<< Objectives >>By implementing this project, VR4Skills partnership aims to achieve multi-level transformation at individual, institutional and sectoral dimensions, leading to improvements and new approaches in higher education institutions. Better skilled non-teaching staff will enrich and support in a more effective way the international and intercultural context of each institution, curriculum, students and lecturers, and thus contribute to building an inclusive and inter-connected academic environment.<< Implementation >>The project intends to firmly anchor development of competences of international non-teaching and support staff in European HEIs supported by the use of VR technology so that they are prepared to provide effective international services in a post-Covid era. For this purpose, thorough skills gap analysis, design of training courses and materials, online modules, VR scenarios and VR learning environment are developed, validated and made publicly available through the various project activities<< Results >>The main outcomes of VRforSkills project will be:1. Skills Gap Analysis that will allow to diagnoze and focus on key staff competences that will be developed.2. Innovative Training Design and Competence Framework enhanced by VR technology that will be piloted by staff of all partner HEIs during online and onsite learning and training activities.3. Comprehensive guidelines on how to apply VR technology and create VR learning environment into effective and powerful non-academic staff training.

<< Objectives >>The overall goal of this project is to set up a learning infrastructure for gamification in next generation entrepreneurship and business education. This includes sensitisation and the development of skills on the part of students from entrepreneurship programs concerning the potential and design options of corporate gamification and providing a methodology, toolkits, training and guidelines for usage of gamification in various fields of business education to teachers in a European context.<< Implementation >>- Teacher Training (Next Generation Business Education) and Method Development- Curriculum, Content and Materials for Next Generation Entrepreneurship (NGE)- Providing an Online Platform for Online Education and Communication- Piloting and Evaluation Next Generation Entrepreneurship Program- Guidelines and Community for Gamification in Business Education- Dissemination of Results in Higher Education Business Institutions<< Results >>- A study programme on Next Generation Entrepreneurship (NGE) consisting of three modules (9 ECTS).- A Methodology of Gamification (MoG) and guidelines for playful learning design in the area of entrepreneurial education.- An online platform with methods, guidelines and game-based teaching practices that enables teachers to find best practices.- A Teacher Training Programme (Next Generation Business Education, short NGBE) for teachers in the field of Business education.

<< Background >>It was on Sep 13th of 2016 when the EU Parliament voted in Strasbourg the Resolution 2016/2017 on creating labour market conditions favourable for work-life balance, fostering quality employment and supporting smart working as an approach to organizing work. Since then, the incidence of flexible workers, ‘teleworking tsunami’ has been growing, varying substantially in the EU28 (June 2020): Belgium (66%), Slovenia (33%), France (55%), Poland (38%) and Sweden (46%) [Eurofound ILO]. A number of laws have been issued on national levels, but there is no doubt that digital distance working has never been such a hot topic worldwide as nowadays, since the pandemic of coronavirus has led to its largest mass exercise, with significant impacts on the employability and work-life-stress balance agenda. The group of workers particularly touched by this unexpected change are senior adults (aged 50+), a treasured source of talent for organizations and companies across the globe. During decades of their professional occupation, they groomed important professional experience, skills, and values (loyalty, reliability, commitment, high standards of relations and a strong work ethic) contributing to the success and development of their companies. Since COVID-19 has accelerated the digital shift, some aged workers with not sufficient digital skills experience longer working hours and negative effects on their health and well-being. Some of them not having access before to appropriate training opportunities to improve their digital capacity and understanding were left behind on the wrong side of the digital divide. Therefore, the pandemic-related and simultaneously ongoing global digital transition is for them a stressful change perceived often as a risk to their professional development and employability.Afraid of losing their jobs 10-15 years before retirement, they are afraid to request necessary training from employers what makes them vulnerable as they are not only falling out of touch with a new professional world but also put their professional future and employability at risk. Even though it is more economical and effectual to train current 50+ employees for the new skills prerequisite for digital transformation and distance working than obtaining new employees necessitating more resource and money to train and acquire other skills conditioning their future professional performance, numerous companies prefer to hire young employees, fully equipped in digital competences.<< Objectives >>The project is aimed to give people opportunities to learn at any stage in life and targets both skilled professionals as well as less-experienced workers, including those looking for a professional change and novel job opportunities.Furthermore, the project is aimed to enhance:- digital skills by developing a flexible ICT-based learning environment and by providing specific training on digital skills necessary to improve professional performance as dealt with by the EU DigComp Framework, such as communication and collaboration, safety and problem-solving skills;- entrepreneurial skills, including creativity, critical thinking and problem solving, by taking advantage of the EU EntreComp Framework and providing specific training contents and resources;- skills and competences needed to promote sustainable development and sustainable, inclusive and equal working approaches, so as to meet UN SDGS 4, 5 and 8 (Agenda 2030, 2015), and personal, social and learning to learn competence (EU Council, 2018).<< Implementation >>RAISING AWARNEES OF COMPANIES – Making companies aware of the challenge faced by their aged workforce and encourage them to define potential employees that may be in this situation (using analytics to detect employees’ discrepancies and define or categorize specific digital skills gap). Preparing companies to accompany senior employees to upskilling their digital competencies. MINDSET CHANGE – Encouraging an open attitude of senior employees and their employers who will both benefit from the digital training. MAINTAING THE SENIOR FRIENDLY WORKING ENVIRONMENT - Assuring a friendly environment allowing senior employees to fell comfortably and avoid unnecessary stress related to the need of upskilling. DEVELOPMENT OF THE DIGITAL TRAINING AND ITS PROMOTION - Including consultations with business sectors and intergenerational exchanges. -To address the digital training needs of senior employees including a disadvantaged group of senior employees -To foster seniors’ professional development and inclusion securing their employability-To boost independent distance working and to maintain the physical and mental health of senior employees-To raise the effectiveness of senior employees, companies’ performance and therefore to positively impact the local, national, and European economies-To promote innovation as an indispensable part of the professional development of the senior workforce-To raise awareness of the professional integration and development of the ageing workforce in the post-pandemic labor market and in the society itself, as acquiring new skills reduces the risk of professional exclusion and promotes intergenerational communication (bridging the digital gap between generations)<< Results >>A virtual platform as a comprehensive model dedicated to both the ageing workforce and their employers. It will come out with an assessment tool useful for monitoring results and impacts of the proposed training on both direct target groups and indirect target groups (employers, managers, other workers and staff members), including impacts produced on MSMEs, with recorded encouraging effects on their digital transition.

EnDigiCom focuses on the improvement of digital skills within companies, mostly SMEs, and VET providers because the labour market is looking intensively for qualified personnel with digital competencies and the professional use of social media tools. European employability is the goal of EnDigiCom and the project partners.EnDigiCom is intended to address the lack of personnel with suitable Social Media competencies in SMEs. The overall project aim is the further development of vocational training provisions for organizations who seek to train their staff to master the daily challenges including the professional use of Social Media tools.EnDigiCom has 7 project partners who have already worked together on several international occasions and have extensive experience in EU projects:- 4 educational partners focusing on VET and HE business programmes, - 1 partner (BUSINET) being an international educational organisation with some 100 VET and HE member institutes from 25+ countries enabling the project team to ascertain the widest possible dissemination of the project results internationally- 2 partners being Social Media experts who focus on corporate consulting to implement SM strategies as well as staff teaching and training. They will enrich the project team with their know-how and expertise and are responsible for the two learning activities.Project Overview:EnDigiCom will begin by asking partners to reflect on existing programmes. A questionnaire will also be developed and sent to SMEs, in the different partner countries, to confirm the SM competences needed in the workplace. Results will inform continuing exchange and discussion as well as analysis and benchmarking actions that expect to result in a common denominator (syllabus) that can be used by all partners with a view to modernising and extending existing course curricula and programmes on the use of Social Media. Beyond this, during the second part of the project, the focus will be on testing the agreed syllabus through operating short courses for teaching and non-teaching staff working in the participating education and training institutes.In terms of target audiences, in addition to the participating education and training institutes, and wider network members having a similar vocational or professional development focus (with access to wider audiences provided via Businet), we also consider individual students/learners – able to benefit from an enhanced skills set that is relevant to the needs of the labour market – as well as the business sector that will benefit from accessing better skilled VET graduates and, in some cases, from being able to access continuing development opportunities for existing staff.Whilst the predominant focus of the EnDigicom project is an exchange of knowledge, experience and good practice, we do envisage some core outputs and outcomes, namely:- agreement on a robust set of key competences necessary to handle the daily duties of staff members having responsibility for Social Media tools and platforms within a workplace business environment;- model curriculum against which existing programmes and short courses can be reviewed/extended/modernised which will be tested/trialled (through short-courses being offered) prior to being finalised in EN-DE-FR-SI.European employability integrating new SM competencies is the motivator for the project partners to launch this ERASMUS+ partnership, as there is a daily demand of SMEs to work internationally beyond national borders. Therefore, the international exchange of good practice and further development of our curricula on an international level is essential to the project. While each partner has already been active to create national SM curricula and trainings, EnDigiCom, as a European co-funded project, will enable the partners to establish a common framework for those key-competencies on an international level.

Recent research and publications have publicised the relationship between entrepreneurship and mental illness in a range of forms. This was brought to international attention by a range of presentations to the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos in 2019. Entrepreneurs provide economic benefit to any society in which they operate yet little consideration has been given to their mental well-being (MWB) in an increasingly challenging business environment. These are real concerns as the nature of employment across Europe and globally are changing towards an emphasis on micro-businesses and enterprise relying on more and more young people setting up start-up companies. According to a study presented at DAVOS, approximately one half of entrepreneurs suffer from at least one form of mental health condition during their lifetimes. The project seeks to support young entrepreneurs across Europe and to ensure the effectiveness and efficiency of European start-ups by developing supportive educational materials that encourage reflection, understanding, diagnosis and ensure mental resilience and are non-judgemental and are directly supportive of their health and well being. The objectives of the project are as follows:1.Engage with entrepreneurs to identify the key areas where support is needed for the maintenance of mental health and work-life balance;2.Identify European good practice and implement best and proactive practices of mental health support supported by published case study materials for disseminate to a range of target groups.3.Assess effective approaches to ensure health and well-being that are practised in Europe and publish such findings throughout Europe;4.Deliver training and awareness programmes covering all aspects of mental health and well-being to support new entrepreneurs;5.Publish case study materials, teaching cases, training materials, fact sheets that support the mental health and well being of entrepreneurs to ensure 24/7 access.The project will result in a State of the Art Report and a detailed Needs Analysis and will initiate a thematic network of new start entrepreneurs. A curriculum and proactive and interactive training materials will be developed, using case studies and real life experience, which will be accessible 24/7 via VLEs and a MOOC.The partnership is made up of three universities, two SMEs, two associations and two social enterprises, organised into three clusters (HE, enterprise and dissemination clusters) to implement five measurable objectives; three Intellectual Outputs; two Teaching and Learning Activities for would-be entrepreneurs and two Multiplier Events. This project will make an innovative contribution to the MWB of entrepreneurs, which is innovative for an Erasmus+ project. The focus of innovation is to provide unique self-help and self supportive training materials that will (1) support young entrepreneurs in understanding the qualitative dimension of entrepreneurship; (2) prepare young start-ups for the challenges and demands of entrepreneurship in advance and (3) provide a resource that can add value to an existing vocational programme of business and/ or enterprise studies and (4) add value to the business start-up support that is currently provided.The exact nature of the final training materials is that they are relevant to the needs of entrepreneurs and the directors of new start enterprises, and will be determined by entrepreneurs. There will be focus groups and surveys including entrepreneurs that will confirm the nature of the learning and training materials. Crucial to these identified subject areas is the exploration of interactive and experiential pedagogic approaches. The final training materials will be available to start-up and would-be entrepreneurs, business and enterprise undergraduates and alumni, and will be made available to partners and associated partners that provide business support to start-up companies. The curriculum content will also remain available for 24/7 access via the Powerhub Talent VLE as hosted by Mediasphere and the MOOC developed by the university partners within this partnership. The results anticipated as a consequence of the development and successful completion of this project proposal are in direct support of the EU’s Entrepreneurship 2020 Action Plan, with special consideration of the third area of the Action Plan, which is nurturing the new generation of entrepreneurs.Within the target groups foreseen, there will be approximately 150 - 200 direct beneficiaries involved in the trialling of the curriculum model. They will be new-start entrepreneurs and/ or completing students and alumni from the participant universities. The number of indirect beneficiaries as a result of attending the workshops and final conference and through networking activities will be 2,000 with still greater numbers, a further 2,000 at least as a consequence of direct access to the on-line dissemination platform.