Call: Sector Skills Alliances

Erasmus+ will provide opportunities for over 4 million Europeans to study, train, gain work experience and volunteer abroad.

Erasmus+ will support transnational partnerships among Education, Training, and Youth institutions and organisations to foster cooperation and bridge the worlds of Education and work in order to tackle the skills gaps we are facing in Europe.

It will also support national efforts to modernise Education, Training, and Youth systems. In the field of Sport, there will be support for grassroots projects and cross-border challenges such as combating match-fixing, doping, violence and racism.

Erasmus+ brings together seven existing EU programmes in the fields of Education, Training, and Youth; it will for the first time provide support for Sport. As an integrated programme, Erasmus+ offers more opportunities for cooperation across the Education, Training, Youth, and Sport sectors and is easier to access than its predecessors, with simplified funding rules.

• Strategic Partnerships in the field of education, training and youth;
• Knowledge Alliances;
• Sector Skills Alliances;
• Capacity Building in the field of higher education;
• Capacity Building in the field of youth.

Sector Skills Alliances are transnational projects, which are based on trends in a particular industry and on the skills required for the pursuit of one or more professional activities.

These alliances should develop and use joint programs for training as well as education and training methods. Of particular importance is the adoption of work-based learning process in teaching the skills required by labor market.

In addition, the Sector Skills Alliances should set instruments for an EU-wide recognition in practice.

Under this action, eligible sectors are those that have skills shortages, which are to be overcome with the current activities of the Commission:

• Production Technology
• Trading
• Information and communication technology
• Environmental technologies (eco-innovation)
• Cultural and creative sectors
• Health care
• Tourism

If two or more proposals obtain the same number of points and the available resources are insufficient to fund all proposals, proposals from companies / industries that have set up a European sectoral competence council will have a priority.

Sector Skills Alliances bear the following essential characteristics:

• Innovations in vocational education and training, in different sectors and in relevant professional profiles.
• Sustainable effects on the duration of a project and on theorganizations participating in the alliance. It is expected that the partnerships and the activities will be continued. The changes in the training institutions and in different sectors or with respect to different professional profiles must be measurable. Results and solutions must be transferable and  made accessible to a wider audience.

• Results of Sector Skills Alliances should be provided in the EU-skills panorama for further use.
• Alliances Sector Skills must demonstrate commitment and added value of all the partners.
• The partners should be representative of that sector, at least at the national level, and  to have experience and expertise in the field of training and in terms of forecasts of qualification needs and the provision of necessary skills at European level.
• The description of future skills needs should be optionally supported by available studies/analysis, which show what are the demands of the labor market in the sector concerned. If there are no studies/analysis performed, a research institute which is familiar with the sector concerned, must be consulted. In carrying out the educational activities and in the development of qualification standards based on a uniform European vocational profile (see ESCO), partners must take into account the results of the studies/analysis.
• The Alliance should then translate these results into innovative, goal-oriented learning curriculum support (using the ECVET) and quality assurance mechanisms (in accordance with the EQAVET).
• The alliance must ensure fully  or at least ensure a high probability that the new or adapted skills and qualifications are recognized in all countries and sectors of the alliance.
• Career- and vocational guidance services should be regarded as "facilitators" with regional or local bodies support the coordination of skills and curricula through the planning of curricula for vocational education to make vocational schools, young learners or their parents on certain professions attentive and on certain to inform professions that are needed in the labor market in particular.
• Sector Skills Alliances  are the activities proposed to carry out so that maximum impact in the respective industry and the professions in question is achieved.

Eligible activities:
Description of requirements for industry-specific skills and training

1. If necessary, recording and evaluation of established competency requirements in the labor market in a particular sector on the basis of an EU Skills Panorama and possibly the work of European sectoral skills councils;
2. Identification of the need for training opportunities, possibly on the basis of the professional profiles of the European Classification of Skills / Competences, Qualifications and Occupations (ESCO).

Development of common curricula

• Development of sector-specific curricula, programs for training and possibly qualification standards related to general competence requirements of the industry and/ or on a European job profile at EU level, possibly based on the European Classification of Skills / Competences, Qualifications and Occupations;
• Consideration of competence or professional profiles in the design of curricula and training programs as well as qualification standards.
• Orientation of the above activities to the learning objectives (use of ECVET, etc.) and taking into account the principles of quality assurance (eg EQAVET.);
• Consideration of innovative teaching and learning approaches, in particular through more strategic and integrated use of ICT and free teaching and learning materials (OER) and by the inclusion of possibilities for practical application of knowledge in the specific work environment (work-related learning) and the development of entrepreneurial approaches

Implementation of common curricula

• Implementation of industry-specific curricula at EU level that have been adjusted according to an analysis and based on forecasts of the requirements of the labor market for a particular job profile or a new one;
• Use of innovative teaching and learning methods in the field of vocational training, taking account the evolving skills requirements and/ or specific target groups in an industry (ICT-based content, services and methods, training at the workplace, etc.);
• Easier recognition and certification of the respective learning outcomes through application of the principles of the European Credit System for VET (ECVET), the European Reference Framework for Quality Assurance in Vocational Education and Training (EQAVET) and possibly with reference to the NQF or by any other relevant European instruments in the sector concerned.

Partnership:

A Sector SkillsAlliance  must meet all the following requirements:

1. Among all countries covered, a Sector Skills alliance  must have at least three full partners and at least  one of each of the categories listed below.

2. Sector Skills Alliances  must include at least three Programme countries.

3. If a Sector Skillsalliance includes more than three of the minimum required countries, every other country must have at least three full partner in each of the categories listed below.

The following categories of institutions must be involved in the set  Sector Skills Alliances :

1. Public or private organizations which offer vocational training:

E.g.  as training networks / schools to vocational training, vocational training centers, inter-company training centers, companies with more than 250 employees which have their own training department, in particular companies, in which a course can be completed, or companies, which have joint trainings (Composite Training) Higher education institutions with offers for vocational education.

2. Public or private bodies with sector-specific experience, which are representative of one or within one particular sector at regional, national or European level:

E.g. social partners, European industry or professional associations on workers or employers , chambers of commerce and craft associations, institutions of cultural and creative sectors, competence centers or councils, economic development agencies, research centers.

3. Public or private entities with oversight for local, regional or national systems of education and training:

E.g. public vocational training bodies, accreditation-, certification- or qualification- bodies, career guidance-, counseling- and information centers.

2 or 3 years

In exceptional cases, the term can be extended by up to six months at the request of the beneficiary and with the approval of the Executive Agency. However, the extension will have no impact on the overall level of funding.

Eligible costs:

    Maximum EU funding for a two-year Sector Skills Alliance : 500 000 €

    Maximum EU funding for a three-year knowledge alliance: 1.4 million €

Support of project implementation: contribution to the costs of activities directly  related to the implementation of the project  (except built-in mobility activities); e.g.: project management, project meetings, intellectual services (curricula, teaching materials, free teaching and learning materials (OER), IT tools, analyzes, studies, etc.), dissemination of results, participation in events and conferences, travel, etc. Calculation of the EU contribution is based on the number of days and the profile of personnel from each country. Between 47 € and 353 € / day depending on the partner country and function.

Traveling expenses:

• Distances between 100 and 1999 km: 275 € / participant and travel
• Distances between 2000 km and more: 360 € / participant and travel

Subsistence costs:

• Personal activities
  • until the 14th day of the activity: 100 € per participant and day
  • between the 15th and 60th day of the activity: 70 € per participant and day
• Learning Activities
  • until the 14th day of the activity: 55 € per participant and day
  • between the 15th and 60th day of the activity: 40 € per participant and day