Boosting digital transition through lifelong learning

The Association of Nordic Engineers and the network of Nordic and Baltic universities of technology, NORDTEK – with partners in Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden – have taken an initiative to map out how Nordic universities, industries and stakeholders can support digital transformation through strengthening lifelong learning.

The results have been collected in the policy paper Boosting the Digital Transition through Lifelong Learning.

Taking the European Skills Agenda 2020 and the European Council conclusion recommending “reskilling and upskilling as a basis for increasing sustainability and employability, in the context of supporting economic recovery and social cohesion”, the paper points out that the Nordic region is often regarded as a “digital frontrunner in Europe and globally due to its capability to access and use digital infrastructure”.

However, closing the digital skills gap and ensuring adequate provision of lifelong learning courses is still a challenge for the region. In the light of this, participants in the cross-border collaboration between the project partners are asking for a better match between demand and supply of courses that can enhance lifelong learning opportunities, including for those who already have an older degree.

For the past two decades, the Nordic countries have made major investments in research (as a percentage of GNP) and the results now urgently need to be transferred, not only through traditional research partnerships with major companies and by educating young students, but also to the public and private sector to use the results to further their own innovation.

The policy paper is based on desk research and online interviews carried out between February and June 2020 with more than 30 stakeholders from Nordic universities, trade unions, employers’ organisations, national authorities, research councils, companies and governments in the five Nordic countries.

The interviews were semi-structured and their point of departure was to investigate if and in which form the provision of continuing professional development in artificial intelligence, IT systems and other digital skills was available or seen as a catalyst for co-creation of new and innovative offers for professionals already having a degree.

Revamping the 70-20-10 model

A point of departure is the urgent need to change the so-called 70%-20%-10% model of training, where 10 is the formal university degree, 20 is non-formal courses and mentoring, and 70 is learning on the job.

The report calls for a change of the ‘one-stop shop’ that most universities provide to graduates, stating that the current disruption in our societies makes this model non-sustainable.

“Presently the disruption caused by digitalisation and COVID-19 demands that all partners and stakeholders work together to develop new solutions and offers that can ensure lifelong learning and boost the digital and green transition as highlighted in the European Commission’s Skills Agenda 2020,” the report states.

The policy paper expects the consequences of the 2020 crisis to require new ways of thinking, working, and learning. The paper points out that many foresee major changes to the labour market and quotes the World Economic Forum estimations that 54% of employees will require imperative reskilling by 2022.

The expected skills shortage therefore urgently needs to be addressed and the report concludes: “What is often missing is taking into account the great potential of those who already have relevant higher degrees and who would be able to become frontrunners or provide digital leadership in the digital transition with the provision of relevant continuing professional development (CPD.)”

Consequently, the development of purpose-driven lifelong learning opportunities to boost digital skills and leadership is an important building block for the restructuring of job markets and supporting the changes in societies,” the report says.

Higher education expert Göran Melin, of the Technopolis Group in Stockholm, told University World News: “The study’s recommendations are balanced and well underpinned. Life-long learning includes formal and systematic education or training, as well as individual professional development. The former is greatly enhanced by development and further use of digital tools, while the latter will remain dependent on social contacts and on-site experience.

“The digital tools are here to stay and, in 10 years’ time, we will see more of digital tools in higher education, but hopefully paired with physical seminars and lectures, and on-site practice on the labour market.”

Strategic partnerships that boost digitalisation

KomDigital in Denmark is developing digital competencies within companies through a facilitated team process for management as well as employees, with the Technical University of Denmark coordinating. The target group is SMEs in the Copenhagen area that want to engage in a digital transformation 2018-21.

There is 1 million project funding from the European Social Fund and 18 partners cooperating, reaching 50 companies and 250 employees. Both COVID-19 and the digital transformation are challenged.

KomDigital brings together SMEs and researchers. Together they define what type of technological or digital development suits their company – then the upgrading that takes place includes representatives from all parts of the company, including its leadership.

The initiatives focus on “working together and learning together” and is similar to the Stanford lifelong learning initiative LeadershipGarage.

The Knowledge Foundation (national research foundation) in Sweden is providing a funding model for re- and up-skilling and builds on the fact that companies co-finance the joint research projects between universities and companies.

The close cooperation built between companies and universities puts the focus on demand for up-skilling and re-skilling among the companies. The Knowledge Foundation can fund the development of education modules in the form of micro-credentials through a specific grant programme, and universities then offer them within the ordinary course offer to students, alumni and employers.

They are thus provided within the Bologna framework, using the Bologna framework and tools.

Eva Schelin, director general of the Knowledge Foundation, explains: “The Knowledge Foundation was formed with the purpose of strengthening Sweden’s competitiveness. As knowledge demand changes, the workforce at all levels must constantly up-skill and re-skill.

“We believe that financing the close cooperation between industry and universities to develop and provide micro-credential courses to professionals is a very good way to strengthen society, industries and the university sector.”

The Finnish Innovation Fund (SITRA) is a different example of strategic cooperation in support of the development of lifelong learning. Here, 30 key societal organisations and companies have agreed on a proposal for a national strategy, “Towards lifelong learning: Supporting the national development of lifelong learning through stakeholder consultation”.

The aim of the project was to support the development of a cross-sectional Finnish policy for lifelong learning to speed up the transition to a lifelong learning policy in which competence development and work are seen as the building materials of the well-being of Finnish citizens. One key conclusion was that continuous competence development is a very profitable investment in Finland’s competitiveness.

The policy paper strongly supports further development of strategic partnerships between all higher education stakeholders: universities, social partners and the private and public sectors in order to create a renewed focus on lifelong learning.

The need for re- and up-skilling and boosting Europeans’ digital knowledge, skills and competences was already gaining critical momentum prior to COVID-19. The rapid transfer to digital modes that COVID-19 has caused only underlines the need for flexible learning offers, and stakeholders in the Nordic countries wish to put pressure on their governments to focus on lifelong learning to support the digital transformation that is currently taking place.

The project partners underline that those who already have a degree and can re- and up-skill fast and as such be front-runners and provide digital leadership should have the possibility of playing a key role.

Helle Rootzén, CEO and founder of andhero (which provides support for the triangulation of digitalisation, leadership and learning), comments on the importance of a new pedagogical approach that the paper recommends: “The digitalisation of our world and our ability to balance digitalisation with what people can do together in the physical world makes continuing education needed everywhere.

“Everybody in an organisation or in a company must know the digital journey the workplace is on – otherwise we create an A and a B team and lose a lot of innovation.

“The corona[virus] crisis has shed light on that we are able to learn in new ways. By knowing our own learning path, we can use a combination of digital and face-to-face learning to make continuing education much more efficient and fun for the individual learner.”

The policy paper, Boosting the Digital Transition through Lifelong Learning, concludes with eight recommendations:

• All stakeholders, including social partners at transnational, national, regional, and local levels, have a shared responsibility. They should actively create and engage in strategic partnerships or networks that can support the development of lifelong learning offers in a public or private context.

• Develop measures that ensure a faster transmission of research-based knowledge throughout society by offering short courses or micro-credentials and opening access to courses that have been accessible only to the full-time degree students.

• Ensure that the offers build on the knowledge, skills and competences that individuals have achieved through formal and non-formal education and throughout their working life. When initiatives and continuing education offers are developed in partnership (co-creation) between different stakeholders, these should aim to support new, innovative, and flexible learning.

• Assure that continuing education offers can be very successful if the didactic and pedagogical format includes learning together or in communities of learners online, on-site or in a blended format. If networks of learners are created either within their own workplace or with learners with different experiences, then the impact of the new skills and competences have a higher potential to benefit not only the individuals, but also their workplace.

• Engage actively in the development of digital leaders and transversal competencies for AI-experts, a key priority for companies to be fit for the digital age. It will be essential for the competitiveness of the Nordic region and the European Union that all citizens become digital natives.

• Development of a joint online platform where courses can be made available to different types of learners. The interviews indicate that it is not so much a lack of relevant educational offers, but that the offers are not always available outside their specific environment and can be very hard to identify by the potential users (individuals and companies).

• Evaluate and develop the current funding models for continuing education. Models that encourage and motivate both individuals and higher education institutions to engage should be introduced. To encourage innovative approaches the ‘seed funding’ is essential for creating the strategic partnerships that are the key to developing adaptable and flexible offers appealing to those looking for continuing education, and which supports the digital and green transitions.

• Capitalise on the knowledge from the existing initiatives and further advance the multi-stakeholder co-creation. This could be accomplished through a dedicated network anchored on the political level. It could be envisaged to mandate the existing Nordic Network for Lifelong Learning, NVL, established by the Nordic Council of Ministers to sustain the collected knowledge.

The case studies included in the report are in line with the EC Skills Agenda, and it found that COVID-19 has had an important impact on how universities respond to the digital challenge, not only in using the digital format, but in responding to a need for re- and up-skilling for a changing labour market.

Alliances between stakeholders and education providers are considered to be a useful instrument for innovation and targeting the workforce where changes of technology are now speeded up due to the pandemic.