Action: Education Programmes / Courses

SME involvement in master’s programme design: development of engagement models

Best practices SME involvment in master’s programme design: development of engagement models Users: Training Providers (Public) | Theme: Industry Engagement | Action: Education Programmes/Courses | Beneficiaries: Training Providers (Public), Training Providers (Private)   AI and Health aiandhealth.eu Baran Bayindir, CEO, Smart Lab Partner AI and Health offers a double master’s degree across France, Spain, Italy, and Sweden, integrating AI technologies into healthcare, biology and medicine. To ensure the quality and relevance of the content in such a dynamic field requires the involvement of domain experts and key industry actors. These actors can provide links to the latest advancements in the field and real-life use case that can be incorporated in the curriculum.   The challenge? A key challenge in the AI and Health programme was ensuring the early involvement of skilled talent and SMEs in the programme design. Delays in engaging industry actors hindered the ability to establish necessary operational steps and align academic content with real-world industry needs. Without early planning, maintaining SME participation and ensuring long-term programme effectiveness became difficult. Our solution Hands-on Training with Industry Experts: SMEs were actively involved in course creation, and industry professionals were integrated into the training staff, ensuring that content remained relevant to real-world applications in AI and healthcare. Integrated Micro-Credentials & Digital Certification: The programme was designed around micro-credentials and digital certification systems, enhancing industry recognition and promoting professional participation. Key takeaways Raise Awareness Through Events: Regularly host collaborative events bringing together academia and industry, in order to promote cross-sector engagement and help align academic programmes with industry needs. Prepare Engagement Models in Advance: Develop structured SME engagement models that introduce companies to study courses early. Allowing for better integration of industry requirements into the programme. Learn more here Submit your practice Case Summary– Context: Fit4internet is a non-profit initiative aimed at enhancing digital literacy across Austria. By using the Digital Competence Framework (DigComp AT), which identifies key components of digital competencies and aligns with European standards, Fit4internet helps individuals showcase their digital skills. The Fit4internet platform offers a way to track and prove digital competencies, helping with employability and ensuring that the Austrian workforce has the necessary ICT skills to meet market demands. Through the digital skills profile platform, the initiative supports both individual growth and the development of a digitally capable society.  Challenge: The challenge faced is managing proof of competencies acquired through various learning methods, including formal education, non-formal training, and informal certifications, which can lead to inconsistent records.  Securing sustainable funding to support the continuous development of new digital competencies, ensuring that programs remain up-to-date with evolving market needs. The second main challenge was fostering broad participation and engagement, especially among groups who may lack access to digital tools or education. Identified Approach / Solution: The Fit4internet platform provides a centralised, user-friendly system to manage and showcase digital competencies, aligning with the European Qualifications Framework (EQF). Through this platform, individuals can track and showcase their digital skills, making it easier for employers, educators, and organisations to assess their talent. The platform allows users to create an e-portfolio that showcases their digital skills, with the option to share it through a link or as a PDF. This portfolio highlights the digital competencies that a user has acquired, linked to their certificates. These certificates can be formal, non-formal, or informal. The platform also supports the generation of a digital skills profile that showcases the user’s acquired skills. Users earn digital badges as a visual representation of their skills. This allows them to continue with their learning journey, while showing off their competencies to others. Outcomes:       Key takeaways: Fit4internet engage multiple stakeholders from academia, industry, and policy to develop holistic and relevant digital competency frameworks. They also use widely applied frameworks to measure skills gaps, enabling better planning for individuals and institutions. By doing this they improve reinsertion rates into the labor force by addressing individuals digital skill gaps and aligning them with market needs. This benefits companies by providing clear insights into the skillsets that are being developed and that are available in the workforce.

Framework for competency-based evaluation of students in higher education

Designing content in higher education is often associated with a lack of agility. Universities create fixed curricula, following rigid schedules, which do not match market dynamics, but rather limit their adaptability to rapidly evolving digital skills requirements

MERIT has the task of creating an educational ecosystem, spanning across Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Italy and Spain to train digital specialists and improve the evaluation of different students or courses by matching study programmes to the skills produced.