EUROPE: Rail, education and policy stakeholders met in Brussels to discuss a long-term action plan to address the sector’s growing skills shortage, including the need for reskilling and upskilling to support the green and digital transition.
The event on October 13 marked the half way point in the four-year Skill Training Alliance For the Future European Rail System programme. Topics covered included the EU skills agenda, the European Year of Youth and how to make the rail sector more attractive to young people.
Launched with the support of the EU Education, Audiovisual & Culture Executive Agency, STAFFER brings together 46 partners from business, education and training, professional associations and European institutions.
STAFFER has defined recommendations for existing and new training curricula covering skills required for the manufacturing, operating and maintaining of rail products, as well as more general ICT skills essential for the digitalisation of rail transport. It has also identified procedures to evaluate training programmes focusing on the European Quality Assurance in Vocational Education & Training framework.
‘We have reached a turning point for the project’, said STAFFER Co-ordinator and University of Genova Professor of Transport Engineering Angela Di Febbraro. ‘The educational needs of the sector have been identified, the response defined, and it is time to start putting them into practice.’
