Erasmus plus funding success

Congratulations to Justin Rami from the School of Education Studies who has been successful in gaining funding from the European Commission's Erasmus Plus: Life Long learning programme. Justin Rami is the Director of the Further Education and Training Research Centre within  DCU's new Institute of Education. The aim of the 26 month project is to study the organisational models (or 'design options') of integrated learning opportunities and bridging programmes in occupational areas of engineering and technology (ISCO Sub-Major Groups 31 and/or 35) in five countries (Germany, Greece, Ireland, Latvia and Spain), and to assess the performance and impact of these partnerships. On the basis of this analysis, the project will develop manuals or guidelines for education and training practitioners as well as policy makers to provide information on which models of partnerships are suitable for the different national contexts. 

According to a Cedefop study, four core types of such partnerships can be distinguished, namely integrated learning opportunities, bridging programmes, validation mechanisms and counseling services. The first two will be addressed in the project. In the case of 'integrated learning opportunities' or 'integrated programmes' , educational opportunities offered by different providers are connected in such a way that from the learners' perspective one single, coherent programme or curriculum comes into being. Dual college programmes, which integrate apprenticeship training and a cognate bachelor's degree course, are a typical example. In the other type, the so-called 'bridging programmes', the autonomy of the partners is preserved to a larger extent. Instead of jointly building up a new training course, the partners involved recognise learning outcomes from each others' existing programmes on the basis of mutual trust and provide targeted provision and support for the transition from one programme to another.

Other partners on teh project include: Institut Technik und Bildung (ITB), University of Bremen, Free Trade Union Confederation of Latvia, Hellenic Open University, Participating organisations Dublin City University, IKEI Research & Consultancy S.A., FUNDACION PARA LA FORMACION TECNICA EN MAQUINA-HERRAMIENTA