To be able to reach the goal of being a climate-neutral continent and the goals of the European Green Deal, a strategy on offshore and renewable energy is a key element. For getting there the need of regions and territories are of great importance because of the skills needed to provide the change. The skills challenge in The EU strategy on Offshore Renewable Energy from 2020 says:
“Technical and academic educational programmes in Member States should factor in the increasing needs by 2050 to attract young workers with the right profiles to jobs in offshore renewable energy. Centres of Vocational Excellence can help meet the need for reskilling by bringing together a wide range of local partners, such as vocational education and training providers (at both secondary and tertiary levels), employers, research centres, development agencies, and employment services, to develop skills ecosystems.”
In T-shore, the aim is to establish the international private-public cooperation in terms of education, research and development focused on the offshore wind sector. In this project it is our ambition to build upon already established regional partnerships (between VET schools, industry partners and governmental organisations) with partner countries spread throughout northern Europe. The project aims to strengthen cooperation between all partners and to elevate the already established regional partnerships by using various strategies and activities. The project will create innovative approaches for skills provision in the offshore renewable energy sector by linking offshore energy hotspots spread across Europe, and to stimulate innovation and collaboration between VET providers, industry, and research institutes.
In short, T-shore sees the possibility to become a regional lighthouse and a vocational centre securing development of vocational education to support the offshore renewable energy market as well focusing on new green competence demand in relation to this order to support the green power transition Europe is undergoing. Under the umbrella of VET and training of global competences, T-shore will seek to address the following challenges:
- The need to upscale / re-skill and design new teaching and training programs to meet demands for the fast-growing offshore renewable energy market.
- The need for new business models, better private/public cooperation between VET training and education providers and the industry creating sustainable new business models with focus on infrastructure for new VET learning.
- The need for international cooperation among VET providers in the offshore field to combine expertise; together we can accomplish much more.
- The need to understand which new green job profiles are needed in relation to offshore and the link to new technologies connected directly to the offshore renewable energy market.
Goals of T-shore
The main project goals are:
- Development and creation of a European network of VET schools and VET training centers in offshore wind energy.
- The establishment of strong links between businesses and VET providers and combining these stakeholders to meet the industry’s real skills and training needs.
- Defining a range of new competency profiles and developing advanced digital and evidence based educational training methods and materials in a work-based learning environment.
