<< Background >>The OECD published recently “Higher Education to 2030”, two volumes focusing the future challenges for higher education: demographics and globalization, both related to the potential of digital transformation and the urgent need to implement innovative learning and teaching practices. Higher Education to 2030 discusses trends and prospects regarding changes in the population of students (demographics, inclusion of people with disabilities, migration and gender equality), academic teaching staff and graduates in higher education in OECD countries, particularly the link between these demographic changes and higher education policy, and on the academic teaching profession. OECD reassures that higher education institutions need to create synergic consortiums to better face the new reality and reduce inequalities in access and participation, the diversity of paths, provision and institutions in higher education, the possible social marginalisation of those persons least educated, building inclusive higher education systems, but also consider the need to rethink the role of the academic profession, stimulating innovative learning and teaching practices.Higher education drives and is driven by globalisation. It trains the future talents, with the young generation of graduates, but also the highly skilled workers (LLL)and contributes to the research base and capacity for innovation that determine competitiveness in the knowledge-based global society. Knowledge has no borders, and higher education plays a central role in facilitating international collaboration and cross-cultural exchange. Cross-border flows of ideas, students, teachers, researchers and external stakeholders, coupled with developments in information and communication technology, are changing the environment where higher education institutions function. Co-operation and competition are intensifying simultaneously under the growing influence of market forces and the emergence of new players, HEIs and teachers need to be prepared to continue leading this path. Digitalization and innovative learning and teaching practices, as well as inclusive higher education systems need to be reinforced ensuring HEIs ability to answer the society needs and challenges.The OECD Centre for Educational Research and Innovation (CERI) has been focusing the “openness” movement on higher education. Globally HEIs are confronted with the increase in open forms of educational delivery, as IT and the availability of educational tools and offers via the Internet are changing the meaning and the method of knowledge distribution and how and where learning happens. Open higher education includes various phenomena: open educational resources, open access and enrolments, open universities, open degrees, open data, open science, etc. The concept of openness thus is expanding from content-oriented resources to cover the entire educational and learning process.The impact of these new innovative practices in education and learning on higher education institutions might be very significant, if not only the tool is changed, but also the concept, methodology and objective of teacher practice. Innovative learning and teaching practices and the open higher education approach it definitely will be a game changer in higher education. Innovative learning and teaching practices should address societal challenges, offering a support for an approach focusing learning outcomes and student-centred courses and curriculum, better answering the needs of students and reducing skills mismatches between HEIs, students, graduated and the market. In such a way HEI will assume relevance for the community, regional economy and global market. Several international policy makers have already stressed the need for HEIs to develop, test and implement flexible learning pathways.<< Objectives >>This project will develop a digital future challenge-based learning joint programme designed within an innovative and flexible academic structure and framework: multi-disciplinary, cross-sectoral and future skills-oriented modules (micro credentials), new curricula and learning pathways, that include digital literacy and prior knowledge recognition models.<< Implementation >>Innovative projects will be developed and implemented, together with stakeholders (in a total of 180 engagements), to address local and global societal challenges. The approach will strengthen interaction and engagement among education, research and innovation, with a positive effect on communities, ultimately leading to sustainable economic growth in the post pandemic reality.Transnational, collective learning and research are the pillars of the innovative pedagogy for the multidisciplinary cocreation knowledge-creating teams where participants acquire the future skills for and produce innovation, societal impact and valorisation, with methodologies from the Educational Design Research and Design Thinking, adapted to the digital learning. The learning programmes and individual learning trajectories will have four layers: Expert knowledge; Expert course modules (flexible learning paths: prior knowledge recognition and micro-credentials); One Joint course (flexible learning paths; 150 students); Collective learning and research (Knowledge co-creation teams; 150 people involved). The project does not use one solution fits all approach, instead guides de learner in defining their own path, in this sense is open to engage all types of learners from 18 to 81: students, citizens, researchers, employees, civil servants, as long as driven in developing their digital, 21st skills and transformational competences. Each learner will have the opportunity to select the modules (micro-credentials) more adapted to their learning objectives. Prior (formal or informal) knowledge and skills will be recognized and certified by the consortium HEI’s and knowledge gaps filled in with flexible modules, that will lead to micro credentials. The partner HEIs already have some previous test beds with learning contexts that bring together learners with different profiles, and the results are exciting. DIFUCH will expand these experiences to an international, digital context.The curriculum will consist of flexible modules, based on transnational, cross and multi-disciplinary and cross-sectoral approaches, integrating innovative digital adapted pedagogies. Each module may award the learner with micro-credential.Students will be able to customize their choice of where and what to study within the confines of pedagogically sound and logically structured programmes.Digital learning spaces will be created, integrated in a common virtual, inclusive, open, social, fluid and agile campus, that is not segregated from the internet, other virtual platforms, social media and streaming channels used by students, but instead enables easy communication with those. Embracing technology as a variety of tools to build the innovative virtual campus is essential to guarantee they are updated and attractive to younger generations, with the ultimate goal of creating unique learning experiences. The virtual Campus will facilitate learning, implementing new models for engaged, collaborative learning in an inspiring and gamified 3D online campus (1000 users and 200 Students actively participating in training).<< Results >>This partnership will achieve as expected results: 1. promote cooperation between regional authorities and contribute to the European value creation addressing the grand societal challenges (180 stakeholder engagements (E1 and E2)).; 2. establish a digital and inclusive campus where students, teachers, researchers, and staff collaborate virtually, to co-create relevant innovative solutions; 3. Design a curriculum for digital learning that foregrounds innovation, builds a strong sense of European identity, and stimulates civic engagement (150 students); 4. Design, test and implement a framework of new educational methods for digital future challenge learning, in a co-creation setting (150 students); 5. Promote virtual mobility of students (n=600) and staff (n=30), building a pan-European learning community; 6. Integrate multidisciplinary and cross-sectoral approaches in the educational and research systems aiming to establish engaged inter-university knowledge creation teams working together on societal problems; 7. Engage HEIs in the regional and European transition processes to the future-ready economy, building an inter-regional innovation academy to identify, analyse, and address existing and emerging challenges.The partnership expects longer term benefits, either with sustainable long lasting joint digital and blended study programme to be implemented with the digital future challenge learning methodology; increased mobility within partner institutions in particular virtual mobility as a future driven, ecological way of being mobile. The long-term sustainability is guaranteed by the materials, toolbar and platforms developed being available after the end of the project, and in the DIFUCH virtual collaborative campus as main repository and information sharing, which will grow continuously and collaboratively.

The number of successful cyberattacks has grown tremendously over the past years; often it is only a matter of time when a company, government or institute is hacked. As it is almost impossible to prevent attacks and breaches, it is important to have a strategy and personal that react properly after a successful attack. This will decrease the impact on the company and help preserving evidence. Consequently, industry and public sector is investing in incident response teams and incident response plans. While it is an important topic and relies on many technical skills and planning, there is barely any freely accessible material or University courses that offer training in this domain. Most of the current offerings are from industry or institutes, e.g., the SANS Institute.This project aims to form a Digital Forensics Incident Response (DFIR) Alliance who can serve as experts in the domain but more importantly will develop an update to date curricula. First, the alliance will analyze the most needed skills jointly with other experts in the field (e.g., law enforcement agencies) which will result in a skillmap. This skillmap will be shared so that cybersecurity / digital forensic programs can adjust their curriculum accordingly. Second, this project will develop course material -- theoretical as well as hands on -- which will be shared with the public and utilized by the partnering institutions. The resulting material may be as a semester long course or a 1-week intense seminar. In summary, there are three major objectives:- Build a network of DFIR experts that can be utilized when needed (e.g., supporting law enforcement, deliver modules or provide training). - Create a ranked skillmap for DFIR specialists (i.e., identify / rank most needed skills that can also be delivered in the given time frame).- Develop DFIR course materials (theory / hands on) including evaluating and testing of the developed materials.To ensure that the developed curriculum will address the needs of industry and public sector, this project will involve an interdisciplinary consortium that has expertise in various areas of cybersecurity and digital forensics:- University of Liechtenstein (Mobile forensics, hashing and machine learning), - University Albstadt-Sigmaringen (traditional digital forensics, cybercrime and open source intelligence),- Waterford Institute of Technology (small device forensics, network and online investigations, and data mining), and- Brno University of Technology (Network security and forensics).Additionally, some consortium members have / had collaboration with law enforcement agencies and worked jointly on projects. This project will generate impact on higher education and help reducing the shortage of skilled incident response personal. Since we will disseminate the outcomes of this project across our networks, and share our findings and insights on various online platforms, we expect that this project will be taken up by other universities (either as a whole curriculum, or parts of it).

ContextStudent Stress Training e-Mobile Management (SSTeMM) is referenced to the ‘European Framework for Mental Health and Well-being’ and the WHO (Tsouros et al., 1998) Framework of Action for Health Promoting Universities to promote and protect the physical and mental health of students and staff in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). Industry based internships, as part of HEI professional courses, such as medicine or nursing, transition the learner from student to qualified status and are formative in terms of heuristic development to cope with stress in the workplace. The impact of STTeMM aligns to the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work – EASH - (2013) in its research priorities for 2013 to 2020,‘Develop interventions, programmes and strategies that merge traditional workplace health protection with workplace health promotion and address both work-related risks —organisational and individual psychosocial contexts — and behavioural factors simultaneously'. This logically includes a focus on both the work environment and individual choices and behaviours.’(EASH, 2013:52). Within the context of the promotion of health broadly and retention of the nursing workforce particularly, SSTeMM may be seen significantly to support the European Commission's broad and specific policy goals and to be aligned with EASH priorities with its focus upon sharing good practice and establishing a Pan EU framework for action in order to establish a more effective service engaged approach to the management of work related stress and the promotion of well-being amongst the nursing profession in general across the European Union and, indeed, beyond.ObjectivesSSTeMM aims to develop an end-user (which we define as internship student, internship mentor, hosting industry and HEI staff) accessible digital mobile platform of targeted work based education, competency training and in vivo self reflection learning opportunities to equip students and mentoring workers with the knowledge, skills and competencies to address occupational stressors (both personal and environmental). The focus will be on a pedagogy that develops personal skills to build resilience that support retention; enhance student internship engagement whilst away from their base HEI and equip such students with a reinforced skills and competency set that will enhance their personal wellbeing once they have entered the world of full time employment following graduation/qualification.Number and profile of the participantsStudent nurses on internship placement as part of the pre qualification training and their qualified nurse mentors are the target of SSTeMM solution development and implementation. We anticipate a minimum of 200 student nurses plus their internship mentors directly participating in SSTeMM solutions across four national jurisdictions, plus a minimum of 700 student and qualified nurses participating in a survey on identifying student stressors in the work place. Description of ActivitiesSSTeMM involves the analysis of student nurse stressors whilst in internship settings. Based on this data, SSTeMM will develop training packages and guidance to manage stress in the work place delivered through an e-platform and mobile application which will be specifically designed for student nurses on internship and their clinical mentors to use at the time events occur or shortly after. The SSTeMM solution will be localised and Beta tested and then piloted across three to five clinical sites in four jurisdictions (Ireland, Slovenia, Spain and Kosovo).Methodology to be usedMultiple synergistic methodologies will be used incorporating literature review, survey, curriculum methods, mobile application development with Beta testing and case studies.Results and Impact EnvisagedAn analytical toolbox incorporating a stress catalogue and survey instrument. Blended Learning Training Package incorporating mobile application to deliver developed stress training and guidance modular content in the workplace. A training manual and programme to support academic lecturers and clinical mentors. A localised validated SSTeMM solution that be will be open access and available to anyone who wishes to use it. SSTeMM aims to locate and embedd stress management skills and knowledge acquisition through a curriculum that emphasises internship learning as the most effective environment for training student nurses to manage stress and translates into their professional way of working once qualified and in employment.Longer term benefitsEstablish a more effective service engaged approach to stress management at work amongst the nursing profession that generalises to other disciplines.

"Throughout the world, persons with intellectual disability (ID) are excluded from many areas of life, often segregated in specialised systems including special schools, sheltered work environments, and congregate living facilities. These arrangements adversely affect their learning opportunities and have a negative impact on their opportunities as adults and their quality of life.Inclusive post-secondary education (IPSE) for individuals with ID, which are programmes housed in traditional colleges and universities, is a relatively new practice that holds much promise for improved adult outcomes. Currently in Europe, however, relatively few IPSE programmes for young adults with ID exist. This suggests there is both a need and an opportunity to greatly increase these programmes. This is the primary objective of the proposed project.We have recently identified nine IPSE programmes in five countries, and seven of these institutions are partners in this proposed project:•Austria: University of Education Salzburg•Germany: Catholic University of Applied Sciences Berlin•Iceland: University of Iceland•Ireland: University College Cork, Waterford Institute of Technology, Trinity College Dublin•Switzerland (as an associated partner): University of Education ZürichAll the partners have significant experience and competence related to operating IPSE programmes at their universities, and each has demonstrated unique strengths in key areas. Because of their expertise, we feel the proposed project will greatly benefit from each partner’s contribution.The proposed project has five distinct goals:1)Increase the access of persons with ID to IPSE programmes throughout Europe; 2)Focus on developing fully inclusive programmes for persons with ID in current and future IPSE programmes;3)Enhance IPSE programmes to focus on employment outcomes for persons with ID in self-determined career areas;4)Develop instruction for IPSE staff and student volunteers to improve their knowledge of strategies promoting inclusion and self-determination for persons with ID;5)Develop and disseminate quality indicators for IPSE programmes to colleges and universities throughout Europe.The following products will be developed during the project to help achieve the above goals:1)IPSE Curriculum Framework: Currently, IPSE programmes offer a range of curricular options. While all programmes have different valuable features and strengths, no standard curriculum model is broadly implemented. We feel there is a need for a broad curriculum framework across IPSE programmes to better assure the direction and quality of programmes.2)Strategic Inclusive Information Training Modules:For IPSE programmes to develop fully inclusive models, there is a need to prepare two key constituency groups to implement these models: a) professional staff who operate IPSE programmes; and b) college students with and without disabilities who populate the programmes. During the project, to prepare these groups for inclusion, we will develop and test two sets of instructional modules, one set for each group. The modules will be developed for use in live, face-to-face sessions, or in online webinars. They will address these critical topics: What is inclusion (what does it look like)? Why is inclusion important (what does research say about the effects of inclusion)? And, How does inclusion work (what strategies can be used in IPSE programmes to implement inclusion successfully)?3)IPSE Knowledge Centre: A Web-Based Resource for Programmes, Students, and Families. To provide a wide array of information about IPSE programmes for students and their families, and to provide practical information for current and developing programmes in Europe, we will develop ""IPSE Centre"". This web-based programme will digitally house different kinds of information and various resources. While these resources will be fully determined during the project, we currently envision four main functions or components of the website:•A database listing all current and future IPSE programmes in Europe and containing key information about the programmes •Information sharing blog that will allow professionals, persons with disabilities, and families to share key ideas and successful practices related to operating IPSEs•Accessible published materials relevant to IPSEs •Sources of technical assistance IPSE Knowledge Centre will be installed and operated at the University of Education Salzburg. This will allow the site to be maintained after project funding has been terminated. 4)IPSE Conferences:The ultimate purpose of the project is to encourage and enlist European universities to develop and implement IPSE programmes for students with ID. Therefore, during the life of the project, we will offer two international conferences. The final of these conferences, a “state of the art conference,” will launch a post-project series of conferences that will occur biennial."

<< Background >>Up to this day, staff of public sector organizations are neither perceived as innovative nor digital. The image of a cumbersome bureaucracy that hinders innovation remains prevalent. And yet, the public sector has a huge innovation potential. What is needed in order to unlock this potentiall is an entrepreneurial mindset which has so far been primarily associated with the private sector. Such a form of Public Entrepreneurship clearly breaks away from the classic idea of a pure administration of public goods and instead emphasizes active involvement by the public sector in the development of (regional) innovation through pro-active, innovative and sometimes risk-taking behaviour. The challenge here is to enable actors in the public sector to think and act entrepreneurially. It is important to break out of security and bureaucratic mentalities in order to anticipate and identify innovation potential that can contribute to solving complex socio-economic challenges (cf. Diefenbach 2011, 32ff.).While there are many digital learning materials on related subjects in the fields of (social) entrepreneurship, innovation, leadership, project management etc., few to none were tailored for PS actors specifically. In other words, the European PS remains largely undisturbed by external educational influences touching these aspects: “While there is a growing body of evidence on innovative practices in the public sector, there is still limited knowledge of what [management] tools governments can use to over-come innovation barriers and strengthen organisations’ capacity to innovate” (OECD 2017, 16).This gap is exactly where the project comes in. The lack of (digital) educational offers for public sector actors on the basis of the previously depicted needs is a hindrance especially for small-scale municipalities and their workforce to foster innovation on a local level. The previous statements have shown that such an educational offer must combine a) entrepreneurialal skills with b) systemic assets based upon project management and problem solving tools.As a consequence, the learning materials offered by this project will be wider and more transformative than any current offer of digital training/education for Public Sector actors. This innovative and holistic approach is necessary because both economic and social paradigms which have been taken for granted in the last decades are currently undergoing significant changes. The model of an affluent welfare state ensuring economic growth and social cohesion has exceeded its zenith in late 20th century. Instead, regional disparities are increasing as a consequence of limited public budgets and bureaucratic restraints. In this climate, the need for new models of action-based learning on how to generate public innovation against the backlash of restrained public funds and socio-economic regression are much needed. That is why our learning materials will employ innovative techniques such as role modelling, storytelling and experience-based learning to prepare PS actors for complex future challenges.The Public:Start Digital Learning Programme on complex challenges and how to tackle these with entrepreneurial skills, provides PS sector staff and VET providers who train and teach leaders and managers of PS with microlearning, tailor-made digital learning materials that are applied to the public sector context, which is new and innovative in this sector. Additionally, a curriculum to build this into a blended learning course will be developed. Further, the Public:Start tool provides learners on the job how to approach complex projects and guides them through the entire process while embedding the developed microlearning materials. As many complex challenges are global, like climate change or the digital transformation (e.g. smart cities), it is beneficial to have a transnational consortium in order to bring different perspectives to the table.<< Objectives >>The desired impact of this project is to nurture new generation of Public Entrepreneurs all over Europe who actively implement the learning materials and Public:Start tool of this project in order to respond to complex socio-economic challenges by fostering public innovation. In long term and at EU level, we hope to achieve even more ambitious goals visible in such indicators as a increasing number of regions engaging in public innovation strategies or a growing body of Public Entrepreneurship projects sucessfully implemented.The structure of the project has been designed so that the activities carried out in the project & the public resutls that are produced are capable of generating a positive impact on the target groups in each partner' regional context (Lower Saxony - Germany, Sardinia and Venetia - Italy, Waterford - Ireland, Groningen - Netherlands, Albacete - Spain) and to make it a blueprint for a wider spread across Europe. This will lead to many hundreds of regional stakeholders acquiring the knowledge, skills and, importantly, confidence, to foster public innovation.In terms of benefits for VET providers, this innovative learning approach supports them to equip public sector learners with specific vocational skills and competences that they can use in their day-to-day work.<< Implementation >>The partners will bring different perspectives and expertise to the table and will work on the Project Results accordingly. They contribute to concepts, methodologies and development of contents and materials. Each partner hosts a multiplier event to present the project results to the target audience. All partners take an active role in the dissemination of the project and the engagement of participants. Project management activities pave the way to a proper time and budget control and with the help of a detailed monitoring and evaluation plan, project progress and results are assessed and feedback is collected. In order to make Public:Start a long-lasting success, the sustainability strategy will outline the steps to make within the project to guarantee the sustainable and impactful continuation of the project results. Different partners will take the lead on these transversal activities and involve the responsible staff of the other partners, while the project coordinator Domhan Vision will oversee all activities and align them with each other to achieve the project's objectives.Partners will start locally with their own learners to implement the results in the public sector and then take these best practices further to a regional and European level.<< Results >>The projects’ results will be fostering the proficiency of public sector staff in these areas of competence:The first project result is the Public Entrepreneurship Digital Programme which will cover competences for tackling complex tasks (OECD) as well as entrepreneurship skills (EntreComp). It will be based on micro-learning and challenge-based learning. The digital learning materials can be integrated in any system (LMS, website etc.) and are offered as separate OERs openly and available for free. The digital components of this course will also be embedded into a blended learning curriculum to provide valuable guidance and learning situations for learners and their trainers and teachers.The second project result is the Public:Start tool, which is a hands-on guide for on-the-job complex challenges. The previously developed microlearning elements will be embedded in an easy-to-use, gamified digital visualisation that leads the administration staff through the process of developing and implementing an innovative solution to a complex problem. It will visualize the road to the solution and will therefore act as a checklist, guide and progress report in order to increase transparency, security for staff, and to assign responsibilities. This will act as a template for project management, but also as a cohesive e-learning course with practical examples taken from the public sector that are based on European priorities for digital transformation and global warming. It will be broken down to what municipalities can do to act as a role model but also as a facilitator for societal challenges.