SMART PLUS
Start date: Dec 1, 2016,
End date: Nov 30, 2018
PROJECT
FINISHED
SMART PLUS aims to develop an innovative system that allows the identification of the mismatch between the needs in terms of competences required by the tourism industry labour market and the training contents offered by the educational institutions. This system will allow institutions to conduct a self-assessment that, together with an ontology-based tool (transfer and adaptation of SMART), provides information for a customised training e-learning solution. Educational institutions have, then, the opportunity to complement their training offer by adapting their contents and curricula to the labour market need through the SMART PLUS training, thus benefiting their students.The project objectives will be attained by implementing the following activities:• Identification of relevant skills and competences as foreseen in ESCO that are relevant for the tourism industry at EU-level and the definition of the SMART PLUS ontology-based system. The system will transfer, adapt and improve results of SMART (Supporting dynamic MAtching for Regional development - 2012-1-ES1-LEO05-49395) and will allow institutions to identify the mismatch between training contents offered and labour market demand in terms of competences, as well as it will allow students to complete a self-assessment of their competences;• Definition and design of a modular training that will help educational institutions tackle the mismatch problem and students acquire relevant competences. This e-learning solutions will be composed of 6 independent training modules addressing competences identified by the European Union as key competences for lifelong learning and that students should develop during their training and education. Topics include: intercultural competences, entrepreneurship, soft skills, ICT and communication in foreign languages;• Creation of the SMART PLUS Online Platform that will give access to the ontology-based tool, to the e-learning solution (training contents developed by the consortium) and also to a repository of additional open educational resources (OER) that allow institutions to customise the training pathway according to the learners’ needs and to the needs identified by educational institutions.Complementary to the project activities, the partnership will employ several tools and resources that contribute to the project dissemination, namely organising 8 events (two per partner country), including a Final Conference organised in Seville at the end of project execution to present the project and final scientific report to an audience of local, national and international participants.Other dissemination tools include the development of the project platform, creation of a Facebook fan page, development of the project visual identity, production of the project brochure, materials for events and other dissemination materials, periodical newsletters and the publication of 2 papers/articles). Evaluation & quality assurance and sustainability activities will support the overall project management and the attainment and quality of project results and outcomes.Target audiences for dissemination activities are mainly represented by:• Public and private VET schools, training centres and other educational actors with expertise on topics related with/relevant to the tourism sector – one of the main target groups of the project and the institutions responsible for allowing project results to be available for students and learners;• Higher Education institutions with expertise on topics related with/relevant to the tourism sector;• VET students, HE students and other potential learners as the end beneficiaries of the skills matching tool and of the training solution;• Public institutions;• Other institutions active in VET and relevant for the project, such as Chambers of Commerce, local development agencies and NGOs; • Tourism companies and institutions active in the tourism industry.The SMART PLUS consortium is composed of 5 institutions from 4 European countries (Spain, Italy, the United Kingdom and Hungary) that represent different fields of expertise and bring an added value to the project, covering cover all the critical competences needed to achieve project goals and objectives.