SALES PLATFORM STUDIES FOR HIGHER EDUCATION Erasmus Project

Project Title

SALES PLATFORM STUDIES FOR HIGHER EDUCATION

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 2020

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Open and distance learning; Cooperation between educational institutions and business; ICT – new technologies – digital competences

Project Summary

The project aims to create, test, disseminate and systematize an original learning format, based on e-learning platforms, for courses on international sales and digital selling at European level, in order to develop the skills for university (undergraduate) students, enrolled in business, marketing and sales university programs. The main idea of this project is to analyse a series of e-learning platforms that host lessons on sales and create new content suitable for an increasingly internationalized and digital-oriented scenario. These new contents will be created in the form of OERs (in the form of interactive video training pills and narrative branched scenarios) and an adaptability/adaptation manual will be released to adapt the existing platforms to the new content that will be developed. In this way, the sustainability of existing e-learning platforms is guaranteed, and the creation of already developed repetitive content is avoided.
In order to implement a blended teaching methodology, training moments will be organized both in presence and online, at the same time in the partner countries, i.e. online sales competitions, in which students will be called to solve real working situations. These competitions will be organized simultaneously in a physical and virtual location in the different countries of the partnership, in order to allow the interconnection of teams of international students, while breaking down the obstacles of physical mobility. In addition, the sales competitions will be structured to host a “career moment” during which a certain number of companies involved in the project, after having attended the competition and having assessed the work of the groups, will conduct job interviews.
The project responds to the following critical issues:
1. scarcity of degree courses on international sales and digital selling, even if the figures operating in the sales area have been classified second for scarcity (globally) for several years, behind only expert manual workers (Manpower 2008, 2009, 2018);
2. training is still oriented towards traditional methodologies, especially in sales education;
3. poor integration of university-oriented and digital selling courses in university programs;
4. lack of synergies between universities and businesses to encourage student employability, as relationships with companies are often occasional and left to the initiative of individual professors;
5. scarcity of moments of international confrontation between students;
6. scarcity of sales competition in the European context.
The expected results concern:
1. the design and systemisation of a new interdisciplinary teaching for university education, centred on international sales and digital selling, based on blended methodologies, including e-learning platforms and also training moments based on social learning theory, i.e. moments of confrontation in presence, such as sales competitions. The new course will serve as a pilot format, adaptable and implementable for use in different degree courses;
2. the creation of Open Educational Resources in the form of interactive video training pills and narrative branched scenarios;
3. the involvement of a panel of 65 (20 IT, 15 AT, 15 FI, 15 DK) students in the experimentation of the new educational program and in the online sales competition;
4. the creation of an adaptability manual of the new training contents (OERs) for existing e-learning platforms;
5. the creation of moments of international confrontation between students, in an accessible and remote form, through the creation and setting up of an online sales competition;
6. the promotion of meetings and recruiting occasions with the business world, through simulations of real work situations and careers moments;
7. the creation of stable links between education institutions, businesses and territories, creating relationships systems in which the sharing of knowledge, experiences and reflections favours the co-creation of value and relational capital on European basis;
8. increase in post-graduate employability in the international sales and digital selling sector;
9. sensitizing small and medium-sized enterprises to the use of digital tools as part of their sales process.

Project Website

http://www.saleseducation.eu

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 363643 Eur

Project Coordinator

UNIVERSITA POLITECNICA DELLE MARCHE & Country: IT

Project Partners

• TAMPEREEN AMMATTIKORKEAKOULU OY
• FH OO STUDIENBETRIEBS GMBH
• AALBORG UNIVERSITET
• Myynnin ja markkinoinnin ammattilaiset ry
• CONFORM-CONSULENZA FORMAZIONE E MANAGEMENT SOCIETA CONSORTILE A RESPONSABILITA LIMITATA
• Erhverv Norddanmark
• Tampereen kauppakamari ry