Best practices

Success and challenges in designing industry-oriented master’s programmes

Users: Industry, SMEs | Theme: Programme Development | Action: Education Programmes/Courses | Beneficiaries: SMEs, Industry, Labour Force (Employed)

Digital4Business

digital4business.eu

Michael Bradford, Assistant Professor in Computing, National College of Ireland

Digital4Business (D4B) is an enterprise-led master’s programme, co-created by companies and universities. It aims to minimise the skills gap in SMEs by upskilling business leaders, professionals, and graduates with advanced digital knowledge.
 
The companies involved in the development of this master’s identify where their biggest skill gaps are, and design it with advancement in these areas as the ultimate goal.
 
Due to the industry involvement and focus, felxibility and agility are essential in all aspects of programme development. This includes content creation, accreditation/certification, and logistics (recruitment and enrolment management, course delivery, mobility coordination).

The challenge?

Securing joint accreditation across multiple countries created a significant challenge, as it required coordination and diverted resources from programme design.
 
Additionally, the development of a centralised digital platform for enrolment, fee management, and course delivery introduced technical complexities, necessitating interoperability, data security, and GDPR compliance.
 
Lastly, ensuring smooth student mobility proved complex due to differences in credit transfers, ECTS allocation, and varying academic calendars, all of which required coordination among institutions.

Our solution

Formalised Collaborative Agreements: D4B establised a Cooperation Agreement between project partners, along with standardised joint academic quality assurance (QA) processes and procedures to ensure consistency across institutions.
 
Centralised Digital Platform: D4B created an integrated online system for programme delivery and administration, including applications, enrolment, registration, and fee management.
 
Facilitated Student Mobility and Credit Recognition: D4B managed ECTS allocation, credit transfers, and academic schedules to accommodate both part-time and full-time students.

Key takeaways

  1. Ensure Team Cohesion: Open communication and structured collaboration are maintained through regular meetings and workshops at both consortium and work-package levels, this alignment promotes transparency.
  2. Create Targeted Workgroups: Dedicated workgroups address specific challenges by bringing together experts from different areas, ensuring focused problem-solving.
  3. Build Transnational Networks: Strong professional connections are fostered by engaging alumni, faculty, and industry organisations, facilitating knowledge exchange, enhancing employability, and supporting long-term collaboration.
Learn more here

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.