Project Summary:
According to European Investment Bank survey, “Who is prepared for the new digital age?”, 2020, “Digitalization is an
enormous opportunity and challenge for the current generation. The recent Covid-19 pandemic is a somber reminder of
the relevance and the necessity of digital technology for variety of businesses and sectors: from health to retail, from
manufacturing to education”. It is stated at this survey that European firms lag the US in the adoption of digital
technologies. Only 66% of manufacturing firms in the EU, compared to 78% in the US, report adopting at least one digital
technology. The EU’s firms lag behind the US’ companies in improving business processes related to the digitalization of
activities. The reasons we apply for this project are: 1. The digital transformation of European businesses is vital to the
EU’s competitiveness. In particular, this applies to the digital transformation of education, including in-company training.
2. The digital transformation of education is important both for training organizations and for enterprises, their employees
and that part of population of working age that is looking for a job. 3. The Covid-19 pandemic affected almost any
organization and person in EU, forcing businesses to reorganize their operations, most of them implementing on-the-go
information and communication technologies allowing remote work. These forms of work and operations are likely to
persist for a long time. 4. The magnitude of the necessity to digitalize the business becomes clear from the Eurostat data.
In the beginning of 2019 there were almost 25.3 million active enterprises with more than 131 million persons employed in
EU-27. The EU’s population was estimated at 446.8 million, while the persons considered to be of working age (15 to 64
years old) accounted to 64.6% of the population. 10.8% of EU’s adults (population aged 25 to 64) participated in formal
and non-formal education and training. Thus, we can estimate more than 20 million adults will participate some form of
education and training during 2021 and next years. Upon the pandemic situations probably more of them in digital form. 5.
We want to contribute to the EU’s firms competitiveness catching up in the digitalization of business and activities,
especially in the area of adults education and training. 6. We believe that the digital transformation of the adult education
must take place in organized way, transforming an adult education institution into Digital Education Enterprise. That’s why
we called our project “Digital Education Enterprise”.
By this project we plan to address the needs of:
1. Development of Digital Education Enterprise’s business model and processes
2. Development of Digital Transformation Plan that will reengineer an adult education organization, including in-company one, into Digital Education Enterprise
3. Implementing the plan in this project participating organizations
4. Business model for aligning the adults training programs to the needs and opportunities offered by the labor market and specific organizations
5. Implementation of innovative practices for digital education services based on best practice and ISO-standards for service management
6. Purposeful use of digital technology in adult education, training, teaching and learning
Objectives:
By this project we want to achieve:
1. Creation of Digital Education Enterprise business model and processes
2. Creation of Digital Transformation Plan that will help the adults education and training organizations to reengineer their usual way
of working to the Digital Education Enterprise business model.
3. Implementation of the Digital Education Enterprise business model and processes in the organizations participating this project in an appropriate manner
4. Creation of a Business model for aligning the adults training programs to the needs and opportunities offered by the labor market and
specific organizations. This model will implement “the producer” concept, placing the organizations that need a specific
program, corresponding to the needs and opportunities of the labor market, as well as to the requirements of specific
enterprises, to be in the role of producer of digital learning content.
5. Implementation of best practice for digital education services delivery based on ISO-standards for service management, like ISO 20000-1 SMS, because adults’ education is a service itself. This best practice shall provide a complete set of processes.
6. Transfer of the digital pedagogy and expertise in the use of digital tools for teachers, including accessible and assistive technologies and the creation and innovative use of digital education content, developed by the grant agreement 2020-1-BG01-KA226-VET-095108, where
part of this project members participate.
7. Sharing the results of this project to the public and interested parties upon the Erasmus+ rules.
8. Improved digital competitiveness.
Horisontal priorities targeted:
1. Addressing digital transformation through development of digital readiness, resilience and capacity
Additional priorities targeted:
ADU: Creating upskilling pathways, improving accessibility and increasing take-up of adult education
VET: Adapting vocational education and training to labor market needs
Topics addressed:
Cooperation between educational institutions and business
Creating new, innovative or joint curricula or courses
Digital content, technologies and practices