The EU Observer
Overview of the project
Francesca Magni
Head of the Dept. for International Services at UNICAM
The European Project “European Observatory for the validation of non formal and informal Skills in the sector of landscape, urban planning and risk prevention”, in other words “EU_OBSERVER” is aimed at recognizing and validating non formal and informal learning, with particular attention to the landscape, urban planning and risk prevention sector. In this field, adults who want to receive the recognition of their non formal and informal skills will be able to access the formal learning, the higher education system or the market labour having their knowledge and experienced recognised.
The project is aimed at comparing and analysing the national systems of the different countries involved and at documenting adults’ non formal and informal learning. The overall objective is to achieve a European approach, based on studying the different EQF outcomes and promoting the validation of non formal and informal learning in accordance with the common European principles. The building of an Observatory for the implementation and validation of non formal and informal learning systems is the practical objective of this project, that is the creation of a system which gives professionals (such as surveyors, architects, geologists and employees of the urban planning sector) the right tools to have their skills recognized and validated. Therefore, the aim of the project is to develop a strong network of national and European experts to assess, identify, recognise non formal and informal learning in the above mentioned sectors.
Aim of the Project “Creating an Observatory”
Objective
The objective is to create a strong network of National and European experts for the transfer and development of innovation as well as integrated EU solutions that identify, assess and recognize non formal and informal learning in the sector of landscape, urban planning and risk prevention. The implementation of a European Observatory for the validation of non formal and informal learning is also foreseen.
Project Partners
The project will be implemented through work-packages, aimed at managing the activities, collecting and updating the data, creating an e- portfolio, defining the structure of the Observatory, creating the Observatory’s ICT tools, organizing a communication plan and evaluating it. The final work-package will focus on exploiting the overall action of the project.
Project Deliverables
The following deliverables have been foreseen: creating a Meeting Transnational steering Committee, a National Steering Committee and a Mainstreaming Committee; creating a database, a software a Web site and a Web TV to diffuse the event and to spread all information and results of the project. There will also be a final booklet, brochures and leaflets, as well as a final exploitation of the know-how acquired, after the project lifetime.
Report from the first meeting in Murcia, Spain, from 15th to 16th April
Patrizia Giampieri Umbria UTC, Italy
After a long time of preparation, the partners of the EACEA project EU_OBSERVER met for the first time in Murcia the 15-16/04 2010. All of the organisations involved in this project have in common a concern with meeting the challenge of effectively responding to the needs of formal and informal learners. Within the specific context in which each of the participating institutions operates there is a commitment to promote life- long learning.
After an initial introduction from each partner, we sat down and listened to a short presentation of UNICAM, the lead partner of the project.
The great participation of all partners through different questions concerning the project and some technical aspects helped us make our task more concrete. A questionnaire made up of 200 questions was prepared from the lead partner, with the view of submitting it to all professionals of the sectors above mentioned, in order to get a clear overview of each national situation.
Seeing both similar and contrasting views, all partners were able to start comparing not only our thoughts concerning non formal and informal learning, but also our organisations’ state-of-the-art and our projects. Each partner presented its own national situation and the difficulties encountered by recognising and validating non formal and informal learning.
The Hosting Partner of the first meeting of the EQF project was FUER: Fundación Universidad Empresa de la Region de Murcia. It is an organisation that is promoted by the Chamber of Commerce of Madrid, aimed at promoting and developing the cooperation between Universities and enterprises.
Next meeting will be held in Sofia (Bulgaria) and the hosting partner will be the association “Information systems, Territorial planning, Ecology, Consultations and Qualification”.
The second and last day gave us the possibility to make a summary of all our different tasks discussed during the project’ s first meeting, and, saying goodbye to each other, we were both satisfied with the outcome of the stay in Murcia and looking forward to the next meeting which will take place in Bulgaria by the end of December 2010.
“The data at our disposal (MIUR, Statistics Office, IST A T , Report on Universities 2007; Registry Office 2008)”, says Francesca Magni, Head of the Internationalization and Student Services at UNICAM, “confirm an increase, in Italy as well as in Europe, in the participation of adult people to the University training programs. This new type of learners ask for a non- traditional training approach and show the need to increase the value of the teachings they already acquired in their adulthood – especially at the workplace. In addition to that, the Italian University reform system, that has been implemented in the last 10 years by the DM 509/99, (even if
Conclusions of the Meeting
The discussion was ended with each participant's opinion about how to proceed with the project, such as by dealing with the implementation of a website and a web TV, as well as other dissemination tools, such as leaflets and brochures. The evaluation of the meeting has been asked as well to all partners.
Timetable and meeting schedule
There are 3 meetings of all partners, 3 on-line meetings and two co-ordinator meetings. Here you will find the meeting schedule and the timetable of the first meeting
1st meeting 2nd meeting 3rd meeting
Murcia, Spain Sofia, Bulgaria Camerino, Italy
April 2010 December 2010 September 2011
Two meetings only for co-ordinators in Brussels (Belgium)
EU_OBSERVER is a LLP project. This Newsletter is one of the products of this project and will be sent to all partners of the project. This Newsletter is composed by Patrizia Giampieri, UTC, Scheggino, Italy.
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©2010 EU_OBSERVER project