The project

European excellence in dairy learning

The European Excellence in Dairy Learning project is not just a project but a vision for a stronger collaboration between learning stakeholders in a sector with a deeply rooted tradition of vocational training and work-based learning. Also, it is a sector that, while previously eco- shamed as a big CO2-polluter, is now at the forefront of green technology and sustainable solutions for such an important food sector as Dairy. Now more than ever, food sustainability and food security are key to worldwide success.

The Dairy industry ranges from traditional craftmanship to fully automated Dairy plants with vast production volumes and requires a diverse range of skills to ensure success. There is a need to protect the conventional Dairy craftsmanship skills and attract enough Dairy employees with the right digital and green skills for the industry to stay competitive in the international marketplace.

Its origin

This proposal has its origin in the Association of European Dairy Industry Learning (AEDIL). The network consists of 15 member countries who have successfully worked together since 1992 and have delivered several successful European projects that serve as precursors to this proposal. Each of the member countries has stakeholders from the worlds of work, education and science represented. This project will use this collaboration and previous work as a starting point for developing a deeper and extended collaboration in the form of a platform for vocational excellence in Dairy.

From the previous to this project

This includes a successfully concluded SSA-project from 2020, under the title ‘Mapping Skills Needs & Supply in the Dairy Sector’. The mapping showed clear skill gaps across all educational levels and incorporates actors from primary producers, the processing industry, education, and government at multiple levels. Hence, this proposal encompasses EQF levels 3 to 8, focusing on EQF 3-5. The proposal focuses on delivering high-quality intervention addressing the priority areas from the skills mapping project, including technical Dairy skills, digital skills, green skills, and strong partnerships and closer collaboration to achieve the goals and close the skills gaps.

Recruitment and retention of workers was another key finding. This challenge is addressed in this proposal by establishing a process to support the attractiveness of the Dairy sector as a career choice and by creating a Dairy career pathway to increase the appeal of the industry for professionals.

The project is not limited to existing initiatives and work by AEDIL-members. We have the ambition to build on our solid foundation aligning our development with the European vision for VET excellence, Innovation hubs and upward convergence. For example, initiatives and steps have been taken at regional and national levels towards strong business-education partnerships to tackle skills gaps and recruitment challenges. This strong tradition of partnership and collaboration among members is key to the successful delivery of meaningful results. The models being developed by AEDIL-partners will serve as inspiration and learning to foster strong partnerships among other partners in the consortium to create stronger transnational collaboration.

National level

Each of the 9 CoVEs will contribute to developing innovative solutions to 3S smart specialization needs by designing tasks that are integrated into the local skills ecosystem priorities.

At a transnational level

The CoVE will work together through the Diary Learning & Innovation Hub platform (See section 4.1) to establish a best in class Dairy Development Programme that tackles major challenges of Dairy sustainability and digitalization attraction of new talent and upskilling of low skilled workers.

Knowledge triangle

The project includes all actors in the knowledge triangle steamily to ensure that we work closely together as scholars, researchers, businesspeople, innovators, teachers, and students to learn from and support one another in achieving the maximum potential for the Dairy sector.

Upward convergence

The consortium has been carefully developed to include partners from enlargement countries and third-party countries with the potential and ambition to grow their Dairy sectors. The more established partners will commit to supporting developing partners to deliver upward convergence in VET excellence using the EU maturity model as our guide.