Abstract:

One of the main goals of Erasmus+ projects is the development of competences through participation in international mobility of pupils, teachers, students, academics, professionals and youth workers, as well as through implementation of innovative, inter-institutional transnational cooperation projects and strategic partnerships. Education systems became one of the spheres most severely affected by the outbreak of Covid 19 pandemic, and the international dimension of education, including the activities within Erasmus+, were significantly hindered.

Even so, not all project activities were limited. Many were altered to the online work environment, however, the pace of this change was very challenging. The international cooperation activities within Erasmus+ Programme had to be adapted almost instantly, to truly new conditions. Such abrupt shift required that the project leaders have a set of unique competences and skills, often referred to as the 4.0 competences. They are believed to be indispensable for persons holding executive positions, regardless of the activity field, and are highly expected while performing complex managerial tasks.

This paper discusses the results of the research on the role of 4.0 competences in the implementation of projects under Erasmus+ Programme, in the context of uncertain times caused by the outbreak of the global Covid-19 pandemic. The aim was to study whether those competences are able to empower Erasmus+ project leaders in sustaining their international cooperation in the times of global crisis, widespread online learning and common project disruption or cancellation.

Based on the authors’ own study on 990 education project coordinators, who were completing their projects tasks during the peak of pandemic in Poland in 2020, the following 4.0 competences were defined as the crucial ones: managerial, digital, social and cognitive competence. Those competences form a foundation of modern management, which also have evolved alongside with changes in the social and technical environment, and due to times of pandemic crisis became a genuinely challenging task.

In the article, the above-mentioned competences are examined in order to estimate their influence on projects’ sustainability and chances for successful completion, despite the external obstructions.

The research demonstrated that Erasmus+ project coordinators have a relatively high level of 4.0 competences, especially with respect to digital and technical skills (4.33 on 1-5 scale) and cognitive competences (3.96). What is more, the Erasmus+ project leaders with higher digital competence seemed to be more efficient in the implementation, management and sustainability of their projects.

Finally, the authors are addressing the issue of other factors which may facilitate the implementation, management and sustainability of Erasmus+ projects in uncertain times, which are: the project budget, number of partners in the project, personal engagement of the leader and leaders’ age.

As a conclusion, the authors show that project leaders’ high 4.0 competences might constitute a sort of protective shield for functioning in a globalized, digitalized and drastically changing environment, which demands from people fast and effective adaptation to new challenges. Finally, in the study Erasmus+ international education projects are referred to as temporary organisations, whose leaders are required to perform similarly to those coming from the business background.

Keywords:

Competences 4.0, Erasmus+ project, project management, project sustainability, Covid-19, international cooperation.