How to create CoVE in the ICT sector

InvestTech Project Team

Centers of Excellence in VET (CoVEs) typically bring together a wide range of local partners. These include vocational training centres (VET centres), employers, research centres, development agencies and employment services, which contribute to the creation of a “skills ecosystem”, and which contribute to regional, economic, social development, innovation and follow smart specialisation strategies (S3).

The question arises as to how to establish a CoVE in the IT sector, which will link the work of educational institutions, businesses and other key stakeholders to create the skills that the digital transformation in a given region, sector or country needs?

1. Identifying stakeholders

First of all, a strong working group needs to be built with representatives of different organisations and institutions that can contribute to achieving excellence in VET in the ICT sector. It is absolutely necessary that this range of stakeholders is sufficiently broad. Appropriate experts are needed who are not only able but also willing to participate in the creation of CoVE, in its activities or in the decision-making process, as well as to subsequently benefit from its activities. This requires, at the very beginning, to map the stakeholders and assess the influence they could have on such CoVE in the IT sector.

It is necessary for each regional or national partner in the creation of such a center (for example, the Bulgarian partners in the InvestTech project) to contribute to finding appropriate stakeholders based on their experience, knowledge and existing contacts and connections. This will allow for a more objective and complete identification of the appropriate organizations and/or individuals who will actually assist in the creation of CoVE. The important thing is that among them there are universities, vocational schools, state authorities (in the field of education, economy and digital transformation), non-governmental organizations, media representatives, etc. Stakeholders may also include teachers, lecturers and trainers in VET, students, IT companies, policy makers in regional development, VET and digital transformation, civil society organizations and networks related to excellence in VET, authors of digital innovations, and agents of economic and sustainable development.

In the identification process itself, it is good to consider how these parties can be sufficiently engaged in this process and, according to the conclusions, to be grouped according to criteria such as relevance, interests and opportunities for participation in the process of creating and operating CoVE.

2. Stakeholder engagement

Once stakeholders have been identified, they need to be made aware of the objectives of CoVE and the role it will play in the sector and the digital transformation. In order to maintain the engagement and activity of these stakeholders, regular meetings will need to be held to discuss the results and their possible contribution to the skills ecosystem. Without sufficient awareness and appropriate engagement, the process of creating such a center will be seriously hampered. Without going overboard with too many events or frequent engagement of these parties, we should keep in mind that regular information will be key to the success of a CoVE.

3. Skills Gap Analysis

CoVE is being created to close the gap between the needs and the actual state of skills in the IT sector and to offer innovative tools to achieve high results in training. Therefore, at this stage, it is necessary to have a survey and assessment of the skills gap. Relevant information on the situation and needs will determine the orientations in the training to which access should be ensured. Each country/region is characterized by certain strengths and weaknesses, development opportunities and challenges, and this is the basis of the idea of ​​smart specialization. Therefore, aiming for excellence in VET, innovation, economic growth and sustainability, the creators of a CoVE center should be well aware of the priorities of the regional strategy for smart specialization (S3). This can be achieved through appropriate activities, which should typically include:

• desk research: identify skills relevant to the digital transformation, including technical skills/job-specific skills and generic skills/soft skills;
• workshop and interviews: involve the most relevant stakeholders and collect data for quantitative analysis;
• quantitative survey based on questionnaires: the content of the questionnaires is tailored to the skills gaps identified in the region, a list of general and technical skills for assessment is specified, data is collected on how to develop the skills gaps, data on the potential benefit of CoVE services for each stakeholder and how to support these services;
• data analysis: priorities for success are defined and skills, their attractiveness for the region and sector, CoVE services and measures for their development and maintenance are specified.

4. Applying a situational analysis

The educational and supporting organisations and institutions in the country or region also play an important role in the success of a CoVE centre. This requires a situational analysis to provide information on the innovation potential and capacity of these organisations and how they will influence the centre’s activities. It would be good to offer these organisations a self-assessment tool and/or a method to measure their educational capacity. This way they will be aware of their real capacity to support excellence in VET in the IT sector and their ability to foster the continuous development of the skills ecosystem in this sector.

5. Sustainability strategy

Any stakeholder group working on the creation of a CoVE in the IT sector should have a sustainability strategy in place, which should be developed based on the previous steps and analyses. It starts with a clear strategic statement that outlines the purpose, scope and competitive advantage of CoVE in a given country/region. It should be understandable to all stakeholders who recognize their benefits, spheres of influence and level of impact. In general, the strategic statement contains three elements - strategic objective, scope and competitive advantage.

Conclusions

To create a well-functioning Centre of Vocational Excellence (CoVE) in the IT sector, the most important steps are: 1. building a multidisciplinary team, 2. conducting a survey and discussion with the identified stakeholders in the sector, 3. securing support and commitment from these stakeholders, 4. identifying and analysing the skills gaps and key challenges in the regional skills ecosystem needed to carry out the digital transformation. Due to the specific characteristics of each country and each region, the creation of a CoVE should refer to the priorities set out in the regional smart specialisation strategy (3S).

The legal aspects of a CoVE are not strictly established. Therefore, each concept can be adapted to the existing legal frameworks, the skills of the team and the wishes and beliefs of the relevant stakeholders. However, each CoVE in the IT sector should function as a network of partners, open to new members who will join the physical, intellectual and creative capacity of the main stakeholders in the given region or country.