1st national expert workshop under InvesTech project
On 30.10.2024, an experts workshop on the topic Model for Center of Vocational Excellence (CoVE) will be held at the International Business School. The event is organized in connection with the joint participation of the Cluster Sofia Knowledgе City, the Joint Innovation Center of the Bulgarian Academy od Science and TUES at the Technical University - Sofia in the project InvesTech (Erasmus+ Program). The experience and especially of the European Training Foundation (ETF) show the important role of this type of centers for the development of vocational education and training in European countries.
However, ETF studies also show a wide variety of applied models for these centers in different countries. This workshop aims to examine and discuss at an expert level a national functional model of the center and its connections with the innovation ecosystem. It is planned to present the InvesTech project at the event and to hear the opinion of the experts on the following more general topics:
- the European approach to microcredentials and practice in Bulgaria;
- what is excellence in vocational education and what is CoVE?
- the role of CoVEs in building and maintaining a local 'skills ecosystem';
- a model for a national CoVE functionally linked to a university and the Cutting Edge Technologies Cente.
Pursuing its goals for several years to create a Center for competences in the field of smart technologies and to train professions directly related to the development of smart cities, the Cluster Sofia Knowledgе City finds in the creation of a CoVE in ICT a useful and more holistic approach in vocational education and training.This approach implies a shift from the triple helix framework that underpins cluster creation to a Quintuple Innovation Helix (Q2IH) Framework that emphasizes partnerships between academia, industry, the public sector, civil society and other important stakeholders .
A well-designed and implemented model will contribute to the successful development of a platform for cooperation between 5 European countries in the field of vocational training in the ICT industry under the InvesTech project.