On January 11th and 12th, an event took place in Rome at the Italy Office of the European Parliament and the Italy Representation of the European Commission, marking the official launch of the Erasmus+ Forward Looking Project «MASTERY – micro-credentials reliability unleashing green economy.»
SFC Sistemi Formativi Confindustria leads the partnership composed of 8 organizations from Italy, Bulgaria, Spain, Belgium, and Finland. The partnership includes industrial representatives, vocational education and training entities, research and innovation organizations for businesses, and an association of public administrations for sustainability. The partnership integrates high-level expertise for the development of sustainable economy pathways, active labor market policy development, public-private cooperation for ecological innovation, representing a network capable of directly managing the project’s impact and expanding the engaged network to forge new alliances for the global green economy.
The MASTERY project focuses on «micro-credentials,» certifications related to green skills that can meet the demand for the updating and requalification of professional profiles. It operates in close collaboration with the Research and Innovation, Training and Business worlds, as well as Public Administration. MASTERY aims to achieve the following objectives:
- Explore the high potential of micro-credentials to accelerate the requalification and updating processes of profiles already active in the labor market.
- Outline a methodology for the development of micro-credentials that can meet the joint needs of new business competencies, define standardized processes for micro-credential recognition through a shared path among policymakers, actors in the vocational training system, and the public and private ecosystem.
- Develop courses and certifications for 12 green competencies in micro-credentials to anticipate measures to counteract the skills shortage that the ecological transition has already triggered and that may become chronic in the coming years, considering the main demographic dynamics of the EU.
- Enhance the capacity of the vocational training system for inter-institutional dialogue, co-designing competencies, knowledge, and the development of training paths in line with the needs of the labor market and individual growth.
- Develop solutions for the issuance of transnationally validated micro-credentials in the 5 countries involved in the MASTERY project to support the green transition.
The sectors where the processes of definition, development, and transparency of MASTERY micro-credentials for the green transition will be experimented with are Agri-food, Construction, Wood, and Manufacturing through the development of Sustainable Management skills.
The two-day event program included the participation of two important speakers:
Ildiko Mazar, NTT DATA, Coordinator of the European Digital Credentials for Learning Team, presented a comprehensive framework on the topic of «digital credentials,» the fundamental aspects and characteristics of digital credentials for learning (EDC), and their impacts on the European Learning Model (ELM).
Francesca Calenne, Lazio Innova, Coordinator of the «LABORATORI DI MICROINNOVAZIONE» project, intervened as an associated partner of the project. The presentation allowed for the initial sharing of skills in which the Construction sector is investing for sustainable development.
The meeting concluded with the six-month project plan, with partners led by the Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna di Pisa for the development of emerging competencies framework for the green transition in MASTERY’s target sectors.
