Overview
- Title
- New Skills Agenda Steel: Industry-driven Sustainable European Steel Skills Agenda and Strategy (ESSA)
- Abstract
ESSA is aiming at proactively identifying future skills demands of the steel sector and developing an overarching strategy addressing these needs.
- Status
- On-going
- Duration
(01/01/2019 – 30/06/2023)
- Sector
Steel
- Countries
- Belgium, Czechia, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Lithuania, Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom
- Scope of the project
Building on collaboration of more than 40 partners covering the main stakeholders of the European Steel Industry ESSA aims at developing a Blueprint strategy for human capital development of the sector. Within an ecosystem approach, a broad range of key stakeholders of the steel industry are integrated: companies, education and training providers, research institutions, social partners (European and national steel associations and trade unions) as well as sectoral experts. Within this alliance we detect challenges and identify solutions regarding skills needs in the steel industry on a Europe-wide level. Via the rollout activities of the Blueprint, national-regional skills ecosystems are established in interested European steel regions supported by the launch of the European framework - establishing a European community of practice.
- Objectives
Setting-up an industry driven, sustainable and coordinated Blueprint for a European Steel Skills Agenda at EU level and a rollout to interested steel producing and processing European countries and their steel regions. Main objectives are:
- Proactive skills adjustment
- New training and curricula requirements (including new ways of short-term implementation within both companies and education and training institutions)
- Political support measures by mobilising and integrating EU and national level stakeholders and policy makers
- Attract and retain talented people in the steel industry
- Short description
Economic, digital and technological developments, as well as increasing energy efficiency and environmental demands, present the European (and global) s industry with many challenges, not least to continuously update existing qualifications, knowledge and skill profiles of the workforce. The aim of this project is to realise an industry driven, sustainable and coordinated Blueprint for a European Steel Skills Alliance and Agenda (ESSA) and address the aforementioned skills challenges in immediate and enduring ways. Focusing particularly on skills necessary for a globally competitive EU industry, concrete and practical strategies and programmes (modules and tools) in anticipation of skills demands are under development.
- Key findings
A governance structure is ensuring reliable alliances and strategies to adjust the skills needs of the steel industry proactively and continuously. The already accepted and running governance structure of ESSA is comprising three main elements:
- The European Steel Technology and Skills Foresight Observatory as the main European coordination unit, conducting a regular European Steel Technology and Skills Foresight Panel (ESSA ETP).
- The Online Training Ecosystem "steelHub" Video.
- Via its rollout activities ESSA established different National-Regional Steel Training Ecosystems in nine Member States and active steel regions. These national-regional ecosystems will be coordinated via a European Community of Practice of Steel Regions: a European platform connecting and supporting them by exchanging, initiating, developing, and implementing good practice for skills and training.
The governance structure is based on the main project key findings:
- The technological and especially digital transformation of the steel industry was examined. A repository was developed including steel-related technologies.
- The steel sector is affected by almost all Industry 4.0 technologies touching almost all job profiles in production and maintenance. Therefore, nine representative job profiles were selected and their skill needs were analysed: (1) metallurgical managers, (2) process engineers, (3) maintenance and repair engineers, (4) process engineering technicians/supervisors, (5) production supervisors, (6) industrial electricians, (7) metal processing plant operators (including continuous casting operator selected for a pilot online training tool), (8) metal working machine tool setters and operators, (9) factory hands; added by two train-the-trainer profiles: training and staff development professionals and vocational education teacher.
- A t-shape based skills categorisation is emphasising new technical and transversals skills: digital, green, social, personal, and methodological skills. Within a survey the workplace related skills demands were assessed by company experts of the selected job profiles
- Five national VET systems (Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain, UK) have been analysed regarding the ways they impart skills relevant to their steel sectors and also the way they are connected to cross-national qualification frameworks. In particular, a matrix was developed linking the selected European overarching job profiles to steel-relevant national qualification programmes.
