UPraising VET skills for innovation in European electrotechnical sector Erasmus Project

Project Title

UPraising VET skills for innovation in European electrotechnical sector

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 2017

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses; Enterprise, industry and SMEs (incl. entrepreneurship); ICT – new technologies – digital competences

Project Summary

Internet and wireless technology are changing the digital economy and will revolutionize every commercial sector, disrupt the workings of virtually every industry, bring with it unprecedented new economic and work opportunities and create a more sustainable low-carbon society to mitigate climate change. With the process of digitization Industry 4.0 emerges which refers to the fourth industrial revolution that creates gaps in productivity and changed people’s behavior throughout the world. Industry 4.0 is the transformation of the whole industrial production through the application of digital technology to the traditional industry.
As studies have shown we are in the midst of a significant transformation regarding the way we produce products thanks to the digitization of manufacturing. This encompasses a wide range of communication between human-human, human-robots, robots-robots etc. as well as gaining an immense load of data. Both activities are at a more detailed level based on sensors and their activity. Sensors are and will be embedded into every device and appliance, allowing them to communicate with each other and users, providing up to the moment data on the managing, powering, and moving of economic activity. Already, 14 billion sensors are attached to resource flows, warehouses, road systems, factory production lines, the electricity transmission grid, offices, homes, stores, and vehicles etc. By 2030, it is estimated there will be more than 100 trillion sensors connecting literary everything.
The Wireless-UP! project recognizes the shift in the digital economy and Industry 4.0. It thus has developed a new vocational module which contributes to the further strengthening of key competencies in VET curricula in the electrotechnical sector according to the needs of the Industry 4.0 and Digital Economy. Alongside the module, a new toolkit for VET students and learners was developed to facilitate the gaining of new skills. A skills benchmarking model in form of local and transnational competitions helps to assess and compare the skills of VET students and learners from different countries learning the same module.
The base for the development of the WirelessUP! Training Module were the “Recommendations for local implementation of smart systems in VET for industry 4.0”. The aim of it was to provide a baseline for implementing an educational framework of the Wireless-UP! training module. The methodology helps understanding current and future labour market demands, how it will shape both the need to re-skill the current workforce and vocational training for young people and helps to formulate skills development in the electrotechnical sector. Following a defined methodology, the partners have identified altogether 28 occupations and 39 courses/subjects within the occupations in five partner countries which are suitable for implementing the new Wireless-UP! Training Module. The Recommendations offer a detailed description of the level, duration and key competences of identified qualifications and for each qualification the level and learning outcomes of identified subjects. The Wireless-UP! Module is thus made of three parts: Internet of Things: Sensing and Actuator Devices, Connecting Devices to IoT via Wireless Mesh Networks and Implementing Wireless Technologies in Automation Systems with a duration of the 45 school hours which equal three ECVET credit points.
The Module is accompanied by the Wireless-UP! Toolkit offering both theoretical description and practical exercises for VET learners and students. The practical exercises are design in form of projects using IQRF, Arduino MKR1000 and RaspberryPi which support the theoretical part. Theoretical content and practical exercises are also available at Moodle platform as e-learning materials.
In addition to the Wireless-UP! Module, the Wireless-UP! Trainers Guidebook supports trainers and teachers in the development of effective training as well as in the development of transversal competences along with the professional ones. It offers a range of instructional cards as a series of methods and exercises for the capitalisation of professional and transversal competences, mainly creativity, communication and commitment and sustainability.
In order to test and exploit the results of the project, project partners have organised pilots of the Wireless-UP! Module and train the trainer events. At the training events more than 50 teachers, trainers and mentors have participated, whereas more than 100 VET students have participated in the piloting in the 5 VET schools. In order to assess and compare the acquired skills, partners introduced local and transnational competition as a form of benchmarking. Competitions offer a wide range of potential benefits. They help the participants to develop technical and soft skills that are crucial for their career progression.
The developed module will be implemented in the regular vocational education partner schools.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 162014,21 Eur

Project Coordinator

Elektrotehnicka skola & Country: HR

Project Partners

• AFYON KOCATEPE UNIVERSITESI
• OBRTNICKO UCILISTE – USTANOVA ZA OBRAZOVANJE ODRASLIH
• Smichovska stredni prumyslova skola, Praha 5, Preslova 25
• SOLSKI CENTER KRSKO SEVNICA
• Stadt Nuernberg – Amt für Berufliche Schulen