Innovative Practices in Renewable Energies to Improve Rural Employability Erasmus Project

Project Title

Innovative Practices in Renewable Energies to Improve Rural Employability

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 higher education

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2014

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Labour market issues incl. career guidance / youth unemployment; Enterprise, industry and SMEs (incl. entrepreneurship); Energy and resources

Project Summary

CONTEXT

Renewable energies (RES) play a key role in moving towards a low carbon economy, being one of the strategic priorities of EU, who urges European countries to obtain 20% of energy from renewable sources by 2020, and at least 27% by 2030. At the same time, the depopulation of rural areas (90% of the EU’s land mass) is a challenge for European societies. This demographic change is associated to the lack of opportunities, which causes the migration towards bigger towns.

RES can be a driver for the employment generation in remote areas. From an interdisciplinary approach, IN2RURAL has been committed to support this transition through educational innovation.

OBJECTIVES

The main goal has been to implement new educational practices to strengthen the employability of engineering students in the RES sector, specifically in the rural areas of Bacau (Romania), Castellón (Spain) and Gyöngyös (Hungary).

The specific objectives have been:
– To increase the relevance of the teaching-learning by strengthening the links between universities, SMEs, local governments and civil society organisations.
– To identify which are the competences in the field of RES for rural development.
– To strengthen at institutional level the internationalization, European dimension, project management and sustainability.
– To bring the opportunities of Erasmus+ closer to rural habitants, promoting their active participation.
– To improve the preparation of the engineering students for the professional world.

PARTNERS

The partnership has been composed of universities with engineering studies and SMEs with expertise in RES. Namely:
– Universitat Jaume I, Heliotec and UMANS (Spain)
– Universitatea Vasile Alecsandri din Bacau and General Electric (Romania)
– Karoly Robert Foiskola, Eszterházy Károly University and Geolin (Hungary)

ACTIVITIES

The core activities carried out have been:
– Intellectual outputs in the field of RES for local development
** Study of prospective and training needs
** Collaborators network
** Open Educational Resources (OER) about the use of the virtual learning platform
** OER and online courses of technical English and RES for local development
** Case studies
** Active job search open course
** Final evaluation
** Guide about RES for small municipalities
– Multiplier Events (3) to share the intellectual outputs
– Blended mobility of six students to perform a real study case
– Dissemination actions to increase the impact and sustainability
– Internal meetings to monitor the project and to promote new synergies

RESULTS AND IMPACT

The students that have participated in IN2RURAL have increased their employability, specifically:
– 30 students have augmented their English technical knowledge in the RES field
– 30 students have improved their capacities on the use of biomass, photovoltaic and wind energy in rural areas
– 12 students have developed a real study case, learning how to deal in a professional environment
– 9 students have strengthened their skills for active job searching and entrepreneurship

Regarding the partner organisations, some of the benefits are:
– More than 35 professors and technical staff have increased their competences to work in English and to teach in e-learning
– Universities have improved the relevance of the teaching about RES, integrating a rural development approach and getting closer to the market needs.
– Universities have increased their knowledge about active job searching and entrepreneurship
– All the organisations have strengthen their transnational dimension and the skills to manage European projects
– Both the universities and the SME have reinforced their contacts with local development actors, starting new collaborations

Additionally, the awareness about the potential links among employability, RES and rural development has been increased among the population thanks to the intellectual outputs, the multiplier events and the news in media and social networks.

LONGER-TERM BENEFITS

The sustainability of the project is based on:
– The intellectual products are available in the project websites (http://in2rural.uji.es/ and http://in2rural.ub.ro/) and in UJI repository (goo.gl/d3fSYh).
– The presentations of the multiplier events are accessible in the project websites and the videos can be seen in YouTube (goo.gl/9yBQKi)
– The OER and online courses will be used in the partner universities
– The curricula of the engineering subjects involved in the project have been updated to the specificities of the market and the rural development
– New mobility agreements (KA1) have been signed among the universities
– The results of the project are being presented in conferences and workshops, facilitating that other organisations can use them
– New collaborations and initiatives have been started

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 238336 Eur

Project Coordinator

UNIVERSITAT JAUME I DE CASTELLON & Country: ES

Project Partners

• “GEOLIN” Informatikai Oktató, Szolgáltató és Kereskedelmi Betéti Társaság
• UNIVERSITATEA VASILE ALECSANDRI DIN BACAU
• GENERAL ELECTRIC
• KAROLY ROBERT FOISKOLA
• Urbanisme i Medi Ambient Nebot i Segarra S.L.
• HELIOTEC 2006 SL
• ESZTERHAZY KAROLY EGYETEM