Partners
PROGRESS CONSULT LTD.
Role in this project
Progress Consult Kft. has a long-established and successful relationship with EBSN’s executive committee and professional community due to several collaborations in the past (most recently e.g. Capacity Building Series on EPALE). Working to establish and maintain the Capacity Building Series on EPALE the Secretariat has been gradually gained experience and expertise in basic skills policy formation, the design of integrated and sufficiently funded policies to ensure sustainable basic skills policies. Furthermore, Progress Consult Kft became a bridge between EBSN leadership and its community.
Progress Consult as the lead partner of the consortium, is responsible for the reporting process of the project, organizing six partner meetings, take care on managing the finances, regular dialogue on program progress and quality assurance of the partners’ activities and performance.
The mission of Progress Consult is to enhance the basic skills development of low skilled adults in order to help them become active members in society and in the labour market, cope with the new labour market needs resulting from automation and digitalisation and improve the living conditions of their own and of their families.
Besides developing programmes on national and reginal level, we aim at exchanging experience with partners inside and outside the European Union. We have an extensive international professional network which has been established in the course of cooperation in transnational development programmes.
Since 2010 we have been an active member of the European Basic Skills Network (EBSN) which was established to contribute to helping policymaking become more efficient and effective on national and European levels as well. From 2013 the General Assembly of the EBSN has appointed Progress Consult Hungary to manage the organisation and operation of the Network by acting as EBSN Secretariat. Progress has been also involved in supplying content to the Life Skills theme of the Electronic Platform for Adult Learning in Europe (EPALE).
South East Technological University (SETU)
Role in this project
SETU is Ireland’s newest university resulting in the amalgamation of Waterford Institute of Technology and Institute of Technology Carlow and has a total of 18,500 students and 2,000 staff over 4 campuses serving the south- east region of Ireland. The School of Education and Lifelong Learning in SETU is one of six faculties and includes an academic department of Education and the National Centre for Literacy Development – a centre for professional development for tutors and practitioners involved in adult literacy and adult basic education in Ireland.
The role of SETU in the project, due to its expertise in research and development, is to facilitate the preliminary research, the co-design process including MOOC development and to contribute to the accreditation and quality assurance of the OERs.
SETU offers tuition and research programmes in various areas from Higher Certificate to Degree to PhD. The university is the major provider of higher education in the South-East region of Ireland. SETU researchers have competed successfully against other University researchers for prestigious national and EU research funding (e.g. PRTLI, SFI and EU Frameworks Programme FP4, FP5, FP6 and most recently FP7). Over the last 10 years SETU has successfully attracted over €140 million in research funding.
The project researchers in SETU are based in the School of Education and Lifelong Learning. This faculty includes adult education, adult literacy and community development. SETU has over 30 years’ experience working in the field of adult education and activities include nationally recognised undergraduate and postgraduate programmes for practitioners in the field, research in core areas that are relevant to this project include adult literacy practice, teaching and learning methodologies for adult education and strategies for engagement with adult learners.
National Adult Literacy Agency (NALA)
Role in this project
NALA is one of the key actors playing a significant role in the Irish literacy and basic skills development work. The organisation has a well-established experience and expertise in both research, policy-making, but also setting up basic skills training programs.
Beyond its professional capacities NALA has a long history of providing training in digital learning environment which is inevitable as its contribution to this project relates primarily to the preparation of the online learning environment in Work Package 4. The multiple expertise of the organisation makes it possible to include NALA in almost all work packages should emergency occur.
The National Adult Literacy Agency (NALA) was established in 1980 in order to tackle the literacy difficulties experienced by a significant proportion of the adult population in Ireland. NALA defines literacy as reading, writing, working with numbers, listening, and speaking, and using everyday technology to communicate and handle information. NALA’s vision is an Ireland where adult literacy is a valued human right, where everyone can develop their literacy skills and where individuals can take part fully in society.
NALA is a membership organisation, and it is open to all people and organisations interested and involved in adult literacy development. At our annual general meeting, members elect a Board which makes sure our aims are put into practice. The Board includes both students and workers in adult and further education and training.
Pécsi Tudományegyetem (PTE)
Role in this project
The teaching staff hold PhD certificates or habilitation degrees and have collected quality experience in international programmes, including Erasmus teaching and Student mobility, development programmes in Erasmus, Erasmus+ and former programmes like Grundtvig. The Institute is a partner of UNESCO UIL, PASCAL Observatory, and coordinates the programmes of the Hungarian Universities Lifelong Learning Network – MELLearN.
The role of PTE is to monitor and disseminate interim and final results of the project due to its professional network in adult education and higher education too.
The University of Pecs is a state university in the city of Pecs in southwestern Hungary and Hungary’s fourth largest university. The University of Pecs is a research and education focused higher education institution with a particular interest in internationalisation and international programmes. That is why the university has participated several EU funded projects in adult education and lifelong learning through its Institute of Adult Education and HRD, now is called Institute for Human Development and Cultural Studies, as an official member of EAEA and EUCEN, and partner of UNESCO UIL. The University of Pecs is a responsible partner of the city of Pecs, a 2017 awardee of the UNESCO Global Learning City.
The Institute for Human Development and Cultural Studies at the University of Pecs is an experienced partner in the quality development and research of adult education through distinguished EU projects such as TEACH, ESRALE, COMPALL and INTALL all related to innovation in the professionalisation of adult educators at the master’s level and further training of adult education professionals.
The Institute for Human Development and its Lifelong Learning Research Centre has got a two-decade experience of project based research and development in several adult education initiatives, referring to former Grundtvig, Erasmus and Erasmus+ project to raise the quality developments of skills of educational staff members/teachers or/and trainers of adult education and training institutions in regular graduate and post-graduate, or short-cycle programmes. The Institute has been involved in several project of EUCEN (http://eucen.eu) referring to recognition and validation of prior learning, skills development/apprenticeship developments, third age programmes, third mission of HEIs., learning city-regions, learning communities, etc.
Folkeuniversitetet
Role in this project
Folkeuniversitetet is Norway’s largest organizer of adult education. Every year, approximately 70 000 people sign up for one or more of their 6 500 courses. They have over 150 years’ experience and offer practical and theoretical trade-related education, language instruction and courses in cultural and leisure activities.
The organisation represents an excellent example of contributing to the implementation of Upskilling Pathways.
Folkeuniversitetet is a nation-wide Norwegian NGO. Their activities are deeply rooted in Norwegian tradition and their aim is to make leisure courses and further education accessible to all adults, regardless of social background.
Folkeuniversitetet currently consists of 22 member organizations, 8 regional offices and 70 local departments. The nationwide organisation provides courses in more than 300 of the country’s municipalities. This means many of the course participants can study in their home town and still meet family- and work commitments.
Folkeuniversitetet is one of the largest providers in the public program basic skills for work life since the program started. They have also been responsible for teching training on behalf of kompetanse norge.
Directorate for Research, Lifelong Learning and Employability (DRLLE)
Role in this project
The adult learning courses we offer (in over 70 subjects) cover a range of competencies: Languages, Mathematics, Science & Technology competences, Digital competence, Sense of Initiative and Entrepreneurship, Creative Expression, Social, Health and Civic Competences. Over 14,000 adult learners subscribe to one or more of the 400 courses on offer yearly. All adult courses aim to reach from level 1 to level 4 on the National/European Qualifications Framework.
Our overarching ambition is to provide personalised and supportive learning systems for all adults in Malta and Gozo.
The Directorate for Research, Lifelong Learning and Employability (DRLLE) within the Ministry for Education in Malta was set up in June 2009. Our mission is to lift barriers for participation in adult learning so that the overall volume of participation in adult learning is increased and to address the imbalances in participation in order to achieve a more equitable state of affairs. DRLLE is led by a vision that learning should be a lifelong journey for everyone. Individuals and communities need to acquire skills that are relevant to their lives, their needs, and their work.
The Directorate offers policy guidance on lifelong learning and organises adult learning courses through personalised and innovative approaches to education. It aims to ensure that there are learning benefits for numerous different sectors: individuals, communities, employers, and society.