIA ELEVET Project - Electrical Engineers Vocational Education Transparency

12 WP 5 - Operational Testing (5 months) Identification of three pilot courses. Three existing and running VET courses (one in Poland, one in Denmark and one in Italy) will be used as reference for the testing and usage of the proposed framework. The courses will be selected taking into account similar procedures, presence of foreign students in mobility, similar quality standards, particularly for evaluation and validation, similar modalities of collaboration with stakeholders and similar accreditation. In this phase, the WP will produce: – description of qualifications in terms of units of learning outcomes and ECVET points; – description of qualifications in terms of learning pathways and ECTS credits; – agreement with a host partner settling terms of the learning outcomes expected to be achieved and the ECVET and ECTS credit points. – Implementation and monitoring of the learning outcomes within the selected courses., described into a matrix, will be then shared and assessed the learning outcomes acquired by the target groups during the pilot course with stakeholders and proposed for a trans-national recognition to the competent authorities. – Feed-back and recommendation. At the end of the process, a detailed recommendation with feedback from the participants and authorities will be written. 4th International Seminar on Engineering Education and Professional Realization of Young Engineers July 23rd, 2012, NIŠ, SERBIA ELEVET Project - Electrical Engineers Vocational Education Transparency

13 WP 6 - Quality Assurance Quality Assurance Plan. Interim quality report - from the external quality assessor summarizing activities during the first 14 months and matching these with the project aims and objectives and impact on LLL priorities. Questionnaire for self-assessment target group - a questionnaire will be prepared and distributed to the target group and stakeholders to assess the impact of the project and the outcomes (feedback for the project evaluation). Final quality report. 4th International Seminar on Engineering Education and Professional Realization of Young Engineers July 23rd, 2012, NIŠ, SERBIA ELEVET Project - Electrical Engineers Vocational Education Transparency

14 WP 7 - Exploitation and sustainability (19 months) European-level activities to promote the certification process (Focus groups, seminars and other exchanges between products and potential new users). Specific priority will be given to actions finalized to apply the results within existing networks. Exploitation workshops - Promotion of the model for adoption by potential users. National focus group with around 80 participants will be organized by every partner. The goal is to present the model to potential users and to stipulate formal agreement for the adoption of the framework by the participants. A report will be prepared by each partner at the end of each workshop with description of reached target, number of participants and number of signed agreements for the adoption of the framework. Memorandum of understanding - The Memorandum of understanding will be created to secure the adoption and recognition of the new recognition and transfer of credits framework. It will have 3 main targets: – Universities and VET entities wishing to adopt the new methodology. – Ministries, which will approve and certify the new programmes. – A third kind of MoU will be signed among the partners to recognise mutually the credits acquired during the VET training and to set up recognized transnational mobility programmes for the trainees 4th International Seminar on Engineering Education and Professional Realization of Young Engineers July 23rd, 2012, NIŠ, SERBIA ELEVET Project - Electrical Engineers Vocational Education Transparency

15 WP 8 - Communication and dissemination (30 months) External communication (press conference, E-newsletter, project website, promotional brochure). Dissemination of the results: – EU level. The main targets will be the European decision- makers (EP deputies, responsible for education in the EU institutions) and European educational association of the sector (EUREL, etc.). – National level. The target audiences for dissemination include: –Senior Staff within Higher Education and VET Institutions; –Careers Officers, Staff Development Officers, Local Companies and industries and public opinion; –National, regional and local government and policy makers; –Engineers’ professional associations; –Individual electrical engineers. 4th International Seminar on Engineering Education and Professional Realization of Young Engineers July 23rd, 2012, NIŠ, SERBIA ELEVET Project - Electrical Engineers Vocational Education Transparency

16 We will continue to inform you: -on SIER web-site ( subsection: “Noutati/ELEVET”);ELEVET -on SIER web-site, ELEVET subdomain ( THANK YOU ! 4th International Seminar on Engineering Education and Professional Realization of Young Engineers July 23rd, 2012, NIŠ, SERBIA ELEVET Project - Electrical Engineers Vocational Education Transparency