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FOOD-SKILLS. Recognition of competences and qualifications in the EU food industry

From the 90s, food industries have been submitted to structural changes derived from globalisation of the economy, introduction of new technologies, changes in the organisation of work, adaptation to environmental, quality and food safety regulations, which, in turn, have generated new needs of qualification and of vocational training. According to the information from Eurostat the producing industry of food is one of the most dynamic sectors of the economy of the European Union, with an annual production of 600.000 million Euros. The sector has an active population of more than 2,6 million personnel, that suppose 14,5 % of the total occupation of the manufacturing sectors of the EU. 30 % of the occupation develops in the small and medium companies (SMEs), which are spread through the whole European geography. The sector receives a lot of not qualified workers (youngest with school failure, immigrant, not qualified adults, temporary workers, etc.), who have difficulties of access and participation in the vocational training programs. The low educational level reached by the working population implies that the non formal and informal learning is a very important component of the professional qualification in this sector. The social partners, the public Administrations, the companies and the training centres of the different countries of the EU, consider that the recognition and accreditation of competences acquired by non formal, informal learning and by labour experience will facilitate the access of the workers to the permanent learning strategy of the EU, will help to improve the mobility, and will provide the qualifications in the sector with transparency.In this respect, the tools proposed by the EU in the European Qualifications Framework (EQF), Europass and ECVET are a fundamental referent for the development of the qualifications in all the productive sectors, since they advance solutions harmonized in the area of the EU.AIMS. The general aim of the project is the exchange of experiences among the social partners, the training centres, the companies and the public Administrations, to adapt a methodology of recognition of the non formal and informal learning in the training strategies of the food sector of the European Union, taking as a reference the results from Euromeat (ES/05/C/F/RF-80900) and the tools of the EU about the recognition and transparency of qualifications.
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