Abstract:

The “Equality, Diversity, Inclusion For improving the qualitY of Management EDUcation, training and professions” (EDIFY-EDU) is a three-year project co-funded by the ERASMUS+ Programme of the European Union. Its main aim is to address the skills gap of undergraduate business management education in regards to competencies on Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) principles by developing a suite of micro credential courses. Its first general objective is the identification of EDI relevant skills considered strategic for the new millennium, including digital, green and social skills.

In order to achieve this, a specific research methodology was developed already at the proposal phase to identify the training needs. This methodology included both desk research and primary research involving focus groups and in-depth interviews with key stakeholders at national level. It was applied by each national team, which was strategically formed to include both a Higher Education Institution (HEI) and a Labour market partner in order to get an holistic overview coming from main stakeholders. Based on the results produced with this bottom-up approach that involves both education and industry stakeholders, the EDIFY-EDU consortium will design a Curriculum outline, followed by a Massive Open Online Course-MOOC (EQF 5), a Specialisation Training Course (EQF 6), and a Work-based learning phase and learning abroad mobilities, which will take place in the next project stages.

The main aim of the desk research was exactly to map the training provisions on EDI in each participating country, both by formal education and continuous education and training providers, in order to identify the most relevant learning objectives and competences and then to also map them towards the established European frameworks of LifeComp, EntreComp and DigComp. Furthermore, a Social Impact Assessment of national and European market policies was conducted, in order to expose gaps in relation to workplace EDI resulting from national labour market profiles when compared with their EDI labour market policies. Lastly, the Higher Education Institutions and labour market partners worked together to identify key stakeholders to participate in interviews and focus groups. The target has been to reach at least 10 interviews and 4 focus groups per country following the specific methodological guidelines that have been developed in the project’s framework.

At this phase, all research activities have been implemented in the five national contexts of the EDIFY-EDU project partners, that is, Finland, Germany, Greece, Ireland and Italy. Each national team has thus included both a Higher Education Institution (HEI) and a Labour market partner, and all research activities followed established ethical approved procedures.

All the data gathered have been feeding five, same-structured, National reports, which are being comparatively analyzed in one final report at European level, that is expected to be evaluated by experts in an open Seminar in Finland on September 2023 and then released online to the public.

This paper aims to present in more detail, the methodological design of the EDIFY-EDU project, the main outcomes derived from its implementation thus far, and some basic results and conclusions on the University-Industry cooperation that is taking place on its framework.

Keywords:

Equality, diversity, inclusion, business management, business education, business training, research methodology, University-Industry cooperation.