IC2015
- 2. IC 2015, Calipoly CIGN: Putting benchmarking into practice Luk Bouters, Jörg Westbomke, Tommie Nyström, Robert Sutter, Gillian Mothersill
- 3. IC 2015, Calipoly CIGN = Creative Industries Global Network This presentation will • Introduce CIGN (partners, objectives) • Inform you about the results of report 1a • Update you on the latest re EU policy and action on skills identification A second presentation will • Present the results of report 1b
- 4. ICERI 2014, Seville CIGN pools the expertise from 5 different HEIs and countries • Linköping University (Sweden) • Ryerson University (Canada) • Stuttgart Media University(Germany) • University College Artevelde (Belgium) • University of the West of Scotland (UK)
- 5. ICERI 2014, Seville CIGN = Creative Industries Global Network This three-years, Erasmus+-funded project aims at: • Bringing the worlds of education, employment and training together; • Furthering professionalization of staff of HEIs; • And promoting a more effective use of information technologies by HEIs
- 6. ICERI 2014, Seville How will CIGN help the project partners? Benchmarking! Benchmarking is not ranking! Benchmarking refers to a co-operative effort to identify best practices (e.g. evaluation of internships, language teaching) and to create a conducive environment for peer learning. Benchmarking will help us to detect and share the best practices inside and outside the country.
- 7. ICERI 2014, Seville How can CIGN help us/you? Three main areas of activity: 1. Identification of sectoral gaps and new competences needed. Report 1a&b 2. Development of new curricula, learning methodologies (blended learning materials). Forthcoming (year 2); 3. Assessment of skills and quality enhencement of the learning programmes (year 3).
- 8. ICERI 2014, Seville 1. Identification of sectoral gaps and new competences needed. • Report 1a focuses on EU policy in the area of skills identification; • Report 1b presents national reports on skills identification in the CIGN-partner countries; • Report 1a: details in a forthcoming article.
- 9. ICERI 2014, Seville Report 1a – some general observations • This report focuses on the increasingly vital link between shifting technological trends, labour market activity and the skills demands; • New functional and professional profiles are often already (long) in existence before the related skills are formally defined by official bodies; • The question of up-skilling the workforce became central and acute when Europe’s economic competitiveness became at risk;
- 10. ICERI 2014, Seville Report 1a – some general observations • Today, even after years of recession, it is clear that it is not possible to predict the future (skills) precisely. Despite this, many broad trends continue, in particular the shift towards a more knowledge-based, automated and service- oriented economy. • Particularly, the media design and production sector = dynamic sector was/is in constant need of up- or reskilling;
- 11. ICERI 2014, Seville Report 1a - specific • the report describes • the transformation of the skills portfolio as the print sector evolved into the Creative Industries; • the establishment of various councils to come to a more structural and concerted approach in assessing skills needs; • And the EU’s efforts to introduce a more standardized, uniform and systematic approach in data gatering on future skills need in the EU.
- 12. ICERI 2014, Seville Report 1a - specific • There has been a shift in the objectives of identifying future (technical) skill needs for manpower planning to more general assessment of skills needs to inform all labour market participants; • Today, most countries have some kind of data collection system to monitor the labour market and the required skills but they vary greatly in levels of sophistication, organisation and detail, However, the national systems cannot exchange information
- 13. ICERI 2014, Seville Report 1a - specific • So diversity rules, but all have one common objective: to improve the match between labour demand and supply; • But the fact remains: not all job vacancies are filled because industry and education do not always understand each other.
- 14. ICERI 2014, Seville Report 1a – specific • There is a growing demand and petition for anticipation systems at pan-European level to deliver comparable data on future (skills) challenges across Europe • In response to this, the EU Commission supports the setting up of European and National Sector Skills Councils designed to anticipate the need for skills in specific sectors more effectively and achieve a better match between skills and labour market needs.
- 15. ICERI 2014, Seville • Only very recently have the specialized HEIs and their international network been more actively and systematically involved in this process. • Regarding the sector of print media design and production, the International Circle has been invited to represent the HEIs
- 16. ICERI 2014, Seville Report 1a – the context • To complement these quantitative forecasts, the European Commission has also published a series of studies on emerging competences and future needs. These cover 18 economic sectors, and provide a transversal analysis of the evolution in skills needs in the selected sectors, taking into account their global, national and regional contexts. Again the aim is to anticipate possible changes in jobs and skills needs up to 2020; • One of these sector is the print and publishing sector
- 17. ICERI 2014, Seville Report 1a – key messages • Some international organisations such as Cedefop has begun to fill the need for skill needs anticipation on a continuous basis; • Demands for generic and key /core skills to meet labour market needs will remain a significant feature; • But education is not just about employment and jobs; • It is about giving people a real chance of influencing and shaping their lives
- 18. ICERI 2014, Seville Report 1a – the future - The implementation of policy recommendations and action plans still remains the most difficult point; - Who’s paying the bill? There are a number of European Commission ‘s programmes or funds which provide support for a range of actions related to anticipation of skill needs and to the transfer of results into policy and practice. - e.g. Erasmus+ - promotes the establishment of sector skills alliances; - aims at delivering transnational (lower and higher) VET curricula and joint degrees; - Supports capacity building and networking of HEIs.
- 19. ICERI 2014, Seville Report 1a – the future - As HEIs and other training institutions are tapping into these funds and are gearing up to better respond to the skills demands from industry and to the personal preference of students for new media applications, the supply of formal qualifications is also rising rapidly. - Not withstanding this, the development of new training programmes takes more time and resources than made available through EU- or national funding. But when the available qualifications lag too far behind, companies react quickly and take the lead in developing further training of their staff themselves.
- 20. ICERI 2014, Seville Where is CIGN now? • End of phase I; • On the basis of the skills gaps identified, educational programmes will be developed adopting blended learning methodologies • Need more info? http://cign-education.eu/
- 21. • Personal view: Many policy makers are still more concerned with trying to control and micro manage educational and training systems, rather that helping to ensure that they work effectively. Education and training systems need the capacity to cope with rapid changes, but this may be best achieved by allowing decisions to made at a more micro level rather than trying to do everything from the top down • Difference US/Canada and Europe: former data more as guidance rather than a way to control/manage the education process
- 22. • Ideally it is desirable to embed forecast activities into a wider context by involving the various stakeholders (including teaching staff, employers, etc).However, in most Member States there are no clearly articulated views among employers about what kind of employees they need in the future, and what skills are necessary for further developments of their companies. Another problem is the lack of overall national strategy on the development of the economy in most countries. Therefore, there is often no agreement on what sectors are the most important for future development, nor on what the necessary skills are.
- 23. • Although the necessity to integrate the changing skills needs of the labour market into LLL is recognised and accepted by all stakeholders and partners, developing new qualifications takes time and resources. When integration is lagging behind, sectors react quickly and lead the work on further training of their staff themselves.
- 24. • helping to develop the education and training sector generally across Europe. This includes networking, knowledge sharing and discussions about different anticipation methodologies and approaches in different countries and at different levels, building a more comprehensive system for anticipation by experts, using existing (European) forecasts as a starting point .
Editor's Notes
- #3: I would like to talk to you about CIGN and how this project is attempting to bring benchmarking into practice
- #5: To this end, CIGN pools
- #6: Given its grandiose title, the aim of the project mustbe very ambitious. And indeed it is: it <will attempt to put benchmarking into practice.
- #7: Benchmarking will play a key role in this. University rankings are seductive, simple methods to award a score. On the basis of this score a list is drawn and a position is assigned.
- #10: Structural changes rock our society and economies and creates a constant demand for new competences and functional profiles
- #12: They do not speak to each other, no common language
- #13: They do not speak to each other, no common language
- #14: They do not speak to each other, no common language
- #18: Evolation: from technical skills to more generic skills, but still only from a company pointof view . But people are not only going to university because they can to be ready for work, for a company, they would like to develop themselves als a person, Now more: attuning the aspirations and objctives of a company with the personal development aspirations of the employee
- #19: As noted earlier, the old fashioned idea of mechanistic “manpower planning” has been rejected. But this does not mean that it is not important still to try to anticipate the way things are changing. However, such work should be regarded as providing broad guidance rather than precise predictions. As emphasised in the introduction, it is notable that the USA , one of the most market orientated economies in the world, devotes more resources to skills anticipation activity than anywhere else. This is not based on the idea of trying to predict precisely where training efforts should be focused. Rather, the aim is to provide detailed LMI, including forecasts, to all labour market participants (potential students, as well as education and training providers) to ensure that they are well informed about the choices they face. It is left to individuals and education and training institutions to make their own choices and decisions rather than imposing things from the top down.
- #20: As noted earlier, the old fashioned idea of mechanistic “manpower planning” has been rejected. But this does not mean that it is not important still to try to anticipate the way things are changing. However, such work should be regarded as providing broad guidance rather than precise predictions. As emphasised in the introduction, it is notable that the USA , one of the most market orientated economies in the world, devotes more resources to skills anticipation activity than anywhere else. This is not based on the idea of trying to predict precisely where training efforts should be focused. Rather, the aim is to provide detailed LMI, including forecasts, to all labour market participants (potential students, as well as education and training providers) to ensure that they are well informed about the choices they face. It is left to individuals and education and training institutions to make their own choices and decisions rather than imposing things from the top down.
- #21: This presentation comes with an article which will be published in the conference handbook. In this article you will find more information on the context and the project objectives
- #24: But policy makers are still loath to “let go” and the tendency to try to plan from the top down remains strong