Digital and environmental skills for facilities management Erasmus Project

Project Title

Digital and environmental skills for facilities management

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for vocational education and training

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2016

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Energy and resources; ICT – new technologies – digital competences; New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses

Project Summary

The introduction of energy efficiency measures to reduce resource consumption and carbon emissions is pushing the adoption of environmental technologies & services in the building sector. Facility managers, apart from technical proficiency, require a mix of digital & environmental skills to respond to the use of energy efficiency technologies systems and support carbon emission reduction in buildings. However, the environmental sustainability skills needs of facility managers are only partially supported by VET programs & apprenticeships.
DEFMA project aimed to tackle this challenge by delivering a modular VET course and OERs on environmental technologies & sustainable building services to empower facility managers across the EU with modern digital and environmental knowledge, skills and competences. In particular, project objectives involved: 1) Enhancing the labour market relevance of VET for facility managers to address digital and environmental needs, 2) Introducing modern training delivery methods and innovative open access pedagogical resources, enabling learners to acquire and self-assess digital & environmental skills, and 3) Facilitating mutual recognition of the developed learning outcomes across the EU. At the start of the project, the partnership comprised 6 organisations from 5 EU countries, from the world of VET, the Facility Management segment, energy efficiency research, as well as learning innovation experts: South West College (SWC) led the project by bringing the expertise in innovative technologies research for the building construction sector and in the design of energy efficiency courses; National School of Services (SNS) and Vilnius Building Training Centre (VSRC) brought the expertise in the design & delivery of VET programs across a broad spectrum of Facility Management services; The Bulgarian Facility Management Association (BGFMA) represented the occupational needs and workplace realities; PROMEA contributed as an expert in R&D and delivery of innovative ICT-based methodologies for VET, and Summit Skills, a standard setting organisation, participated as experienced in developing standards and qualifications from the wider building sector. Soon after the kick-off meeting (October 2016), the joint project management scheme (SWC and PROMEA) was notified about the withdrawal of project partner’s Summit Skills. Following this, a revised work plan for the project with suggested allocations of tasks and budgets was submitted to the national agency, with the consultation and agreement of all DEFMA partners. Following the acceptance of the plan by the UK NA (ECORYS), a new supplementary partnership agreement for the project was developed. Main project activities involved: analysis of current and future workforce training needs to develop updated and tailored to occupational needs, modern environmental technologies and services learning outcomes, development of modular learning units for a comprehensive VET programme in environmental technologies and sustainable building services, development of pedagogical resources and assessment tools to be offered as Open Education Resources, development, testing, and delivery of a Massive Open Online Course on environmental technologies and services, promoting the adoption of innovative practices in VET, involvement of key policy makers & stakeholders for the endorsement and mutual recognition of DEFMA units of learning outcomes, sharing and validation of outputs with multiplier events, inviting target groups to uptake DEFMA results and to act as further disseminators.
The DEFMA project led to the following results and impact:
VET world and occupation validated learning outcomes for training provision in environmental technologies & sustainable building services for facility managers.
Formal VET learning units and VET integration guidelines.
Pedagogical resources and assessment tools for environmental technologies & services, offered as OERs.
DEFMA Massive Open Online Course on environmental technologies and sustainable building services for facility managers.
A signed agreement on the validation, endorsement & mutual recognition of the DEFMA units of learning outcomes.
A sect oral recommendations paper to support decision-making and pave the way for future developments in VET policies.
Two demonstration workshops and three national info days to promote project results and validate all developed materials.
Finally, long term benefits of the project involve: the uptake of project materials and open educational resources from relevant VET providers across the EU, participation of a growing number of initial and continuous VET learners in courses based on project outputs, expansion of the strategic partnership towards a network of collaborating VET and sector stakeholders, further maturing & development of national and EU VET policies targeted to the occupation influenced by DEFMA recommendations, and cross border certification of skills acquired.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 350349 Eur

Project Coordinator

SOUTH WEST COLLEGE & Country: UK

Project Partners

• SummitSkills Limited
• FONDAZIONE SCUOLA NAZIONALE SERVIZI
• Bulgarian Facility Management Association
• VIESOJI ISTAIGA VILNIAUS STATYBININKU RENGIMO CENTRAS
• HELLENIC SOCIETY FOR THE PROMOTION OF RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT METHODOLOGIES ASTIKI ETAIRIA