ERASMUS+ | BuildSkills Academy: Academy for Transitional Skills in the Build Environment

Project summary:

The construction sector, a major employer in Europe, has a significant environmental, societal, and economic impact and is identified as a priority for the twin transition and achievement of a resource-efficient and competitive economy. The sector faces major challenges in attracting young and skilled workers as well as in re-skilling and upskilling of the active workforce. Knowledge gaps and evolving market needs towards transitional skills and competencies emerge all over Europe while the VET systems in the different MSs are slow in the introduction of these skills into their offerings. Additionally, the competence recognition frameworks remain segmented in the MSs with no mutual standard for certification of transitional skills.

The Academy for Transitional Skills in the Built Environment (BuildSkills Academy) financed under the Erasmus+ program, and co-financed by the European Union, will respond to these needs and will support the skills ecosystems to drive the twin transition by developing a transnational cooperation platform of CoVEs, aiming to foster VET excellence for the construction sector.

By uniting 17 educational, industrial, and exploitation partners from 7 EU countries (BG, CY, GR, IT, LT, DE, FR), 2 associated countries (Serbia and Norway) and 1 country not associated to the program (Bosnia and Herzegovina) the BuildSkills Academy will design and roll-out:

• BuildEnrichedSkills methodology and a procedure for adaptation of learning provision which will serve for VET centers in Europe to adapt their offerings more quickly and to prepare workers for the digital and green transition in occupations of high demand.
• Certification framework for recognition of these skills and competences – a world-class reference for improvement and certification of VET provision

These outcomes will be transferred to 6 pilots covering 300 trainees and exploited to reach out to 100 VET providers, 1000 companies and 20 high-level organizations in the construction skills ecosystem realizing 100 VET-industry cooperations for vocational excellence.

Project website

Duration: 48 months – Start date 1 June 2023 – End date 31 May 2027

Budget:  € 3 938 490.00

37 partners

Coordinated by KLIYNTEH BULGARIA

Partnership: Athens University of Economics and Business – Research Center, AUEB-RC – GREECE

Work package WP2 – Design and verification of the BuildEnrichedSkills methodology: Lead Beneficiary AUEB

Objectives:

• Identification of the essential and optional skills, competencies and knowledge in specific occupations based on the taxonomy for green skills of ESCO
• Integration of those skills and competencies with the activities and initiatives planned in the S3 and NRRPs for backing up the recovery with a trained workforce and proactively co-shape innovation and growth
• Establishment of strong quality assurance mechanisms compliant with the EQAVET framework
• Design of the BuildEnrichedSkills methodology for boosting the provision of labour market-relevant skills including those necessary for the green and digital transitions in a lifelong continuum approach through enrichment of existing VET offerings with new offers on reskilling and upskilling
• Creation of new knowledge in partnership with a wide range of stakeholders
• Establishment of effective feedback loops through verification of the strategic fit and industrial relevance of the methodology
• Development of procedure for timely adaptation of learning provision to evolving labour market needs