Abstract:

At the end of 2020, the Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency approved the European Centre of Vocational Excellence in Microelectronics (ECoVEM) project (Erasmus+ Program). This CoVEs initiative defines an approach to excellence where 21 institutions from 7 countries participates directly, together with VET centres, polytechnic schools, industrial associations, social partners, who wish to establish a European cooperation, capable of rapidly adapting the supply of microelectronic skills to the economic evolution and social needs with synergies of the labour market. Furthermore, it aims to foster transnational collaborative platforms, that would be difficult for the project member countries to established on their own without EU funding, technical support, and mutual learning opportunities. ECoVEM will be part of the skills ecosystems, contributing to regional development, innovation, and inclusion, to address the challenges of digitalisation, artificial intelligence, green technologies, gender equality and technology, as well as the integration of migrants. Some regions of Europe, with many difficulties after COVID19 impact, cannot grow faster, due to the lack of skilled workers. ECoVEM deals specially with the virtual mobility of VET students and teachers, also developing internationalisation strategies to promote the real one. The education and training sectors, the scientific community, and the business sector, are called to be integrated in a Knowledge Triangle that, as a project result, will be the ECoVEM action plan for Business-Science-Education Cooperation (BSE) in microelectronics sector. This action plan aims to define the directions and activities for strengthening vocational education and training, as a facilitator of improvement and recycling, sustainable development, digitization, and resilience. This plan is based on the good practices of BSE, compiled by all project partners, and it has been developed during 2021, as a milestone of the ECoVEM Platform. This Platform includes a Network of VET centres, companies, science parks and social partners, and it has been created to share ideas, methodologies, and experiences, towards vocational excellence in microelectronics and related sectors, incorporating innovative learning methodologies (ecosystems-based models, performance support systems), job-related and work-based training, joint research, and development projects. SEMI-Europe, a project partner settled in Germany, is the one who is in charge of this BSE task, since it is an association of over 2.100 companies related to technology and business of electronics that manufacture worldwide. Therefore, it will be able to bring together the large European companies in the sector. Nevertheless, all the partners are supposed to contribute to this important task, and especially the ones who composes Work Group 4, integrated by VET centres, companies, and science parks. BSE plan is designed especially for joint R&D projects, work-based training and apprenticeship, including research trainingship, exchange of laboratory equipment, participation of companies’ staff in teaching-training processes, and providing training material to the HRD departments at SMEs.
It will also advise that European and National institutions involves themselves with financing instruments, so VET becomes a real responsive tool to economic challenges, and support and promote the transition to a more circular and greener economy, green skills, and sustainable development in the microelectronic sector. BSE plan, aims to improve the availability of the workforce in the resulting partnership, providing potential investors with the opportunity to train the desired employees they really required.

Keywords:

VET governance, Microelectronics, Business-Science-Education Cooperation, Digitalisation, Green Skills.