"CONTEXT/BACKGROUND OF THE UBAC PROJECTAccording to the United Nations Population Fund, by 2030 this number will swell to almost 5 billion. In 2011 the EU Commission published the White Paper ""Roadmap to a Single European Transport Area – Towards a competitive and resource efficient transport system“, setting the goal of “achieving essentially CO2 free city logistics in major urban centres by 2030”. In order to reduce negative impacts of urban freight distribution activities many EU cities have been established or plan to establish new regulations regarding urban logistics. Some of these regulations have a direct impact on freight traffic organization or in the used transport vehicles.Urban freight transport ensures that consumers and business establishments have the right goods, in the right place, at the right time and in perfect condition. This is an essential ingredient for the vitality of our cities. Urban-courier job plays a particularly important role in this value chain, without it there is not delivery.For a long time this job have been unrecognized and without status. Furthermore companies suffer a shortage of skilled and competent urban-couriers able to face job and environment evolutions.Additionally VET systems in Member States related to transport and logistics need to be improved and become more transparent and more modular so that they can address specific knowledge shortages, up-skilling needs and recognition of vocational qualifications.If urban freight flows are increasing and if there is a need for more and more urban-couriers then it will be possible to make from urban logistics a springboard for employment. Urban-courier job function is not well studied and understood as well as there is lack of appropriate trainings in particular in III EQF level. Certifications for this job are either absent or heterogeneous. They are diverse and don't take into account the required today's skills, by doing this they don't answer to the needs both of employers and life long learning. UBAC PROJECT OBJECTIVES• To build a common training program based on the logic of the European Qualifications Framework, promoting transparency, transferability and recognition of competences and learning outcomes firstly between project partners and then for all countries wishing to join the process initiated by this project.• To design a modular training program for urban-courier job based on business needs and taking into account the employees working conditions improvement. • To provide a modular training course for urban-courier job tailored to business needs and in accordance of employees working conditions.NUMBER & PROFILE OF PARTICIPANTSFour partners form the project consortium. Their complementarity and representativeness ensure:• Cooperation between different complementary skills: knowledge of the transport and logistics industry and targets; teaching expertise and engineering training skills in the production of standards; expertise in project coordination and transnational partnerships.• The complementary points of view, expressing specific national or sectoral, social, economic and educational particularities.DESCRIPTION OF ACTIVITIES• Design of common urban-courier professional profile • Profile task and activities identification• Consultation of the social partners and relevant organizations in the design of curricula. • Creating certification framework EQF level III• Defining weighting criteria specification• Creating training scenarios• Modules content translation (where relevant)• Verification and validation of training contents with companies.• Defining the evaluation criteria for each learning outcome • Operationalization assessment protocolsMETHODOLOGY TO BE USED IN CARRYING OUT THE UBAC PROJECTThe project will use the working methodology developed in a previous transfer of innovation project called CENTRAL as well as following the ECVET principles create ""Certification framework"" and training programs related to the urban-courier job.EXPECTED UBAC PROJECT RESULTS• Common urban-courier profile definition• Common urban-courier framework• Urban-courier training program design• Urban-courier module content design• Urban-courier training sets• Assessment protocol definition and deployment guidelinesIMPACT ENVISAGED & POTENTIAL LONGER TERM BENEFITS• An explicit and clearly identifiable certification, built with the aim of matching the certification and evolution as well as development of the ""urban-courier"" job.• Professionalization of urban-courier job in accordance with the requirements specifically expressed in EQF level III by transport & logistics companies.• Point of reference for the life long learning taking into account of the diversity of individual pathways for acquiring own skills in the transport & logistics sector (initial training, continuing education, validation of learning outcomes).• Modular training content regarding urban-courier job."

CONTEXT OF THE PROJECTThe demand for jobs in the Transport & Logistics sector(s) which require ever increasing levels of qualification is growing. Additionally, national dynamics tend to extend to the European level: standardisation and certification, cooperation and coordination through social dialogue and exchange of common approaches, tools, and standards across different fields and Member States.OBJECTIVESThe ETL4ALL project (European transparent Transport and Logistics EQF level 4 qualifications for All) responds to these developments by ensuring that Transport & Logistics EQF (European Qualifications Framework) level 4 qualifications are available in the four partner countries (France, Belgium, Italy and Spain) and by making them compatible with the European Credit System for Vocational Education and Training (ECVET) to allow recognised mobility at EQF level 4.NUMBER AND PROFILE OF THE PARTICIPATING ORGANISATIONS•AFT (France) – coordinator of the project : Professional association in the transport and logistics sector•Le FOREM (Belgium) : Public Service for Employment and Training in Wallonia•CCGPE (Belgium) : Department of the Ministry in charge of secondary education (Federation Wallonia-Brussels) •GENCAT (Spain) : Government of Catalonia – Regional Ministry of Education•ITL (Italy) : Research institute in the fields of mobility, transport & logistics DESCRIPTIONS OF THE MAIN ACTIVITIES CARRIED OUT To reach its objectives, the first step was the development of shared references at EQF level 4 that are accepted and validated by all the partners of the project for the two profiles: transport and logistics and road freight driver. The second step was the drafting of concrete mobility tools to support learner mobility such as quality charters for training centres and companies hosting learners, the selection of training centres which will test and implement our results to organise recognised mobility and a template for the description of their organisation, as well as a learning agreement template.RESULTS AND REACHED IMPACTSDevelopment of shared references at EQF level 4 in transport and logistics and for the road freight driver:•National reports on the existing job profiles•Common job profiles corresponding to EQF level 4 •Occupational standards corresponding to EQF level 4•Competence standards for EQF level 4 qualifications in transport and logistics •Knowledge limitsDevelopment of mobility tools which have been adopted by NETINVET:•Quality charter for training centres•Quality charter for companies hosting trainees •Learning agreement template to support mobilityCreation of a network of training centres and schools ready to test our results and to implement recognised mobility at EQF level 4 in transport and logistics and for the road freight driver.Integration of these training centres and schools in the existing mobility network NETINVET. NETINVET is a mobility network of more than 70 training centres and schools from eight European countries. Mutual trust has been established to make learners mobile in the sectors of International Trade and Transport & Logistics.

The project fits the national and EU strategies for Vocational Education and Training (VET), enhancing the dual system through a closer collaboration between the business system and the Educational one, and widening the use of a work based learning approach. It must be considered that the 7 project partners are an institute of research (ITL - IT), a secondary school (CPIP - SP), a training centre (CIFPA - SP), a university (Antwerp - BE), a company (Freight Village of Parma - IT), a sectoral association (AFT - FR), and a society for technologies and communication (Poliedra - IT). Moreover, are up to 10 the organizations (companies, schools, public authorities) that have already proven their support to the project. Despite its ancient military origin, only today logistics (the sector addressed by this project) has been recognized as fundamental element for business competitiveness, but also as a pillar for the economic, environmental and social sustainability, and its introduction in the education and training system it is someway recent, therefore to be enhanced. For this reasons, the project aims to realize six simulation tools, addressing the main sectoral fields, that replicate the operational procedures of these areas, in order to allow to students and trainees the carrying out of the practical, typical and daily tasks that they will have to implement on the job. The main objective is clearly to facilitate dei job inclusion of these medium-high skilled professional profiles (4th and 5th EQF level in particular), reducing the gap between training and education, with their more traditional and theorical methodologies, and the practical business operativity. The tools will be realized in close collaboration with those working and operational contexts that they will replicate. Products will be the complementary element of the current VET courses and will benefits for the attraction that such ICT tools have in respect of the younger generations, as they will be realized as videogames with different scenarios, scores and stages, matching the uses and the today technologies, especially for youth. As mentioned, tools will be referred to six fields of activity, and to six professional profiles linked to these fields, that are highly relevant for the sector: Supply Chain Management, intermodal transport, maritime transport and seaport activities, customs procedures, road transport, warehousing. For each of these fields the processes will be described, together with the operations, the time scheduling, the other actors involved, the tools and the documents available and to be used, in order to desing the simulation tools or the interactive software that replicated the main task carried out by the professionals of the sector. In particular, it will be realized: an interactive tool for the calculation of the all costs related to the logistics and transport supply chain, a warehouse management software (WMS) for training objectives, a simulator for the operational management of an intermodal terminal, an interactive tool for the calculation of costs of sea-port activities and the planning of infrastructures and equipment, a simulated role game for the management of custom practices and a simulator for the monitoring of road transport missions. These applications represent the whole supply chain related to a container that from an extra-EU country is shipped to an EU customer, therefore their use allow to provide a comprehensive view of the sector and its main sub-sectors. The tools will be tested during the project through the wide involvment of teachers and learners, and only after the detection of the users' satisfaction, as well as of the quality of learning, they will be finalized. A specific technical and training documentation will be prepared in order to support the use: a user manual for the functionig, manuals on technical contensts and knowledge related to the simulated procedures, Competence (according to ECVET method) and Educational Standards for the inclusion in training courses and the transparency of learning outcomes. Expected impacts refer to increased operational skills of learners, in order to ease the job inclusion, making the training for the sector more attractive, thanks also to an innovative and quality-oriented methodology that merges the training competences with the business operations, and that can be complementary to actual and future courses. The launch of a collaboration between schools and companies will allow the creation of new initiatives, but also an evenutual enlargemnet of the project results (parametrs, stages).

The idea of SUSMILE (Successful online learning for sustainable last mile logistics) is grounded on the recognition that there is a lack of training materials and tools for distance VET teaching of topics covering sustainable last mile logistics.VET teachers and trainers are facing many challenges in their efforts to respond to the current COVID-19 crisis. This period of distance learning, has surfaced a lack of adapted means, training materials and tools throughout Europe and across all VET qualifications. The transport and logistics sector is also sensitive to these challenges of the VET system that have arisen with the pandemic. In France, for example, a Carif-Oref survey on training during lockdown shows that 75% of transport and logistics training was cancelled, one of the highest rates compared to other economic sectors.The SUSMILE project will contribute to building digital education readiness by addressing this challenge through the provision of effective and inclusive teaching tools, materials, resources and methods to ensure distance learning in the area of sustainable last mile logistics.The environmental impact and high costs associated to the last mile delivery are but only increasing, especially since the uptake of ecommerce driven by the pandemic. The new habits together with the social and environmental concerns require innovative training practices for the digital era, which help train logistic professionals to reduce the negative impacts of the digital era itself.The aim of the SUSMILE project is to develop a MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) and related high quality digital elearning resources for VET providers to be able to train their students online on fresh, practical and innovative concepts related to sustainable last mile logistics. The SUSMILE open educational resource will contain the following innovative online resources and tools:• elearning modules to address initial and continuing education, including theory and evaluation materials, to help the user acquire key knowledge in areas such as routing systems, technologies, marketing, warehouse/ consolidation centres/ picking stations, environmental impact and processes and product care.• A serious game that through the aerial/isometric visualization of a city, the player will apply the knowledge gained through the elearning and put into practice the acquired skills.• An adaptive learning kit to provide varied learning materials for the students and help them understand last mile logistics in a dynamic way, with verbal and interpersonal sessions.The target group is represented mainly by VET providers (teachers and trainers) and their students (EQF level 4, 5 or 6), as well as logistics companies, professional organisations, social partners, public authorities, and other institutions.The most relevant expected impact is on the SUSMILE users themselves, logistics VET teachers and trainers will have at their disposal brand new learning resources that will support them on their online teaching processes. These teaching materials will not only be innovative for their online accessibility nature but also for the subject they are based on, sustainable last mile logistics, a topic for which teachers and trainers did not have contents about until now. SUSMILE will support the VET provider in the process of recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and will help strengthen their ability to provide high quality and inclusive digital education.Learners will be able to access cutting-edge learning from anywhere they like, from their PC’s, laptops, tablets and mobile phones. Furthermore, they will gain focused and market and environmental oriented knowledge and expertise in the last mile logistics field, increasing their future employability in green professions. In the long term, logistics companies or industrial companies in need of logistic professionals will be able to hire eco-friendly and high skilled professionals who have been trained on the basis of sustainability.The consortium covers a wide geographical area including Spain, France, Italy and the Czech Republic, it takes advantage of a range of expertise and it has a close relation with the logistic industry. Eight partners are formally involved in SUSMILE: AFT (FR) and NVF (CZ) are organisations for the development of VET; CISITA (IT) is a VET provider, MLC (ES), ITL(IT) and ČLA (CZ), are transport and logistics associations, IKASPLAY (ES) is a serious game developer and Prospektiker (ES) is a research organisation with environmental expertise. There are also 9 associated partners, not formally participating in the project, but contributing to the success of the project. These are vocational training providers and institutional bodies from the 4 partner countries who have agreed to collaborate with the consortium especially in the piloting and in the dissemination activities.

Currently freight transport represents 40% of the total transport emission and 32% in urban area. Many initiatives are under development to reduce costs and negative impact of freight and service trip in urban area. Some of them concern supply chain improvements and more specifically consolidation centre projects. Few study cases are dedicated to construction industry. However, urban population tends to grow, increasing the need to develop and reconstruct urban centres. Construction material logistic impact in urban area will intensify in terms of costs and negative impacts in urban area. Yet, only few experiences of Construction Consolidation Centres can be found. Among these initiatives, four are construction site specific (Stockholm, Utrecht, Berlin, London Heathrow) and only one is dedicated to several construction projects (London CC). Theses pilots studies have demonstrated reduced transportation impacts, positive effects on transportation efficiency and construction site productivity. Several limitations to the transferability of this concept are identified: one on hand the demonstrators were implemented in specific contexts (regulatory incentives, cities investment contribution, and specifics transport and logistics infrastructure issues) which are not the same in France, Spain, Italy and Luxembourg. On the other hand, economic viability has not been demonstrated. The project addresses the different requirements for transferability of supply chain optimization concepts as well as CCCs and new ways of working between supply chain stakeholders. The approach is to identify an integrated collaborative approach and business model among construction supply chain actors. Three main steps will be performed: analyse the current issues along the construction supply chain, propose several optimization scenarios regarding these issues, simulate and analyse costs optimization and environmental impacts to propose new partnership opportunities based on savings distribution