Innovative Learning Scheme to Up-skilling and Re-skilling – Designing a Collaborative Training Program Between Industry and Academia Towards Digital Transformation

Abstract

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Europe are conscious that their competitive position depends on their success to embrace digitalisation challenges. However, some decision-makers in companies discard digital transformation because they do not understand how it can be incorporated into their businesses. Therefore, academia, research centres, and technological clusters are responsible for building the infrastructures and providing the support and the training that will progressively change this mindset. This paper aims to report an experience on designing a training program to train the trainers under the digital transformation topic. To define strategies to understand better the companies (and professionals) needs and motivations and the requisites to deliver the training course, the focus group methodology was applied. In this paper, we present a training program methodology and structure that intend to respond to industrial requests and, in this way to accelerate the digital transformation of companies, especially SMEs.

Formal Education System in Iraq: Upskilling and Reskilling for Employment and Self-Reliance

“…Furthermore, (Simões, et al, 2021) found a positive correlation between industry and academia, and reskilling and upskilling are gaining ground in the literature. Reskilling, according to them, entails acquisition of skills sets that result in getting new career opportunities.…”

“…Upskilling, the process of expanding an employee's skill set (generally by adding to an existing body of knowledge), offers a much-needed solution to this challenge. Unlike upskilling, which focuses on adding to an existing skill set within a role (for instance, due to new technology), reskilling refers to the process of learning new skills needed to do an entirely different job (Simões, et al, 2021).…”

“…But it is also, an essential strategy for organizations to meet their staffing needs and succeed in a changing world. For individual employees, reskilling can present opportunities to change roles in their current organization or at a new company (Simões, et al, 2021).…”