Promotion of life-long learning with the European Steel Industry, in response to the established need to help employees to adjust to new ways of working, to new processes and technologies and to provide them with transferable skills. The need to promote equal opportunities in the sector is borne out by the fact that 90% of the workforce is male. Existing and new research will be used to map existing qualifications within the sector to ascertain the level of need for new and transferable skills and how those needs can best be met. Transnational qualification modules will be developed which will be included in an on-line training programme utilising new and traditional technologies. Implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the programme will be dealt with by Steel Partnership Training, an arm of the Iron and Steel Trades Confederation. They will ensure that the modules developed are fully utilised by the European Steel industry's training providers and that national awarding bodies accredit qualifications.