Hugo Lueders, e-SCC Secretary General 0 26 May 2007, Genzano di Roma Hugo LUEDERS e-Skills Competences Consortium, Europe e-Skills Competences vocational

Hugo Lueders, e-SCC Secretary General 1 26 May 2007, Genzano di Roma

Hugo LUEDERS e-Skills Competences Consortium, Europe

e-Skills Competences

vocational education and training: the call for multi-stakeholder partnerships

2nd IT STAR Workshop UNICTRY 2007 Universities and the ICT Industry


Multi-stakeholder Partnerships/MSPs Concept and Implementation

Two steps approach to present the e-skills challenge:

• The conceptual and political challenge:

Tunis WSIS outcome and the call for

“e-Skills Capacity Building” worldwide

• The implementation:

“European Alliance on Skills for Employability”


MSPs in the UN ICT4D context

• A multitude of ICT MSPs in international development

Partnerships between business, government and civil society are a growing feature of both industrial and emerging economies. Such MSPs are necessary because it is increasingly clear that no one sector in society alone can any longer deliver the complexities of sustainable development and education in the Information Society

• An abundant literature has emerged to prove this case (UN, WSIS, GKP/Bali principles, WEF, WBCSD, IBLF, ICC/Basis, ICWFD, etc.)

• The challenge is to apply the lessons learned on “e-Skills Capacity Building” for sustainable education and labour competences


WSIS follow up Towards a GAID e-Skills Agenda

Enable local undertakings to contribute to capacity building for the knowledge-based society, drawing fully on own sources and expertise

GAID ICT human capacity agenda elements

→ Cooperation between major actors: institutional, business and third sector (ICWFD, ICC, e-SCC, GKP, UNESCO, ILO, UNDP, EAEA, etc.)

→ Global network of multi-stakeholder partnerships to provide ICT training, multi-cultural competences and industry-based certs worldwide

→ MSPs in multiple forms can help to make a serious inroad into unemployment, and to foster Adult and Continuing Education (ACE), media literacy, professional ICT qualifications, knowledge and linguistic diversity

MSP process confirmed to deliver on the GAID skills and competence goals

How to deliver for university education in Europe?


The European Industry Approach to e-Skills Learning

What is the issue? Solve a real problem people have.

• To insure that e-skills solutions offered in universities and ACE have the credibility and standing to accurately validate the knowledge required for the ICT-embedded economy and society at large

• This is only achieved in the knowledge-based economy with industry participation and endorsement as well as development of a standard that meets the expectations of all stakeholders: industry, government and third sector ACE players, like universities and education partners

• MSPs to aggregate the various competences and resources of each stakeholder, business, public institutions, and third sector

How to achieve that – in an environment of constant and dramatic changes (Web 3.0 services mega-trends)?


Market-ready workforce through MSPs

Start: Existence of “parallel universes” between public or government- supported, VET/ACE education/training and industry-based e-skills training, validation and certifications (often not publicly endorsed)

Problem: Due to speed of tech development public education/training modules often lack professional qualifications in line with demand and new market trends (FLOSS assumed self-learning effects …)

Solution: MSPs identified as main tool to bridge “parallel universes” through integration/inclusion of industry-based certifications into traditional, State recognised training, and Portals/Frameworks

Outcome: MSPs ensure inroad into unemployment through VET/ACE qualifications that meet tech requirements in the society


Partnerships on three different levels

• Individual product cooperation

“Corner stone” cooperation between partners of various sectors to develop jointly industry-based curricula, certifications, and training material, either vendor-specific or vendor-neutral (example: “e-Security certifications”)

• Institutional partnerships

Strategic and other alliance-based partnerships through the whole ACE value-chain for content, training, and/or labour monitoring and placement

(examples incl. ETPs, LLs, CCs, Europ. Alliance on Skills for Employability)

• Associative interaction of social actors within the society at large

Constitutional pattern allowing for associative economics through financial autonomy and functional competence of social segments

(key: basic income through financial/fiscal support schemes)


The implementation: the “European Alliance on Skills for Employability”

Access to technology

Donation of software andnetworking equipment

& easier accessto computers

Access to certification

Access to work jobs monitoring &

placement

Link with demand

in the workplace,job monitoring

& support toplacement

Low or no feeaccess to certification,

test centers, (self-)certificate of

Completion, etc.

Access to training and content

Skills training grants for indiv., SMEs & NGOs etc. and provision of online content

Based on pre-selected target groups:unemployed, elder and disabled persons

MSP process: the e-skills access value chain


Goal of the Alliance on Skills for Employabilityto provide access to technology, access to content, and access to jobs to help train people in ICT and other skill-sets required by current and future economic and social developments (e.g. Web 3.0 and media competences!) Focus is on:- elder people in need for re-training- people with disabilities - young unemployedFounding members- CISCO, CompTIA, ECDL EXIN, Microsoft, Randstad, - State Street CorporationEU Member State Chapters- example: Belgium (with a multitude of local partners: Belgacom, Techno.bel, many NGOs, NPOs, etc.)

The Skills Employability Alliance VET/ACE goals, focus and partners


Different Roles of e-Skills Stakeholders

• The role of ICT industry training channels

To ensure that the VET/ACE performance standards and validation support ‘workability’ by closer alignment to industry requirements

• The role of academic and AL educational institutions

To ensure - beyond public needs of general ACE education goals – that learning offerings and credentials they confer remain relevant to industry and other stakeholders and the society at large • The role of governments and public institutions

To ensure a tech-neutral enabling environment to provide individuals with the opportunity to attain real valued workable e-skills through self-training or other VET learning modes


e-Skills Training Financial Support Schemes

• Financial Schemes: Better allocation of existing public resources to fund needed e-skills capacity building to leverage the existing knowledge, experience and energy of the commercial training market, and stimulate private investments to advance public goals in VET/ACE

• Global discussion on education and other basic income support schemes (US: “BIG”, “EITC”; Brasil: “Renda Basica”, Germany: “Grund- einkommen”, etc.) or other commons-based socially mutualised funding

• BI/BIGs and similar financial/fiscal schemes are tools to guarantee in the public/private education sector individual autonomy to select from various MSP (self-) training and e-skills certs/validation offerings

• Need for better insight into best practices of fiscal and other financial support schemes for e-skills training, incl. education vouchers, and training checks, Social Funds, BI/BIGs, tax credits, e-skills VET/ACE training support model laws, etc.


Summary Questions

• How to enhance public support and recognition and/or endorsement of industry-based e-skills training and validations to bridge formal and non-formal ICT education, self-training, diploma and certifications?

• How to provide urgently needed fiscal incentives or other forms of financial basic income support options, to encourage the pursuit of e-skills, in particular for VET/ACE, that are tested, recognized and certified?

• How to encourage EU Member States to remove any barriers in their funding for education and training that impede third sector actors and commercial trainers offering industry-based curricula and certifications?

• How to support and endorse multi-stakeholder networking that promotes e-skills capacity-building and partnerships throughout the learning value chain to ensure a range of choices?


References

Contact:

Hugo Lueders, Secretary General, e-SCC6, Rond Point Schuman, B - 1040 Brussels

tel: +32-2/234.78.22; mail: [email protected] web: www.e-scc.org and

www.e-scc.org/alliance/default.aspx

e-SCC issue paper on MSPs for skills:

www.e-scc.org/docs/PPP_eSkills_Forum_Final.doc

Documents

Hugo Lueders, e-SCC Secretary General 0 26 May 2007, Genzano di Roma Hugo LUEDERS e-Skills Competences Consortium, Europe e-Skills Competences vocational