H.E.LE.N. tHe European LEarning Network

1. H.E.LE.N. tHe European LEarning Network Claudio Demartini, Fabrizio Lamberti Politecnico di Torino (Contractor) C.so Duca degli Abruzzi, 24 10129 Torino, Italy

2. The Contractor organization • Politecnico di Torino has 26,000 students, 120 courses (39 Bachelor’s degree courses, 35 Master of Science courses, 30 Doctorates and 18 specialization courses) • Over 2,300 students graduated with a Master of Science, over 2,000 with a Bachelor’s Degree (Engineering and Architecture) in 2004 • Over 890 lecturers and researchers, around 800 administration staff in 6 Schools, 1 Graduate School, 18 Departments and 7 Interdepartmental Centres • The income in the 2005 balance has been 223 million Euros (in 1990 the figure was 52 million) • Since 1998 the Politecnico has been heavily involved in the development of vocational education and training system both on a regional and national basis

3. The project • Title: H.E.LE.N. tHe European LEarning Network • Project Reference: I/04/B/F/NT-154056 • Duration: 24 months (Oct. 2004, Sept. 2006) • Partnership: 31 partners representing 9 EU countries • France • Greece • Germany • Ireland • Italy • Netherlands • Romany • Slovak Republic • Spain

4. Global vision Com.E A platform for transparency to make mobility possible Beatric (Certification) Argo ConBeLib EXPerO (Quality) ECNL Standards for KSC in the Small KnoWoodNet VetProfessional (VET for Professionals) LeScarpe Ontology based formalization In the Domains of qualification and standards, certification and credit systems ProTerris ECVET Connexion(Applicability of ECVET) EQF ECVET EUROPASS

5. Basic aims of the project • Promoting mobilityof European citizens, both for labour and educational purposes • Contributing to the establishment of a transnational network, to share objectives, results and methodologies • Favouring mutual cooperationamong actors involved in VET, supported by the mediation capabilities of social institutions • H.E.LE.N. relates to the 3rd objective of the LdV Programme, “enforcing the contribution to the innovative processes” and “give value to learning” (first priority)

6. Objectives of the project • Means to promote interaction among standards of competences • Support to readability and sharing of instruments and models • Systematic use of integrated information systems • Identification of best practices for the implementation of a transnational network • Institution of privileged channels to support interactions among the various actors/stakeholders • Selected Domains of analysis: qualification and standards, certification and credit systems (and EU tools, including EQF, Europass and ECVET)

7. H.E.LE.N. in action • Scenario: • Mrs. H.E.LE.N. from FR achieves a qualification in her country • she then moves to IT and wants to enroll into a IT training path • One question could be: • “which competences can be recognized?” • critical linguistic and semantic/conceptual/ cultural issues have to be addressed

8. Innovation and impact: ontology • Systematic description (model) of conceptual elements belonging to a specific Domain of analysis • Such a model has the purpose of giving a univocal representation of the information in an easily understandable format (i.e. graphical) that can be effectively shared among involved actors Formal, explicit specification of a sharedconceptualization Studer(98) Machine readable (Semantic Web) Consensual knowledge Concepts, properties, functions, axioms are explicitly defined Abstract model of some phenomena in the world

9. Outcomes, Products, Results IFTS, Italy

10. Outcomes, Products, Results IFTS, Italy

11. How to map (what is the relationship linking) concepts from different (national) models? Outcomes, Products, Results

12. Outcomes, Products, Results • “Domains”: collection containing the description and the formalization of professional figures (whole partnership), their competences, certification modes and credit transfer systems through an ontology language (a sort of “common glossary”, links) • “Quovadis”: specification of a semantic search engine based on the defined H.E.LE.N. ontology • “Handbook of Best Practices” for a vocational training virtual community: a development instrument of the European citizenship • Transversal: H.E.LE.N. Web Portal and Domain Web sites, H.E.LE.N. virtual community, meetings and other dissemination activities for proactive institutional involvement

13. Outcomes, Products, Results

14. Beneficiaries • Institutional subjects/Political decision makers • Supporting initiatives for mobility, transparency, recognition and certification (mutual trust) • Social institutions • Supporting the definition of training profiles • Education and training organizations, trainers/teachers • Supporting path development and training provision • Students and workers • Favouring awareness of KSC possessed/to be achieved • Enterprises • Supporting apprenticeship and job placement

15. Valorisation and sustainability • Project meetings in Turin, Paris and Athens • Other LdV and VET related projects • VetProfessional, EXPerO, Orsa Minore, Beatric, ECVET Connexion, Embedding Standards • Planned dissemination activities at international level (almost one year after project conclusion) • Invitation to seminar on EQF and ECVET, Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (BIBB), Sept. 2007, Düsseldorf • H.E.LE.N. transnational network (contacts) • Technological clusters - Poli Formativi (national level) • VET clusters (funded by Ministry/CIPE)

16. Benefits coming from the experiences • Positive effect on organization capabilities • Transnational cooperation and enlargement of networks of contacts (institutional subjects, key roles) • Regione Piemonte, Provincia di Torino, Italy • OEEK, Greece (L. Zahilas) • CIEP-CR2i, France (participation of G. Asseraf) • Kenniscentrum Handel, Netherlands • Ministry of Education of the Slovak Republic • Partners in H.E.LE.N. which are Contractors of other LdV project involving common actors • High visibility thanks to shared partnerships • New proposals • LLP, Multilateral Projects Transfer on Innovation: SESAMO, HERMES and eContent

17. Difficulties coming from the experiences • Main difficulties encountered • linguistic obstacles (in the specific context) • differences at the cultural, legislative and conceptual level • heterogeneous administrative and financial regulations • partial shortage of technical competences • limits of traditional tools like forums, … • high technicality of project outcomes, products and results • How to overcome them • invaluable support by the National Agency (IT) • accurate communication plan/protocol • staff member specifically dedicated to manage interaction with partners in a timely fashion • direct support on technical aspects • massive use of user-friendly tools for interactive computer-supported collaborative work

18. Suggestions for the future • To put into action what has only been outlined in projects like H.E.LE.N. (transfer of innovation) • H.E.LE.N. goals match Lifelong Learning Programme objectives where proposed actions are aimed at supporting scenarios in which competences are accumulated and recognized (mobility, transparency) • Politecnico di Torino strategies are aligned with LLP directions (investments within institutional paths, Executive Master and High Level Apprenticeship in VET-IFTS perspective)

19. Thank you for your attention! Fabrizio Lamberti Politecnico di Torino C.so Duca degli Abruzzi, 24 10129 Torino, Italy tel. +39 011 564.7193 fax. +39 011 564.7099 e-mail. fabrizio.lamberti@polito.it Claudio Demartini Politecnico di Torino C.so Duca degli Abruzzi, 24 10129 Torino, Italy tel. +39 011 564.5715 fax. +39 011 564.7099 e-mail. claudio.demartini@polito.it

20. V EQF LLL IV EQF LLL Mercato del Lavoro Higher Education LAUREA ISTRUZIONE FORMAZIONE SUPERIORE MAGISTRALE Formazione superiorenon universitaria ETA’ UNIVERSITA’ ITS /6s LAUREA ITS /4s ITS /2s DIPLOMA 19 IFTS /2s Mercato del Lavoro OBBLIGO ISTRUZIONE SCUOLA SECONDARIA SECONDO GRADO IFTS /2s Formazione Professionale Apprendistato PASSAGGI 15 Formazione Professionale SECONDO CICLO Liceo Ist. Ist. Tecnici Professionali PERCORSI TRIENNALI 14 LICENZA SCUOLA SECONDARIA PRIMO GRADO 11 POLO TECNICO PROFESSIONALE 2s = 2 semestri