Background

Computing Science professionals and the businesses that use them, have a permanent demand for professional updating, upskilling, reskilling and employment preparation. Technological and economic evolution has led to a cyclical employment pattern, especially in emerging disciplines. This has led to changes in the educational levels required to enter, remain in or progress within a career. Within the wider European context, business expansion compensates for the relative lack of computing specialists by employing non-Europeans or by outsourcing . What's more, the expansion of the European Union to include candidate countries may mean that certain pre-inclusion sources of additional computing expertise will effectively disappear as demand across the whole European space increases.

Who do we want to help?

At the European level, we will create an integrated, flexible source of information that is of use to:

• Students
  
• Those in apprenticeships
  
• Those seeking employment (newly, after qualification, wanting promotion or a change of direction)

The project will deliver resources and tools adapted to the needs of anyone who has difficulty accessing education and employment in the area of computing information.

The Europan aspect of this project means that anyone interested in this area of study should be able to access their required learning, whatever their geographical location in the European family.

To achieve this, we have a transnational partnership of diverse organisations bringing together key skills for each element of the project. We have specialists in:

• Validation of prior (pre-exisitng) skills
  
• Online and face-to-face learning
  
• Lifelong learning
  
• Emerging technologies
  
• Business requirements
  
• New employment.

The partners all bring appropriate existing tools and resources to the project which will be further enhanced to create an integrated, flexible qualifications and employment portal.

Innovative

Our primary goal is to create an integrated European internet-portal linking employment and educational requirements. It will let users find out about:

• career possibilities
  
• specific and generic educational requirements
  
• validation of prior skills
  
• top-up modules needed to obtain desired qualifications
  
• education suited to specific career paths
  
• professional transfer from one European country to another.

The underpinning knowledge within the discipline of computing information science, leads to a wide variety of specialisms in a multi-lingual Europe .

Benefits

The envisaged benefits of the project are wide-ranging:

• Individuals in computing information sciences will have a holistic point of access: validation of prior skills and knowledge, education, induction into the European workforce, maximisation of the benefits of education and European certification.
  
• Specialised tools to help those with poor access to learning in these subjects
  
• A reference point for the harmonisation and marketing of the validation of skills in Europe , especially for socio-economic modernisation.
  
• A range of trans-European, modular, educational opportunities that are available in several languages and use the European Transfer of Credit Scheme to accredit pathways provided by the partners.
  
• Establishment of a unifying, modular base of competences for the validation of educational pathways linking education and employment.
  
• A jobs forum for businesses and jobseekers.
  
• Multilingual access leading to harmonisation of validation and educational resources in a multi-cultural context