UU, HU and ROC shape education for regional businesses

At the end of 2019, the government announced it would invest 20 billion euros in a National Growth Fund to strengthen the Dutch economy sustainably and structurally. The money was earmarked for education, research, innovation and infrastructure. When it comes to education, the government focused heavily on continuing education to retrain employees.

Radboud University and Maastricht University were among the first universities to propose collaborating with other educational institutions and companies at the regional level, says Wieger Bakker, the Dean of Lifelong Learning at Utrecht University, who retired on 1 February.

The Association of Dutch Universities (UNL) wanted to scale up the initiative and asked other universities to participate. Bakker was also asked whether Utrecht University would like to join. "Within a week, all universities in the Netherlands were participating, and a week later, vocational and higher professional education institutions joined as well."

Employers were actively sought out through networks and mini-conferences to see if answers to their knowledge questions could be found together

An application was submitted to the growth fund for a national LLO catalyst – the letters LLO stand for Lifelong Learning. The application was approved.

According to Bakker, the application focused on four building blocks, namely unlocking future-oriented labour market information, forging regional links between employers and education, professionalising educational institutions in the field of LLO, and strengthening the overall learning culture.

In Utrecht, several parties joined forces to create a regional LLO catalyst: ROC Midden Nederland, Utrecht University of Applied Sciences, Utrecht University, and several companies and organisations transitioning to sustainable construction and sustainable energy, such as Bloemendal Bouw and Stedin.

Bakker says the first companies were found after an intensive dialogue: "Together, we figured out how we could collaborate." Employers were actively sought out through networks and mini-conferences to see if answers to their knowledge questions could be found together.

They also appealed to the National Growth Fund, another application that ended up approved. The partners received 2 million euros to retrain employees in the workplace to accelerate the energy and raw materials transition, while the educational institutions received another 2 million euros to professionalise in lifelong learning.

Wieger Bakker. Photo: Ivar Pel

We are working together to build a new fabric, and that takes time

Although the regional catalyst subsidy was granted just over a year ago, the project to retrain employees is still in the development phase. Bakker does not find it surprising that this process is being viewed with some impatience. "Both employers and society recognise the urgency of staff shortages and social transitions that need to be addressed.  However, organisations that have been operating in the same way for half a century do not change quickly." He estimates it will take at least ten years before any effect can be seen. "We are building a new fabric together, and that takes time."

Arnold Wilts agrees. He is the programme coordinator of the LLO catalyst at Utrecht University. "We have only started to accelerate a reaction, like a catalyst. It must continue on its own. Ultimately, the project must make itself redundant." To reach that point, the educational institutions involved must first connect seamlessly with each other and with the business community. According to Wilts, this is crucial to success because each level plays an indispensable role in the learning process.

"Vocational education and higher professional education are much closer to practical experience and the actual profession. Utrecht University, on the other hand, focuses on the overarching questions, such as how those skills are embedded in the organisation and how the LLO system can work optimally."

‘We need to bridge cultural differences and resolve logistical friction’

Anton van der Lugt, Project Coordinator of the TechCampus at ROC Midden Nederland, agrees that this is the first step, as the collaboration between the three educational institutions must bridge cultural differences and resolve logistical friction. After all, the three knowledge institutions speak a "different language", which is particularly evident in the pace of action and their relationship to practice.

This difference, he argues, can be traced directly to the structure of the three institutions. For example, ROC Midden Nederland has more direct "influence from the field," making it more flexible, while Utrecht University has greater organisational distance from companies' daily practice.

They also have a logistical puzzle to solve. One of the problems, according to Wilts, is scheduling. It is complex to get lecturers, students and experts from three different educational institutions, each with their own schedules and academic calendars, to work in sync. They are currently looking for a solution to this issue so that they can start teaching this calendar year.

In the curriculum of each educational institution
The ultimate goal is to integrate the courses that will be developed into the curricula of all three educational institutions, says Van der Lugt of ROC Midden Nederland. "The courses can be seen as a kind of minor with an internship component, in which students from the three educational institutions spend a semester working with teachers and company employees on practical assignments based on issues from the business world, and developing solutions for those issues. They will learn with and from each other."

Wilts adds that the courses should not only increase participants' knowledge of topics such as the increasing digitisation, to name but one example, but also improve their communication skills. At the end of the course, employees should be able to explain their technical solutions to customers clearly.

Employees receive a microcredential upon completing a course, serving as official proof of completion. This meets the need for formal recognition of new skills. "All companies in this project work with strict certifications and authorisations," says Wilts. Employees often need compulsory diplomas or certificates to perform high-risk tasks.

The ultimate goal is to certify skills, enabling each employee to demonstrate the required transition and circular skills individually, clearly, and officially.

Learning from a challenge
Regional companies feel that employees' need to brush up on their skills is urgent, as those companies are already facing the challenges posed by the energy transition. Making companies more sustainable demands high levels of skill from employees. They say that the transition to sustainable energy is creating an urgent demand for technical, digital and operational expertise in the workplace. It also requires flexible cooperation among employees at all levels of education. They feel the urgency to acquire new knowledge.

The same goes for the network operator Stedin, says Peter Voermans, a business partner trainer at Stedin Academy. His organisation was one of the first to join the three educational institutions in the Utrecht LLO catalyst. The partners opted for a joint development method known as "a targeted challenge”. Before the end of the year, Stedin employees, lecturers and students from all institutions will identify and tackle a specific organisational problem Stedin is facing. In addition to delivering a technical upgrade to the network, such learning programmes also help employees develop more complex skills.