Programme: ERASMUS+ KA2 CBHE – Capacity Building in the Higher Education
Duration: 01.11.2023 – 31.10.2026
The goal of the project is to narrow the existing gap between the rapid pace of digital transformation, and the training of specialists from different fields, especially those that are not related to IT. The issue is that at present the aforementioned specialists are not sufficiently skilled to efficiently work with digital technologies and tools, and to understand possible pitfalls in their use, including mental health issues and legal matters.
Objectives
- introducing informal extracurricular education on digital skills, soft skills, mental health, and digitalisation’s legal aspects to students;
- training academic staff of HEIs in order to support learners with qualified coaches who can assist them in their informal studies;
- developing innovative learning resources in line with the newest trends in digital technologies;
- enhancing students’ teamwork as well as improving their digital skills through carrying out student projects contest;
- establishing advanced multimedia laboratories in Ukrainian universities, which will support informal studies by providing an opportunity of gaining practical experience.
To meet the above-mentioned objectives, within the NEXT project a range of different activities will be carried out, in particular, project meetings, training for coaches, student projects contest, students’ conference.
Work Packages
- WP1 Project management
- WP2 Analysis of ‘digital’ labour market requirements and ‘digital’ employee’s needs
- WP3 Capacity building for learner-centred informal ‘digital’ education
- WP4 Learning resources testing and validation
- WP5 Launching of learner-centred informal ‘digital’ education
- WP6 Building of the NEXT-Network
- WP7 Dissemination and exploitation
Expected outputs
- the NEXT-Study learning environment, which will contribute to creating a common repository of various learning resources, which any student can use to enhance knowledge in a specific field;
- learning resources, which will cover different topics on digital skills and digital literacy, including soft skills, mental health awareness, and legal aspects of operating in a digital environment;
- the NEXT-Collaboration virtual platform, which will be aimed at improving communication skills in a virtual workspace.
Thus, the NEXT project will significantly contribute to the process of the alignment of future specialists’ digital and soft skills with the modern-day requirements of the ‘digital’ labour market in Ukraine, with the prospect of spreading project results and best practices elaborated within the project.