e-training for unemployed

1. e-training for unemployed Joan Torrent Ph.D. – Teacher, Department of Economics and Business Studies 16th September 2009

2. Labour market, the “Spanish way” (I)‏ Spanish labour market has adopted “external flexibility” solutions (employment losses) instead of “internal flexibility” (employment conditions: working hours, salary, dismissal costs, etc.). The Spanish labour market has a dangerous segmentation, a dualised structure

3. Labour market, the “Spanish way” (II)‏ The stable and the temporary workers: two different labour markets

4. The situation, impact of the crisis (I)‏ Unemploment has almost tripled during the last 2 years, especially among men, in all sectors, althoug biggest impact has been in construction and related sectors

5. The situation, impact of the crisis (II)‏ Unemployment rate up by almost 10 points, biggest growth in OECD Men’s unemployment has increased 11,3 pp, up to 16% (17,6% Spanish average)‏

6. The situation, profiles of unemployed More than half of unemployed have a low or very low level of employability, above the Spanish average. This means low skilled workers, or coming from sectors in crisis or deep structural change

7. E-training for unemployed: a pionner project to improve skills of any person (I)‏ • The objectives • Promote lifelong learning among all active population. • Adapt skills of every worker to knowledge society. • Promote e-learning. • Develop more efficient training tools, capable to train more people at a lower cost, keeping up with quality standards. • Reach wider range of professional profiles. • Link university and society to help solving the crisis. • Test new forms of training to develop general and specific skills.

8. E-training for unemployed: a pionner project to improve skills of any person (II)‏ • The basics of the project • An offer of 60 courses in 8 different fields: • ICT skills. • Language skills. • Job search skills and tools. • Logistics. • Social related skills. • Applied ICT skills (multimedia, etc.). • Tourist sector (new appoaches and skills). • Management skills (marketing, communication, etc.).

9. E-training for unemployed: a pionner project to improve skills of any person (III)‏ • The basics of the project • Compressed training scheme: 25-50 hours / 3-6 weeks (7 editions: 1 month scheme). • All the contents have been adapted to the characteristics of students. • Evaluation of skills achieved for every student, and diploma for those who pass the training. • Personalized teaching and tuition through consultants (10 to 40 students per class, with 1 consultant). • Goal: 15.000 people trained in 2009, and more than 600 courses. • Budget: 1 MEuros (60% variable costs, and a maximum 65 Euros per person trained during 2009). • Extensive survey for project development and student satisfaction will be carried out.

10. What the project has achieved so far… • 4 editions: 2 in June, July, and August. Close to 9.000 students. • 75% of students are concentrated in English, ICT, management and social ralated skills. • 70% of students are active in the classes, and 50% obtain good qualifications. • Young women (under 40) with secondary education or university degree is the most common student.

11. Challenges ahead… • Consolidation: after the project has been launched, it faces a cosolidation phase. • Continous adaptation of training offer. • Attract a wider range of profiles, especially those with lower levels of qualification. • Step up communication and dissemination activities. • Progressively close the gap to unemployed necessities. • Develop a stronger link with companies to meet private sector requierements. • Extend the model to all active population as a consistent option of lifelong learning.

12. Thank you very much! Questions and comments welcome to: Joan Miquel Piqué: jpiqueab@uoc.edu Pilar Ficapal: pficapal@uoc.edu Joan Torrent: jtorrent@uoc.edu