| Name of the good practice | Skill anticipation programmes and stronger co-design (VET center-companies) of ICT HVET programmes |
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| Level | Meso |
| Description | In an attempt to design training courses that are appropriate and meet market demands, ENGIM, IT companies, trade associations, schools, universities and research centres periodically meet to increasingly align supply and demand. These numerous relationships and exchanges of perspectives give rise to the possibility of planning HVET courses that see the vet system (ENGIM LOMBARDIA) and companies as the main training players. The IFTS (HVET)- JUNIOR SYSTEM ADMIN pathway was born from a close collaboration between ENIGM LOMBARDIA (VET provider) and EXPERIM (company). Together they designed a study programme that could meet the needs of the market and the demand for specialised figures in the ICT sector |
| Agents involved | Vet Organization (Engim Lombardia), University of Bergamo and Brescia, Employers’ association (Confindustria Bergamo), schools (Istituto Marconi), a research center (Adapt) and several companies in the IT sector. (Weelgo srl , Aruba, Experim srl , Easytech srl) |
| Target group addressed | the target audience is connected to the HVET pathways that are linked to this alliance, such as the IFTS pathway – in this case the target audience is the pupils finishing the IVET pathway. The other target is composed by companies |
| Benefits / impact of the good practice | This approach allows to: o Design HVET programmes in continuity with IVET offer o Match companies’ medium term skills needs through a tailor-made HVET offer o Provide permanent training and professional guidance, with guarantee of employment results o Make study paths flexible o Facilitate VET providers-companies cooperation process (that also leads to upskilling of companies’ employees and reskilling of unemployed – or at risk of unemployment – adults) In general, it contributes to the successful implementation of the Dual System both a t local and at national level. The main purpose is: Skills anticipation and mismatch reduction between Education/Training outputs skills and job market skills necessities within this dual system framework, specifically in the IT field and in the province of Bergamo In 2020 APS led to the co-design of an HVET programme for apprentices from partner companies (“IFTS – Junior System Administrator”). This is the main OUTPUT of APS The programme allows students to specialize in the security of networks and IT systems, training both at the vocational training center and “on the job” at the company. At the end of the course, the students get an EQF level IV degree. 70% of the students gets stable employment contracts by companies partner of APS. The companies, thanks to the skills of the new employees are able to keep an high level of competitiveness and are able to increase their business volume. |
| Challenges found and how they were overcome | – Getting competing companies to sit at the same table; – Promoting the apprenticeship tool; – The organised and periodic collection of companies’ employment needs; – The need to deal with companies with a high training capacity; – The difficulties in company mentoring; – The taking on of individuals, which all too often ends at the end of the IFTS course |
| Transferable Characteristics | – win – win” actions: all stakeholders in the ecosystem “wins”: at the table are different actors with different specific but synergetic objectives. Each subject wins and at the same time allows the whole table to win – each organisation in the ecosystem must have its own objectives and at the same time synergetic objectives with partners; – the ecosystem must be responsive to the needs of the area and be able to respond to the different needs of the stakeholders that are part of it. The ecosystem in fact thinks in a ‘system’ perspective, bringing forward common plans and visions, while satisfying all members of the table |
| Step by step for the implementation of the good practice (for transferability) | Step 1: Building solid relations with the territory; Step 2: Share visions and perspectives with the territory’s labour agents (vet schools, schools, companies, trade associations); Step 3: share together (VET providers and companies) perspectives on the new skills required by the market labour, trying to answer the question: What are the skills you think you will need in the coming years? Step 4: initiate spaces for confrontation and dialogue and work on the same objectives in favour of upskilling the people and companies; Step 5: In response to market and business needs, co-design high-quality training courses with a high potential of job insertion through an ongoing dialogue between the vet provider and one or more partner companies. Step 6: through dialogue between the parties coordinate market demands with training offers capable of exhausting them |
| Name of the good practice | The Art and Craft Exhibition (in italian Fiera dei Mestieri) |
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| Level | Meso |
| Description | The Art and Craft Exhibition is an annual event that takes place for a week in the heart of our town, Bergamo. Thanks of the participation of all the players of vocational training, this exhibition achieves an important objective: inform teenagers and parents about VET programmes offered in our territory and how vocational schools prepare their students to the labour market. In this way, students and their parents can take an informed and conscious decision about the best training course for them. Founded in 2015 by the Province of Bergamo and Confartigianato Imprese Bergamo, the exhibition is visited every year by more than 1.200 middle school students. Year by year new partners/stakeholders have been involved in the organization of this event, such as: several educational and professional training Institutions, City of Bergamo, Diocese of Bergamo, professional association of industrial and SMEs enterprises, local education Authority, Chamber of Commerce. All the involved partners share the expeditures of the exhibition. The 6th edition of “the Art and Craft Exhibition” was organized virtually. |
| Agents involved | The entire exhibition takes place under a temporary big pavilion located in the center of Bergamo. Under this pavilion, there are 11 different areas that rappresent 11 different economic sectors: ICT and electronics, art & graphics, administrative and commercial services, tourism and sports, agriculture, interior design, mechanics, food, fashion, personal services, building. Every area is managed by the 3rd and 4th year students of vocational schools and their teachers. Workshops and speech are organized along the days. Each partner plays an important role: – SMEs and industrial’s entrepreneurs welcome the visitors and, in a short speech, try to convey the value and the passion to be a good student, trainee and worker. – Local education Authority and Province of Bergamo meet the principals of the middle school. – Province of Bergamo, local education Authority and Confartigianato Imprese Bergamo make a presentation for the students’ parents about training programmes, timetables, job required by the local labour market. |
| Target group addressed | Students of VET systems, Public Institutions, Training and Educational Institutions, Professional Associations of Enterprises. |
| Benefits / impact of the good practice | The Art and Craft Exhibition plays an important role in order to enhance and promote the VET programmes to different targets: – Student: introducing different professions/jobs through workshop. – Parents and Teachers: illustrating which profiles/skills/expertise are required by local labour market and which job opportunities are offered by every single specific training programmes. Province of Bergamo drafts and publishes the Atlas of Choise (in italian Atlante delle Scelte) which is a guide for students and parents about the training and educational system. Moreover, all the players who organize this Exhibition participate in a permanent table in order to optimize the training profiles. |
| Challenges found and how they were overcome | Direct exchange of experiences among teenagers: middle-schools students can talk directly with students who had to decide their training courses few years before. Organize a unique space where students can appreciate the beauty of all traditional and innovative crafts, participating in many different workshops. There are no evidences of risks/challenges in trasferring this practice. |
| Transferable Characteristics | – Focus on the student; – diversity; – circulary; – network collaboration; – collaboration between companies, vet system and students, – Enhancement of students. Within the exhibition, one of the most significant activity is managed by the students of the Vocational Education and Training classes, who welcome, introduce and make known to their younger colleagues, their training path and the professionalism of reference that the same offers once the training course has been completed. |
| Step by step for the implementation of the good practice (for transferability) | Step 1: Identify initial skills required by companies; Step 2: Involvement of the business world at the exhibition: within the network, etrepreneurs transmits the values of work, the skills, be they hard or soft, that are required by the world of work. Step 3: Working with companies to provide an industry validated curriculum; Step 4: Work collectively to promote IT as a career to students, parents, and employers. |
| Name of the good practice | Ribes Academy |
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| Level | Meso |
| Description | Ribes academy is a training model that allows neets (Not in Education, Employment or Training) to develop digital skills to increase their employability. Ribes Academy wants to contribute to job creation by developing the skills that will power a digital future and promoting social inclusion and cohesion among generations. The project has the key objective of increasing the job opportunities of young people who are currently unemployed, thanks to the development of advanced skills necessary to undertake a professional path in digital jobs (emerging area in the labour market) while at the same time promoting a virtuous process of give- back of the knowledge learned by trainees, thus helping fill the digital divide of the elderly people. Ribes Academy aims to reduce social exclusion and build better job opportunities by improving NEETS’ employability thanks to a training model that allows them to learn marketable digital skills – thus creating the conditions for a free upskilling process – in exchange for socially- impacting volunteering time only. The innovativeness of Ribes Academy relates to the idea of revolutionising the traditional approach to training disadvantaged people aimed at job placement. Our format has the potential to strongly support the acquisition of specialised digital skills for the weakest people, helping at the same time the creation of qualified job and the competitiveness of the local economy as a whole. |
| Agents involved | The project is promoted by Consorzio RIBES (a not-for-profit player with 20+ years’ experience in social services) in partnership with two multinational ICT companies (SORINT and RED HAT) and endorsed by the Municipality of Bergamo (Lombardy). Not-for-profit organization → Identifies the social target to be trained, in collaboration with the Municipality (social services and stakeholder networks); → Manages the touch point for enrolment; it is charged, in partnership with its own network, to select the course participants (Initial Assessment); → Deals with educational activities to complement the technical training. For-profit digital company → Provides know-how and professionals’ services for teaching activities. Local municipality → Manages the social giving-back mechanism in collaboration with NPO. |
| Target group addressed | The primary beneficiaries of the project are the young NEETs involved in the training courses, whose growth in number from a macro perspective is a phenomenon well understood in Italy. RIBES ACADEMY aims to intervene within the local socio-economic ecosystem to address some of its root causes at the micro-level. For this purpose, the specific definition of the target group relative to each edition of the Academy is going to be carried out as follows: a) on the one hand, through the networking activities of the non-profit organizations involved in the project in collaboration with the local public administration, b) and on the other hand, through the delivery of targeted marketing activities. In particular, the user targeting for the first edition of the Ribes Academy has been carried out also thanks to the support of the municipality of Bergamo, which reported the phenomenon as worrying even at the local level. As a matter of fact, Bergamo’s Chamber of Commerce reports (November 2020) that young people not in education, nor employment or training are about 25.000 in the province (a 14,5% rate). The result achieved since the project design phase to the current stage preceding the launch of the first edition of Academy counts about 80 people reached. Secondary beneficiaries are seniors involved in social giveback activities. To date, the municipality of Bergamo is characterized by the presence of about 27,000 people over 65 years of age and in the coming years, one in three citizens will be over-65. According to the analysis of trade unions FNP-CISL, SPI-CGIL and UILP-UIL, and to the national analysis conducted by ISTAT on the digital divide, the percentage of seniors older than 75 able to autonomously use digital tools is around 20%. Still, the 13% of elderlies reports they would like to increase their knowledge in such tools despite daily usage. Aware of this problem, Ribes has turned to its network, which currently reaches more than 200 seniors in the city of Bergamo alone. In particular, elderlies have been contacted directly to evaluate an adherence to the project of social restitution during the testing phase, and the same process will be repeated in the next months. Moreover, communication activities through more standardized channels, such as local newspapers, will further spread the appeal. The response of seniors in the prototyping phase has been very positive, confirming their interest in a greater understanding of digital issues. |
| Benefits / impact of the good practice | RIBES ACADEMY is a high social impact project that aims to intervene on one of the most pressing social challenges for Italy’s and EU’s future. Indeed, the importance of intervening on the reduction of NEETs means ensuring not only lower social costs, but also (and more importantly) contributing to bridging the gaps on both the demand and supply sides of the youth labor market. The impact of RIBES ACADEMY is to disseminate the Academy format, thus allowing for a reduction in the negative impacts of the NEET phenomenon, which can be of various kinds: lower tax revenues, higher costs for social benefits, and social discomfort. Also, there are individual costs both in material and psychological terms. In any case, youth unemployment is a corrosive condition: acquired skills and competencies deteriorate over time, and the risk of entering a downward spiral of motivation and frustration becomes real. In turn, this may create disaffection with the social context and institutions. This inevitably leads to a passive attitude on the part of the young person, who no longer receives any stimulus either in the search for work (which are often considered useless as long as families back them up economically) or even for training courses (whose added value for job placement is not there or is not perceived). Considering the new partnerships with training providers, Ribes Academy intends to qualify also as a partner enabling private companies to take advantage of the resources dedicated to NEETs such as reforms financed within the National Recovery and Resilience Plan and the Next Generation EU fund, which amounts to about €11 billion as regards the issue of job placement. In conclusion, Ribes Academy provides a clear example of how the NEET issue in Italy must no longer be considered as a mere structural problem, but rather as an opportunity that the country has got to invest in its future. Hence, the growing involvement of leading private companies in the field of the digital transition. |
| Challenges found and how they were overcome | Internal factors: Drop-out risk External factors: Non-alignment with partnering training centres on shared standards of pre-enrolment screening assessment Mitigation strategy: Update and implementation in-house of an ex-ante survey and evaluation methodology aimed at trainees |
| Transferable Characteristics | The characteristics of Ribes Academy will make it possible to replicate the model in each local community without the strong financial constraints that limit the scalability of the traditional training formats. |
| Step by step for the implementation of the good practice (for transferability) | Step 1: Academy establishment – Setting up of the Academy location and infrastructure of classrooms – Institutional communication and accreditation of the course to ensure its legal value (with training provider) – Definition of the “Technical Training Plan” (in collaboration with Sorint and RedHat) – Construction and putting the Academy portal online Step 2: Start-up of experimental classes – Definition of selection and assessment mechanisms – Identification of individuals to be involved in the project – Delivery of training courses S tep 3: Construction of social give-back model – Involvement of partners and social networks – Identification of beneficiaries (silver age) – Initiation of training and technical support interventions to individual seniors remotely (with possibility of using the e-learning platform being created). – Selection and engagement of neighbourhood reference figures. |