Transforming Educational Programmes For Future Industry 4.0 Capabilities Erasmus Project

Project Title

Transforming Educational Programmes For Future Industry 4.0 Capabilities

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 2018

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses; Overcoming skills mismatches (basic/transversal); International cooperation, international relations, development cooperation

Project Summary

This project addresses skills mismatches emerging due to many sectors undergoing rapid technological change. This current development of new technology in industry is often referred to as the fourth industrial revolution (Industry 4.0). If the European industry is to remain competitive, there will be a demand for highly skilled labour at various levels in the transformation towards Industry 4.0 across Europe. However, many educational activities are taking place within isolated technical disciplines/domains, lacking the full cross-disciplinary approach and understanding embedded in Industry 4.0. Accordingly, there is a need to strengthen and develop new educational activities ensuring the needed competences across domains.
This project aims at identifying and addressing the gaps in skills between industry needs and the future competences of engineers and technicians focused on the emerging domain of Industry 4.0. The aim of the project is to support the development of educational activities within at Industry 4.0 at higher educations across Europe, addressing and minimizing the gaps in skills and competencies between industry needs and educational capabilities. Accordingly, the project has addressed the identified needs and challenges through the development of an ‘Educational Framework’, intended to support educators developing educational activities aim at the domain of Industry 4. The Educational Framework can be described as an agile and flexible process model with a holistic approach to developing teaching activities and material. The Educational Framework is expected to help the educators at the partnering institution to overcome some of the barriers when educating technicians and engineers within the complex domain of Industry 4.0. To identify the barriers a framework for analyzing the future challenges and needs due to industry 4.0 has been created. The framework consists of an analysis of both (1) the perspective of educational institutions and (2) the perspective of the industry and other organizational stakeholders. Moreover, to support the dissemination and usability of the Educational Framework, an online Training Concept has been developed. The online Training Concept consists of 12 short online movies, each introducing different aspects and elements of the Educational Framework, giving a comprehensive introduction to the framework, making it possible for educators outside the project to adapt the framework, developing new educational activities aimed at Industry 4.0.
The results of this project have directly influenced the local and regional level, through ensuring a better match between educational skills and industry needs. However, given the large focus on the dissemination of the project results, the project is also expected to have an impact on a national and European level. The enhanced match between the industry and the educational institutions will create a better understanding of the value of highly educated employees in a very dynamic area. This will potentially increase the number of students employed in the industry. The dissemination of the Educational Framework is expected to create a foundation and a guideline for educators in their continuous development for future educational activities within the domain of Industry 4.0.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 387323,6 Eur

Project Coordinator

PROFESSIONSHOJSKOLEN UNIVERSITY COLLEGE NORDJYLLAND & Country: DK

Project Partners

• EUROPA-UNIVERSITAT FLENSBURG
• THOMAS MORE MECHELEN-ANTWERPEN
• TALLINNA TEHNIKAULIKOOL
• Fagskolen i Viken
• AALBORG UNIVERSITET