Project Background:
Education is the main engine of any society, so all of us needs lifelong education. In the context of
Industry 4.0, technical education is one of the main goals of modern societies without which there would be
no progress. Welding is an essential cross-sectoral manufacturing process, performed in almost every major
industry. Therefore, weld quality and integrity are critical to safety in an extensive range of products and
structures. The International / European Welding Inspectors (IWI/EWI) are the key players in the evaluation
of welded products to provide value-added on the market. The specific activities they perform are highly
demanding and have long-term significant impact on the quality and safety of the welded products and
structures. But high-level training as IWI/EWI requires a long course, and employers cannot afford to take
out of production employees for such a long time. Besides the course cost and its duration, travel and
accommodation costs are added for those that attend the course elsewhere. Moreover, in the current context
created by the pandemic situation, the training of people became even more difficult, and thus, people
accessibility to face-to-face training is limited. In this context, the opening to the digital learning area
has growing fast, the e-learning market being estimated to reach a global $ 200 billion by 2024.
Currently, training of the IWI/EWI is still very traditional and classroom based. To respond to the current
socio-economic circumstances, the project proposal entitled: “Digital training for European Welding
Inspectors”, acronym D-EWI, aims to mitigate presented impediments, offering an innovative
digital training
course that could be attend by the people, in parallel with their daily work. Open digital educational
materials will be made and used to support implementation of innovative digital technologies for teaching
and learning in initial and continuing VET in the field of welds inspections. They will be developed using
innovative curricula aligned to the approach based on Learning Outcomes for a correspondence to the EU
Qualifications Framework levels.
Target Group:
The project target group consist of specialists in welding and allied process, teachers in higher
education
and trainers of all level.
Also, target group includes SMEs involved in welding industry, stakeholders from other related industrial
sectors. To achieve their goals, the employers are looking for qualified staff in the field. These
specialists are hard to find and needs to be periodically trained to stay up to date with the latest news in
the field.
On the other hand, the employees may already have a welding technology background, but they will need to
enhance their education with the new and coming production requirements. The EWI course will stimulate and
allow a life-long learning path for qualified personnel.
By developing the strategic partnership with SMEs, the project aimed to promote e-learning to support them
in their current need to employ high qualified staff and to supply of high-quality learning opportunities in
the field of welds inspections for engineers, regardless of gender or social condition.
On the other hand, the project addresses the needs of training centres which could increase their expertise
in the project field, having the opportunity to enlarge of their offer. To strengthen the market position,
it is necessary to expand its field of expertise and to exploit the market opportunities (sharp demand for
digital training) and current requirements (new standards/regulations). The project supports their needs
since it offers the opportunity to train their staff, teachers and VET trainers in welding inspections,
having access to a comprehensive e-learning course, harmonized at EU level. Thus, VET teachers could develop
as EWI teachers based on their background. The course will allow further development according to
international guideline and the achievement of a harmonized education.
