Skills for industry curriculum guidelines 4.0 : future-proof education and training for manufacturing in Europe.
Date: 2019-02-21
Institutions: Executive Agency for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises
Subjects: EU Member State, continuing education, education, innovation, labour market, processing industry, professional qualifications, report, school-industry relations, small and medium-sized enterprises, teaching curriculum, vocational training

Skills for Industry 

Curriculum Guidelines 4.0

Future-proof education and training 
for manufacturing in Europe 

  December 2019

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
IMPRINT 

LEGAL NOTICE 

(contract 

Manufacturing 
initiative 

This  brochure  highlights  the  key  results  of 
the  initiative  on  “Curriculum  Guidelines  for 
Key  Enabling  Technologies  (KETs)  and 
Technologies 
Advanced 
(AMT)” 
nr. 
EASME/COSME/2017/004;  hereafter  “Curri-
culum  Guidelines  initiative”),  carried  out  by 
PwC  EU  Services  (PwC)  for  the  Executive 
Agency  for  Small  and  Medium-sized  Enter-
prises  (EASME)  and  the  Directorate  General 
for  Internal  Market,  Industry,  Entrepreneur-
ship and SMEs (DG GROW) of the European 
Commission (the Commission). The detailed 
results  of  the  initiative  are  presented  in  the 
Final Report. 

The information and views set  out in this 
brochure  are  those  of  the  author(s)  and 
do not necessarily reflect the official opin-
ion  of  EASME  or  of  the  Commission.  Nei-
ther  EASME,  nor  the  Commission  can 
guarantee  the  accuracy  of  the  data  in-
cluded  in  this  brochure.  Neither  EASME, 
nor the Commission or  any person or  or-
ganisation  acting  on  their  behalf  may  be 
held  responsible  for  the  use  which  may 
be  made  of  the  information  contained 
therein. 

ISBN: 978-92-9202-828-2 
doi:10.2826/69418 

AUTHORS AND EDITORS 

© European Union, 2019 

Dr.  Kristina  Dervojeda 
(PwC),  Anton 
Koonstra  (PwC),  Naveen  Srivatsav  (PwC), 
Jan  Willem  Velthuijsen 
(PwC),  Marte 
Andresen (PwC)  

Cover and Contents pictures: Shutterstock 

EUROPEAN COMMISSION 

Executive Agency for Small and Medium-
sized Enterprises (EASME), Department A 
— COSME, H2020 SME and EMFF,  
Unit A.1 — COSME 
E-mail: EASME-COSME-
ENQUIRIES@ec.europa.eu 
European Commission 
B-1049 Brussels

2 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Skills for Industry: Curriculum Guidelines 4.0 

Contents 

Contents 

Towards future-proof education and training 

Embracing the new industrial age 

Key market developments 

Key labour market trends 

Key skill needs 

Key needs for education 

Key needs for on-the-job training 

Supply and demand analysis 

Barriers for change in education and training systems 

Curriculum Guidelines Framework 

#1 Strategy 

#2 Collaboration 

#3 Content 

#4 Learning environment 

Remaining elements of the framework 

A roadmap for promotion and implementation of the Curriculum Guidelines 4.0 

Creating a dedicated thematic network 

4

5

6

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Skills for Industry: Curriculum Guidelines 4.0 

Towards future-proof education and training 

Towards future-proof education and training 

We are in the age of the Fourth Industri-
al  Revolution.  The  main  challenges  are 
related to the exponential growth of digi-
tal  tools  that  include  robots,  cobots, 
connected  objects,  communication  sys-
tems,  data  centers  and  associated  ener-
gy  consumption.  The  industrial  environ-
ment  must  find  new  technologies,  new 
designs,  new  architectures,  new  com-
munication and data storage concepts, in 
order  to  increase  the  performances  of 
the  digital  world  and,  at  the  same  time, 
to minimise the related energy consump-
tion.  

Europe  needs  highly  skilled,  flexible, 
emotionally  and  socially  intelligent  man-
ufacturing  professionals  that  can  solve 
tomorrow’s  problems  already 
today. 
While  skill  requirements  are  changing 
rapidly,  enterprises,  especially  SMEs, 
struggle to find the talent they need. For 
industry,  it  is  crucial  to  support  the  up-
skilling  of  their  workforce  towards  new 
and  higher-skilled  roles,  as  competition 
for talent will become even fiercer in the 
coming years.  

For workers, there is a need to take per-
sonal  responsibility  for  their  learning 
trajectory  and  embrace  the  concept  of 
lifelong learning. How can education and 
training  providers  keep  pace  with  this 
unprecedented  level  of  change?  How 
does a future-proof curriculum look like? 

While  there  are  already  examples  of  ef-
towards  adapting 
fective  approaches 
engineering  training  to  the  needs  of  In-
dustry  4.0,  numerous  education  and 
training providers only now begin to con-
sider  the  necessary  development.  Re-
shaping  curricula  is  a  considerable  chal-
lenge, implying complex decision-making 
processes  and  various  administrative 
obstacles.  Many  departments  and  facul-
ties  are  still  dominated  by  traditional 
approaches and  

subject-related  ‘silo  thinking’,  while  the 
new industrial age requires fundamental-
ly  new  mind-sets  and  visionary  leader-
ship. 

The  Curriculum  Guidelines 
initiative 
(January  2018  –  December  2019;  con-
tract  nr.  EASME/COSME/2017/004)  for 
EASME  and  DG  GROW  of  the  European 
Commission  aimed 
the 
abovementioned  challenges  by  offering 
education  and  training  providers  a  sys-
temised  overview  of  the  new  ways  of 
organising  learning  experiences  of  indi-
viduals and groups for Industry 4.0.  

to  address 

The Guidelines aim to provide key stake-
holders  with  an  analytical  base  for  de-
veloping  curricula  for  the  new  industrial 
age. The objective is to offer a source of 
inspiration,  conceptual  guidance  and 
good  practice  examples.  The  Guidelines 
aim  to  be  applicable  for  both  designing 
fundamentally  new  educational  offers 
and  advancing  existing  curricula,  de-
pending on the level of required change.  

“The  talent  shortage  is  one  of 
the  most  severe  issues  chal-
lenging  the  electronics  industry 
globally.    The  METIS  initiative 
has  been  launched  in  2019  to 
tackle  this  challenge,  and  it  is 
planning  to  start  a  pilot  imple-
mentation  of  the  Curriculum 
Guidelines.” 

Emir Demircan, 
Director at SEMI 
(Belgium)

4 

  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Skills for Industry: Curriculum Guidelines 4.0 

Embracing the new industrial age 

Embracing the new industrial age 

The  fourth  industrial  revolution  or  In-
dustry  4.0  focusses  on  the  end-to-end 
digitisation  of  all  physical  assets  and 
integration  into  digital  ecosystems  with 
value  chain  partners1.  It  builds  on  a 
wide  range  of  new  technologies  to  cre-
ate  value  through  seamlessly  generat-
ing, analysing and communicating data. 
Industry 4.0 includes: 

(1) Digitisation and integration of 
vertical  and  horizontal  value 
chains:  all  data  become  availa-
ble  real-time,  supported  by  aug-
mented  reality  and  optimised  in 
an  integrated  network.  Horizon-
tal  integration  includes  technolo-
gies from track and trace devices 
to  real-time  integrated  planning 
with execution. 

(2) Digitisation  of  product  and 
service  offerings:  it  includes 
the  expansion  of  existing  prod-
ucts,  for  example,  by  adding 

smart  sensors  or  communication 
devices  that  can  be  used  with 
data  analytics  tools,  as  well  as 
the  creation  of  new  digitised 
products  which  focus  on  com-
pletely integrated solutions. 

(3) Digitisation  of  business  pro-
cesses  and  way  of  working: 
technologies  are  changing  the 
way  products  are  designed, 
manufactured  and  subsequently 
distributed to end-users. 

(4) Digitisation  of  business  mod-
els  and  customer  access:  dis-
ruptive  digital  business  models 
typically focus on optimising cus-
tomer interaction and access and 
generating additional revenue. 

FIGURE  1:  Industry  4.0  framework 
and contributing digital technologies 

1 Based on PwC (2016) 

5 

  
 
 
                                                             
 
 
Ex 

Furthermore,  the  AMT  domain  faces 
specific  policy  and  regulatory  require-
ments  related  to  an  increasing  de-
mand  for  high  quality  standards, 
safety and sustainability, and specifi-
cally including (among others): 

(cid:129)  Focus  on  creating  advanced 
products  that  have  a  smaller  en-
vironmental impact; 

(cid:129)  Demand  for  high-quality  packag-

ing and delivery; and 

(cid:129)  Regulatory  guidance  on  safety 

and health at work. 

“The EU Skills for Industry initi-
ative  and  this  work  on  new 
Curriculum  Guidelines  offer  a 
great  opportunity  to 
inspire 
based on best practice and fos-
ter  action.  It  is  a  key  success 
factor  for  Europe’s  industrial 
sustainable growth.” 

Jean-Hugues Rodriguez, 
Head of Learning and 
Knowledge Management 
at Airbus (France) 

Skills for Industry: Curriculum Guidelines 4.0 

Key market developments 
Key market developments 

The Global Smart Manufacturing market 
was  estimated  at  211.97  billion  USD2 
(185.54  billion  EUR)  in  2017,  and  it  is 
expected  to  reach  a  value  of  595.29 
billion USD (521.07 billion EUR) by 2023 
at  a  Compound  Annual  Growth  Rate 
(CAGR)  of  18.78%,  during  the  forecast 
period of 2018-2023.  

Key  customer  demand  trends  in-
clude3: 

Increasing product variety; 

(cid:129) 
(cid:129)  Personalised  products  and  ser-

vices; 

(cid:129)  Faster response to needs; 
(cid:129)  Expectations  of  added-value  ser-
vices  (social  media  interaction, 
order status tracking; and 

(cid:129)  Societal  and  economic  pressures 
to  increase  environmental  and 
resource sustainability. 

Specific industry  pressures  and driv-
ers include4: 

(cid:129) 

Increasing need for asset and re-
source efficiency; 

(cid:129)  Growing reliance on supply chain 
and  need  for  robustness  and 
tracking; 
(cid:129) 
Increasing security risks;  
(cid:129)  Shorter product lifecycles; 
(cid:129)  Emerging  opportunities  to  offer 
value-added  services  throughout 
product life-cycle; and 
Increasing  manufacturing  com-
plexity  of  products,  production 
and data. 

(cid:129) 

2 Mordor Intelligence report (2018) 
3 UNIDO (2017) 
4 Ibid. 

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Skills for Industry: Curriculum Guidelines 4.0 

Key labour market trends 

Key labour market trends 

It  is  important  to  keep  in  mind  also  the 
relevant  social  transformations  in  the 
workforce.  Examples  of  relevant  topics 
include  “gig  economy”,  realities  of  mod-
ern  learners,  the  rise  of  millennials  and 
other  new  generations,  aging  workforce, 
a  changing  role  of  women  in  the  work-
force, social learning etc. 

Furthermore,  the  developments  with  re-
gard  to  recruitment  practices  and  recog-
nition  need  to  be  taken  on  board  too 
(e.g.  recruitment  based  on  potential  ra-
ther  than  qualifications;  recruitment  for 
access  to  people  who  can  do  the  work 
rather  than  an  ability  to  perform  work 
directly;  open  badges;  evolving  role  of 
employment agencies etc.). 

“Shaping  new  curricula  for  in-
dustry  4.0  involves  a  change 
of  mindsets  of  education  and 
industry 
training  providers, 
and  policy  makers,  towards 
the  engagement  with  lifelong 
learning and investment in re- 
and  upskilling  of  the  work-
force.” 

Adelaide Almeida, 
Project Manager at 
EWF (Belgium)

FIGURE 2: Key labour market trends  

7 

  
 
 
 
 
Skills for Industry: Curriculum Guidelines 4.0 

Key skill needs 
Key skill needs 

High-tech domains rely on a balance 
of  both  technical  and  non-technical 
competencies.  Technical  competencies 
can be considered the ‘heaviest’ catego-
ry  in  terms  of  required  knowledge  and 
to  a  highly  knowledge-
skills  due 
intensive  nature  of  high-tech  domains. 
However,  the  competencies  needed  to 
successfully  operate  within  these  do-
mains  go  far  beyond  the  technical  field 
and  also  cover  a  wide  range  of  non-
technical/transversal  areas.  These  non-
technical  competency  areas 
include 
competencies  related  to  quality,  risk  & 
safety;  management  &  entrepreneur-
ship; communication; innovation-related 
intelli-
competencies  and  emotional 
gence. 

Competencies  that  need  to  be  pos-
sessed  by  the  manufacturing  profes-
sionals can be split in two broad catego-
ries: general and specific competen-
cies.  General  competencies  here  refer 
to  the  ones  that  are  common  for  the 
majority  of  workers,  independently  of 
the  respective  field,  employer  or  a  spe-
cific  job  profile.  Specific  competencies, 
in  turn,  are  unique  to  a  particular  do-
main,  employer  and/or  a  specific  job 
profile.  These  competencies,  for  exam-
ple,  refer  to  a  highly  specialised  tech-
nical  knowledge,  but  also  to  skills  of 
working with specific equipment, as well 
as  an 
in-depth  knowledge  of  non-
technical fields. 

FIGURE 2: Collective KETs compe-
tencies and key areas of mismatch 
(source: PwC)  

FIGURE 3: Collective KETs competencies and key areas of mismatch 

8 

  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Skills for Industry: Curriculum Guidelines 4.0 

Key needs for education 
Key needs for education 

The  current  education system needs to 
be reshaped in the following key direc-
tions. 

Embedding technical  
multidisciplinarity in  
the curriculum  

Students  need  to  be  trained  in  various 
disciplines  simultaneously  so  that  they 
can  work  ‘on  the  crossroads’  of  those 
disciplines. In order to ensure multidis-
ciplinarity  in  education,  a  concept  of 
‘dual  learning’  could  be  promoted,  at 
least  for  vocational  education.  Dual 
learning  implies  combining  education 
with  work  experience,  thereby  acquir-
ing experience in an actual manufactur-
ing  environment  before  entering  the 
labour market. 

Embedding non-technical 
courses into the  
curriculum 

competencies 

It  implies  offering  non-technical  cours-
es for technical students in the areas of 
quality,  risk  &  safety;  management  & 
entrepreneurship;  communication;  in-
novation-related 
and 
emotional intelligence skills. Arts need 
to  be  added  to  the  curriculum,  as 
competencies  coming  from  STEM  are 
not  sufficient  for  the  manufacturing 
domain.  The  latter  requires STEAM5, 
with  Arts  included,  which  refers  to 
creativity  that  can  lead  to  innovations. 
Arts  and  creativity  therefore  should 
also  be  embedded  in  technical  curricu-
la. 

Offering problem-based  
learning 

Curricula need to be developed with an 
aim  of  training  problem-solving  mind-
sets, i.e. training an ability to think and 
act  from  a  perspective  of  a  problem, 
approaching  the  same  problem  from 
various  angles,  taking  risks  with  ap-
proaches and solutions that have never 
been  applied  or  attempted  before  and 
continuously striving to improve upon a 
current situation or condition; the prob-
lem-based  learning  needs  to  be  linked 
to real-life problems. 

“Learners  need  to  be  equipped 
with the necessary foundational 
insights  as  the  basis  upon 
which  lifelong  learning  can  be 
built.  That  basis  refers  to  a 
combination  of  both  technical 
and  non-technical  skills,  as 
pointed  out  in  the  Curriculum 
Guidelines.” 

Prof. em. Roger De Keersma-
ecker, 
Executive Advisor, 
imec (Belgium)

5 http://steam-notstem.com/ 

9 

  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                             
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Skills for Industry: Curriculum Guidelines 4.0 

Updating the  
skills of  
teachers  

The  educational  personnel  needs  to  be 
regularly  to  companies  to  get  insights 
into  the  latest  developments,  while 
people from companies need to be reg-
ularly invited to teach in the classroom. 

Promoting innovation  
in teaching 

Educational  institutions  and  teachers 
need  to  be  rewarded  for  introducing 
innovative  approaches;  these  aspects 
need  to  be  embedded  in  the  assess-
ment  schemes  for  both  organisations 
and individuals. 

Organising collective  
training programs and  
apprenticeships 

There is a need to join forces with oth-
er companies and educators, as well as 
other  relevant  stakeholders)  to  offer 
training programs to the manufacturing 
professionals that would result in certif-
icates recognised throughout the indus-
try. 

Embracing the notion of  
Lifelong Learning 

When further developing the key direc-
tions  for  action  and  curriculum  guide-
lines,  it  is  important  to  keep  in  mind 
that  learning  is  a  continuous  pro-
cess.  Formal  education  of  manufactur-
ing  professionals  (including  VET  and 
higher  education) is ‘just’ a step in the 
life-long learning trajectory.  It needs 
to be complemented by regular on-the-
job  training  both  formal  and  informal), 
and thus needs to be considered in the 
broader context of continuous learning, 
happening  both  individually  and  collec-
tively  (teams,  companies,  networks  of 
companies etc.). 

Lifelong learning also implies some level 
of  blurring  between  theoretical  and  vo-
cational  training,  to  be  independent  of 
the  academic  background  of  the  learn-
er. 

“Lifelong  learning  needs  to  be 
put  central  in  the  curricula.  As 
emphasised  by  the  Curriculum 
Guidelines, it should go beyond 
awareness creation and there is 
a need to actually train learners 
how to engage in lifelong learn-
ing.” 

Mark Liedekerken, 
Faculty Director at 
Open University 
(Netherlands)

For  example,  a  learner  with  a  Master 
degree  may  pursue  a  vocational  course 
to  pick  up  a  specific  skillset  where 
needed, and conversely a learner with a 
VET diploma may receive some theoret-
ical lectures to boost his/her knowledge 
where needed. The choice of the course 
type  would  thus  depend  mostly  on  the 
task  at  hand  and  the  knowledge/skills 
required  to  perform  that  task  well,  and 
not on the academic history of the indi-
vidual prior to taking the course. 

“As  highlighted  by  the  Curricu-
lum Guidelines, the curricula of 
Lifelong learning also implies some 
the  future  must  recognise  the 
level  theoretical  and  vocational 
training,  to  be  independent  of  the 
ever-growing need for multidis-
academic  background  of  the  learn-
ciplinary  skills  acquisition  and 
er.  For  example,  a  learner  with  a  de-
application.  It  is  fundamental 
gree may pursue a vocational course to 
for  both  the  initial  education 
pick  up  a  specific  skillset  where  need-
and  for  lifelong  learning,  and 
ed, and conversely a learner with a VET 
diploma  may  receive  some  theoretical 
needs to be cultivated via dedi-
lectures  to  boost  his/her  knowledge 
cated platforms.”  
where needed. The choice of the course 
type  would  thus  depend  mostly  on  the 
Olivier Bonnaud, 
task and not on the academic history of 
Professor at CNFM 
individual  prior  to  taking  the 
the 
(France) 
course. 

10 

  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Skills for Industry: Curriculum Guidelines 4.0 

Key needs for on-the-job training 
Key needs for on-the-job training 

The  learning  landscape  today  thus  looks 
completely  different  than  it  did  a  few 
years  ago.  Modern  learners  expect  con-
tent  (and  the  learning  approach  overall) 
to  be  short  and  personalised  and  are 
more committed to their learning goals6. 
The  technology-enabled  learning  trends 
that will have a significant impact on the 
workplace  learning  ecosystem  include 
the following. 

Need for microlearning 

Microlearning  goes  beyond  content,  and 
makes  it  possible  to  learn  on-the-go  in 
small specific bursts. To this end, micro-
learning  offers  small  businesses  an  op-
portunity  to  approach  employee  training 
in  a  whole  new  way7.  However,  small 
companies  may  need  support  with  ex-
ploring  the  available  microlearning  pro-
grams and strategies. 

However,  microlearning  should  not  be 
viewed as a replacement of more exten-
sive forms of learning, when it comes to 
educating/training  experts  and  obtain-
ing the ‘big picture’  of  a certain topic.  It 
is  rather  meant  for  complementing  the 
more  traditional  forms  of  learning,  and 
offers  an  efficient  way  of  advancing  ex-
isting skill-base. 

Need for mobility  
in learning 

Mobile  learning  or  m-learning  also  sug-
gests  to  be  a  suitable  option  for  SMEs. 
Most  people  have  access  to  at  least  a 
smartphone, and people often have mul-
tiple  mobile  devices.  With  an  audience 
supplying their own hardware, the cost  

6 Basu S. (2017) 
7 Emerson M. (2015) 

of  implementing  m-learning  programs 
becomes  more  affordable  than  other 
alternatives.  Furthermore,  m-learning 
also  allows  employees  to  feel  an  extra 
level  of  responsibility  for  their  training, 
since  their  training  modules  are  literally 
always in their hands8. 

There  is  a  common  misconception  that 
m-learning  is  only  relevant  for  large 
companies.  However,  “the  mobile  app 
revolution”  is  suggested  to  have  an  es-
pecially  powerful  impact  on  small  busi-
nesses,  as  it  helps  these  companies  re-
duce  expensive,  redundant  processes 
and  makes  them  leaner  and  more  cost-
efficient.  Some  apps  offer  free  versions 
to  small  business  owners  to  help  them 
better train their employees9. 

Need for the connection  
with the “real world” 

like 

technologies 

Apart  from  making  learning  engaging, 
there  is  a  need  to  bring  learners  closer 
to the “real world”. Immersive and inter-
active 
Virtu-
al/Augmented  Reality  (VR/AR),  as  it  has 
the  ability  to  close  infrastructure  gaps, 
will  have  an  increasing  impact  on  how 
organisations  can  achieve  that10.  Some 
companies  are  now  using  VR/AR  tech-
nologies  to  increase  sales  effectiveness, 
educate  customers,  and  establish  brand 
recall.  Different  VR/AR  cases  and  re-
quirements are expected to emerge over 
several  other  areas 
the  coming 
years11. 

in 

Small  businesses  can  now  also  leverage 
on  VR/AR  solutions  to  advance  experi-
ences  of  their  customers.  Due  to  the 

8 Balls A. (2017) 
9 Ibid. 
10 Basu S. (2017) 
11 Ibid. 
11 

  
 
 
 
 
 
                                                             
 
 
 
                                                             
Skills for Industry: Curriculum Guidelines 4.0 

initially  high  cost  of  the  relevant  equip-
ment,  these  technologies  were  not  al-
ways  affordable  to  SMEs.  However,  as 
the  technologies  become  more  mature, 
the  cost  of  the  equipment  will  continue 
dropping further12. 

business  and  cutting  costs  to  drive  em-
ployee  engagement  and  transparency. 
Social learning has a  clear  role to play 
as  learning  teams  build  and  deploy  the 
modern  learning  technology  in  the  or-
ganisation17. 

Need to make learning  
engaging 

Gamification  has  proved  to  be  an  effec-
for  employee  engage-
tive  strategy 
ment13.  A  vast  majority  of  learning 
teams  use  gamification  as  a  component 
of their digital learning strategy. The use 
of  gamification  in  learning  solutions  is 
expected to grow in the coming years14. 

While  many  of  the  companies  adopting 
gamification  are large  enterprises,  it  is 
also  suitable  for  small  businesses  and 
startups. Gamification has a good fit with 
the  unique  office  culture  of  startups15. 
One of the main reasons why small busi-
nesses hesitate to explore gamification is 
the  fear  that  these  systems  will  be  ex-
pensive,  and  difficult  to  introduce.  How-
ever,  the  gamification  market  is  becom-
ing  more  specialised  every  day,  leading 
to  more  affordable  “turn-key”  gamifica-
tion  solutions  that  are  also  feasible  for 
SMEs16. 

Besides  gamification,  learning  can  be 
made  more  engaging  through  the  facili-
tation of social learning and personalisa-
tion. These aspects are addressed below. 

Need to facilitate  
social learning 

Collaboration  is  becoming  a  mainstream 
tool  to  engage  employees,  enable  for 
smarter  decision-making  and  enhanced 
business  outcomes.  Collaborative  net-
time-to-
works  are  shortening 

the 

An  effective  strategy  could  be  to  use  a 
social  media  platform  where  learners 
can  engage  in  a  more  lively  and  educa-
tional  discussion  with  their  peers.  It  is 
also  possible  to  bring  discussions  to 
blogs, and virtual meeting sites. If there 
are  certain  topics  that  seems  to  be  ac-
tively discussed amongst the learners, it 
would  be  advisable  to  make  that  a  feed 
or  post  on  a  dedicated  social  media 
page18. 

Need for the  
personalisation of  
learning 

The  digital  learning  field  is  moving  into 
the  direction  of  creating  “Learning  En-
gagement Systems”, i.e. solutions that 
use  profile  data  about  learners,  their 
personalities,  their  habits,  goals  and 
feedback from others. 

and 

“Education  and  training  provid-
ers  need  to  focus  on  self-
directed 
project-based 
learning  in  international  and 
interdisciplinary 
teams,  em-
bedded  in  an  entrepreneurial 
environment.  Such  environ-
ment  should  help  learners  to 
re-discover their inner curiosity 
as the main driver of meaning-
lifelong 
ful  and 
learning.” 

successful 

Manuel Dolderer, 
Co-Founder and President 
At CODE University of 
Applied Sciences 
(Germany)

12 My Smart Gadget (2016) 
13 Richardson A. (2017) 
14 Ibid. 
15 Watson Z. (2014) 
16 Ibid. 

17 Basu S. (2017) 
18 Pappas C. (2014) 

12 

  
 
 
 
 
                                                             
 
 
                                                             
Skills for Industry: Curriculum Guidelines 4.0 

Supply and demand analysis 
Supply and demand analysis 

To estimate the future demand for AMT-
related  skilled  labour,  the  Cedefop’s 
forecasts  for  annual  employment  growth 
rates were used for  each of the relevant 
AMT-related  occupations  in  manufactur-
ing over the period 2018 to 202619.  

There is a large variation in the forecast-
ed  employment  growth  rates  for  the 
AMT-related  occupations.  The  figure  be-
low  shows  the  forecasted  annual  em-
ployment  growth  rates  for  all  AMT-
related occupations in the period 2018 to 
2026.  

The 
forecasted  employment  growth 
overall  varies  largely  between  countries, 
ranging  from  an  expected  growth  of 
3,3%  in  Luxembourg  to  an  expected 
decrease  of  -0,8%  in  Lithuania.  Howev-
er,  for  most  countries,  growth  is  fore-
casted  in  the  occupations  ‘Managers’, 
‘Professionals’  and  ‘Technicians’,  with  an 
expected  decrease  of  employment  of 
‘Craft workers’.  

the AMT-related labour supply in Europe 
is expected to be declining in the coming 
years, with a projected difference of 340 
000 by 2026. 

There  is,  and  will  continue  to  be,  suffi-
cient  overall  AMT-related  labour  supply 
to satisfy the demand from AMT-related 
employers  in  Europe.  However,  there 
are  likely  to  be  large  differences  be-
tween  countries  and  between  different 
AMT-related occupations. 

“Future-proof  curricula  4.0  will 
require  physical-digital  interac-
tions  in  which  AI  will  provide 
opportunities  to  extend  human 
cognition. 
Curriculum 
The 
Guidelines  recognise  this  im-
portant requirement.” 

Dr. Annelies Raes, 
Postdoctoral Researcher at 
ITEC imec - KU Leuven 
(Belgium)

FIGURE 4: Annual employment growth for AMT-related occupations in Europe 2018-2026 
(based on data by Cedefop) 

19 Data by Cedefop 

13 

  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                             
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Skills for Industry: Curriculum Guidelines 4.0 

FIGURE 5: Annual employment growth for AMT-related Managers in Europe 2018-2026 
(based on data by Cedefop) 

FIGURE 6: Annual employment growth for AMT-related Professionals in Europe 2018-2026 
(based on data by Cedefop) 

FIGURE 7: Annual employment growth for AMT-related Technicians in Europe 2018-2026 
(based on data by Cedefop) 

FIGURE 8: Annual employment growth for AMT-related Operators in Europe 2018-2026 
(based on data by Cedefop) 

14 

  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Skills for Industry: Curriculum Guidelines 4.0 

Barriers for change in education and training systems 
Barriers for change in education and training sys-
tems 

Specific  barriers  for  change  in  education 
and  training  systems  include  the  follow-
ing: 

(cid:129)  Teachers/trainers  and  admin-
istrators  are  often  cautious 
about 
induced 
top-down 
change  and  have  limited  toler-
ance  for  the  uncertainty  that  any 
major innovation causes20. This is 
supported  by  the  fact  that  teach-
ers/trainers  typically  do  not  get 
rewarded  for  introducing  change, 
and  may  even  be  “punished”  for 
deviating  from  the  agreed  con-
ventional approach.  

(cid:129)  Lack  of 

to 

trust 

innovation: 

teach-
ers/trainers  when  it  comes  to 
initiating 
teach-
ers/trainers  need  to  have  free-
dom to innovate in the implemen-
tation, security on the job to take 
risks,  and  control  of  what  they 
are  doing.  Ultimately,  they  need 
be trusted to do their job right21. 

is 

not 

(cid:129)  Innovation  in  education  and 
promot-
training 
ed/supported  in  a  top-down 
way  meaning  lack  of  educational 
leadership 
in  creating  visions, 
strategies and incentives: there is 
often  little  incentive  for  teach-
ers/trainers to develop and adopt 
innovations.  Innovation  needs  to 
be put at the centre of the strate-
gy  of  education  providers,  and 
the required support from the top 
goes  beyond  the  organisational 
limits,  and  also  includes  national 
and EU governments. 

(cid:129)  Significant  efforts  are  needed 
to  upscale  innovations:  while 
developing  and  implementing  in-
novation  on  a  small  scale  is  al-
ready  a  complex  task,  scaling  it 
up  and  spreading  it  across  multi-
ple  educational  institutions  in  a 
region,  country  or  Europe  is  an 
even more challenging mission. It 
often  requires  multi-stakeholder 
engagement, 
complex  project 
management  and  considerable 
budgets. 

investments: 

(cid:129)  Lack  of  access  to  infrastruc-
ture  and  the  need  for  high 
capital 
AMT-
related education and training of-
ten  implies  the  use  of  modern 
equipment  and 
infrastructure, 
which,  in  turn,  is  associated  with 
high  capital  investments  and/or 
proximity  to  specific  locations. 
Furthermore,  once  acquired,  ma-
chines  also  quickly  become  out-
dated. 

(cid:129)  Leaving students/learners out 
of  the  equation:  existing  good 
practice  initiatives  often  aim  to 
improve teaching (delivery), while 
what  is  actually  needed  is  to  im-
prove  learning.  The  ultimate  goal 
should be not so much  to learn a 
specific  subject,  but  to  cultivate 
innovative  people  able  to  grow 
their  autonomy,  self-efficiency, 
and 
foster  an  entrepreneurial 
mindset22.

20 Serdyukov P. (2017) 
21 Ibid. 

22 Ibid. 

15 

  
 
 
 
                                                             
                                                             
Skills for Industry: Curriculum Guidelines 4.0 

Curriculum Guidelines Framework 

Curriculum Guidelines Framework  

The objective of the framework is to pro-
vide  a  holistic  overview  of  all  key 
elements  relevant  for  curriculum 
design  and 
implementation  from 
broader  perspective,  namely  viewing 
the  curriculum  as  the  overall  learning 
experience  of  individuals  (and  groups) 
throughout  their  professional  lives.  The 
framework (hereafter “Curriculum Guide-
lines  Framework”)  serves  as  an  analyti-
cal  structure  for  plotting  the  identified 
conceptual  principles  and  good  practice 
examples. 

The  Curriculum  Guidelines  4.0  aim  to 
emphasise  that  there  is  no  one  size 
fits  all  approach,  and  instead,  there  is 
a need to respect and cultivate a diversi-
ty of approaches, as the effectiveness of 
a  certain  approach  is  likely  to  vary  de-
pending  on  the  objectives,  context  and 
other contingency factors. 

The  results  of  a  pan-European  online 
survey  of  this  initiative  (conducted  in 
the end of 2018) indicated that the four 
elements  of  the  AMT-related  education 
and  training  system  that  require  the 
most  substantial  change  include  Strat-
egy,  Collaboration,  Content  and 
Learning Environment.  

While  the  analysis  aims  to  cover  all 
eight  elements  of  the  framework,  it  has 
an  explicit  objective  of  identifying  key 
priorities  and  indicating  key  direc-
tions  for  action.  To  this  end,  further 
analysis  focussed  on  the  key  four  ele-
ments,  and  aimed  to  identify  further 
priorities  within  each  of  these  four  ele-
ments. 

FIGURE 9: Curriculum Guidelines Framework 

16 

  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Skills for Industry: Curriculum Guidelines 4.0 

#1 Strategy 
#1 Strategy 

Strategy here refers to defining core val-
ues,  commitments,  opportunities,  re-
sources and capabilities of an education-
al and/or training institution with respect 
to  developing  and  implementing  a  cur-
riculum.  Specifically,  the  elements  of 
strategy 
learner’s 
include  assessing 
needs,  developing  curriculum  goals  and 
intended learning outcomes. 

#1.1 Preparing students for life-long 
learning 

For  industry,  it  is  crucial  to  support  the 
upskilling  of  their  current  workforce  to-
wards  new  and  higher-skilled  roles,  as 
competition  for  skilled  talent  will  further 
intensify  and  become  more  costly  in  the 
coming  years23.  Workers  will  also  have 
to  go  back  to  school  at  different  stages 
of  their  career  and  develop  deep  exper-
tise in a new domain24. 

For workers, there is a need to take per-
sonal  responsibility  for  their  learning 
trajectory  and  develop  a  higher  degree 
of  comfort  with  the  concept  of  lifelong 
learning1.  The  latter  should  be  made 
central  in  the  curriculum  development 
strategy. The curriculum needs to famil-
iarise  students  with  lifelong  learning 
practices  and  support  the  development 
of the lifelong learning mind-set. 

#1.2 Offering ‘big picture’ education 

Using  Big  Picture  Learning  principles,  a 
Competency  Education  system  can  be 
designed  where  students  graduate  after 
they demonstrate mastery of a compre-
hensive list of competencies (which may 
also be in the form of learning targets or 
benchmarks).  

FIGURE 10: Six conceptual principles for Strategy 

23 WEF (2018) 
24 Van Dam N. (2018) 

17 

  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                             
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Skills for Industry: Curriculum Guidelines 4.0 

In this system, learners proceed at their 
own  pace  and  earn  grades  relative  to 
whether  they  exceed,  meet  or  do  not 
demonstrate  the  competencies  being 
tested.  As  such,  this  may  also  mean 
learners  of  different  ages  may  be  in  the 
same class for variable amounts of time, 
and their progress in each competency is 
both  personal  and  visible  at  all  times, 
leading  to  higher  motivation  and  en-
gagement, and reducing stress of “learn-
ing within a deadline”25.  

#1.3  Addressing  not  only  market, 
but also societal and learner’s needs 

learners 

In addition to employability and sustain-
ability, the curriculum goals need to take 
into  account  the  characteristics  of  indi-
vidual 
in  terms  of  current 
knowledge,  skills,  abilities,  attitudes  and 
needs.  This  can  be  achieved  through 
self-assessment  tools26,  orientation  ser-
vices and co-creation of individual learn-
ing paths.  

#1.4  Shifting  from  knowledge  to-
wards competencies 

The outcomes of the educational process 
are  increasingly  defined  in  terms  of  ge-
neric  or  cross-cutting  competencies  that 
students  should  have  acquired  by  the 
end  of  their  education  in  order  to  suc-
ceed  in  their  further  studies,  for  their 
personal  development  and  for  employ-
ment and inclusion in a knowledge socie-
ty27.  

In  addition,  experts  suggest  adding  to 
the  curriculum  a  dimension  of  Mindsets. 
Examples  of  such  Mindsets  could  be 
Growth, Employer’s perspective, Innova-
tion, Society  as  the  Centre  of  Engineer-
ing, Ethics and Sustainability28.  

#1.5  Offering  relevant  personalised 
and personal learning 

The objective is to accelerate learning by 
tailoring  the  instructional  environment 
(i.e.  what,  when,  how,  and  where  stu-
dents and workers learn) and addressing 
the  individual  needs,  skills  and  interests 
of  each  student  to  ensure  authentic 
comprehension. Learners take ownership 
of  their  learning,  while  also  developing 
personal  connections  with  each  other, 
their teachers and other adults. Learning 
is  tailored  to  each  student’s  unique 
strengths,  thereby  encouraging  curiosity 
while  keeping  them  engaged  and  pre-
sent29.  

#1.6  Viewing  learners  as  change 
agents 

Defining curriculum strategy for the new 
age  implies  viewing  learners  as  change 
agents  and  actively  engaging  them  in 
curriculum  development  and  implemen-
tation.  This  approach  allows  for  consid-
erably  advancing  student  experience. 
Possible  forms  of  student  engagement 
include  consultation,  collaboration  and 
co-production. 

“Students  should  be  central  in 
shaping  new  curricula  in  con-
stant  dialogue  with  teachers  to 
enable new innovative teaching 
methods,  as  recommended  in 
the Curriculum Guidelines.” 

Nina De Winter, Executive 
Committee Member 
at European Students' 
Union (Belgium) 

25 Priest N., Rudenstine A. and Weisstein E. 

(2012) 

26 See, for example, 

https://www.16personalities.com/ 

27 Ibid. 
28 Kamp. A. (2017) 

29 Lee Welsh B. (2018) 

18 

  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                             
 
                                                             
Skills for Industry: Curriculum Guidelines 4.0 

#2 Collaboration 

#2 Collaboration 

Collaboration  refers  to  connecting  indi-
viduals and institutions by facilitating the 
exchange of practices and resources with 
a  view  to  improve  the  educational  offer. 
Schools  and  universities  in  the  New  In-
dustrial  Age  should  serve  as  collabora-
tion spaces and innovation centers.  

#2.1  Increasing  university-industry 
collaboration 

The  current  principle  implies  further  in-
creasing university-industry collaboration 
in terms of both volume and diversity of 
collaboration  forms.  University-industry 
collaboration  can  take  place  in  many 
forms  and  can  bring  multiple  mutual 
benefits, as the  collaboration results can 
flow  out  to  industry,  and  they  can  also 
feed science30.  

“Study  programmes  should  be 
designed  to  take  into  account 
key principles of people-centred 
development  and  enhance  in-
terdisciplinary  collaboration  be-
tween  engineering  and  social 
sciences and humanities.” 

Gregor Cerinšek, 
Project Manager at 
Institute for Innovation 
and Development of 
University of Ljubljana 
(Slovenia)

Collaborating  with  startups  can  be 
valuable31. 
particularly 
University-
industry  collaboration  can  take  physical 
and/or virtual form. 

FIGURE 11: Six conceptual principles for Collaboration 

30 Gann D. et al. (2018) 

31 Tidhar E. et al. (2018) 
19 

  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                             
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                             
 
Skills for Industry: Curriculum Guidelines 4.0 

#2.2 Engaging industry in full stu-
dent’s learning experience 

There is a need to acknowledge the role 
of  industry  partners  as  educational,  re-
search and employment partners, and to 
ensure  their  engagement  in  the  full  stu-
dent’s 
including 
strategy development. 

learning  experience, 

#2.3  Exchanging  experiences  with 
other educational institutions 

There is a clear need to create more op-
portunities  for  exchanging  experiences 
with  other  educational  institutions,  to 
build  on  synergies  and  minimise  redun-
dancies  of  efforts.  Such  exchanges  can 
be  organised  in  different  forms,  both 
physically and virtually, for  example,  via 
joint platforms, thematic networks etc. 

#2.4  Facilitating  peer-to-peer  learn-
ing 

Schools  and  universities 
increasingly 
start using various forms of peer, collab-
orative or cooperative learning in specific 
courses, to assist students to meet vari-
ous  learning  outcomes.  The  latter  in-
clude  working  collaboratively  with  oth-
ers,  taking  responsibility  for  their  own 
learning  and  deepening  their  under-
standing  of  specific  content.  Evidence  is 
growing 
learning  creates 
greater  confidence  and  independence  in 
learning,  and  leads  to  deeper  under-
standing  and  improved  grades  for  both 
peer leaders and their students.  

that  peer 

#2.5 Creating effective learning eco-
systems 

There  is  a  need  for  creating  effective 
learning  ecosystems, engaging all key 
stakeholder  groups.  Such  learning  eco-
systems need to cater the specific needs 
of individuals, groups,  enterprises, value 
chains  and  clusters.  Training  developers 
need  to  form  a  prominent  part  of  these 
ecosystems, building on close collabora- 

tion  with  all  other  key  stakeholder 
groups,  with  a  central  role  assigned  to 
learners themselves. 

#2.6  Shifting  from  human-machine 
interaction  towards  human-machine 
collaboration 

Human-machine  collaboration  becomes 
paramount  for  organisations.  Having  the 
right mindset for AI means being at ease 
with  the  concept  of  ‘human  and  ma-
chine’, leaving the mindset of ‘human vs. 
machine’  behind32. Those  able  to  under-
stand  that  the  future  includes  living, 
working,  co-existing,  and  collaborating 
with AI-enabled machines are set to suc-
ceed  in  the  coming  years.  On  the  other 
hand,  those  who  neglect  the  fact  that 
digital  transformation  increasingly  relies 
on human-machine collaboration, will be 
inevitably left behind33.  

“The  infrastructure  of  educa-
institutions  should  be 
tional 
used  for  hands-on  experience, 
stimulation  of  critical  thinking 
and  real-world  projects,  where 
industry  meets 
education. 
Schools  and  universities  in  the 
New 
Industrial  Age  should 
serve  as  collaboration  spaces 
and innovation centers.” 

Bernd Rieth, 
Director of Global 
Training Business 
Development at 
Festo Didactic 
(Germany) 

32 Fourtané S. (2019) 
33 Ibid. 

20 

  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                             
Skills for Industry: Curriculum Guidelines 4.0 

#3 Content 
#3 Content 

The Content dimension here refers to the 
nature  of  educational  content  and  in-
cludes  specific  conceptual  principles  re-
lated to the actual content of the curricu-
la,  i.e.  syllabus.  Education  and  training 
providers  need  to  teach  the  curriculum 
of the future, not the past34.  

#3.1 Upgrading the technical side of 
the curriculum 

From  a  technical  point  of  view,  students 
and  workers  need  to  be  adequately 
trained  in  the  basics  of  AMT  –  how  they 
work, how to use them in the right way, 
how  to  monitor,  assess  and  maintain 
their performance, how to combine mul-
tiple AMTs and how to evolve AMT based 
of observations and insights35.  

#3.2  Incorporating  non-technical 
disciplines 

There is a clear need to incorporate non-
technical  disciplines  into  the  curriculum, 
including  creative  thinking  and  problem-
solving,  communication,  project  man-
agement,  arts,  etc.,  in  order  to  develop 
cross-cutting  competencies  and  a  mind-
set  beyond  technical  expertise.  The  cur-
ricula of the new age particularly need to 
stimulate creativity and innovation skills, 
“out  of  the  box”  thinking,  divergent 
thinking, opinion generating, and subjec-
tive interpretations. 

Text 

FIGURE 12: Six conceptual principles for Collaboration 

34 Partovi H. (2018) 
35 https://e-

colorado.coworkforce.com/File.aspx?ID=45618 

21 

  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                             
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Skills for Industry: Curriculum Guidelines 4.0 

#3.3 Paying special attention to eth-
ics,  social  inclusion,  diversity  and 
sustainability 

The  workforce  of  the  new  age  needs  to 
master ethical literacy. Questions of eth-
ics, and specifically with regard to diver-
sity,  social  inclusion  and  sustainability, 
are often emphasised by stakeholders as 
being  essential  for  engineers  to  make  a 
positive  contribution  to  society36.  Exist-
ing  research  shows  that  students  from 
diverse  fields  find  ethical  concepts  new, 
stimulating  and  crucial  for  their  ca-
reers37.  

#3.4  Offering  a  holistic  view  of  a 
product and system life cycles 

The  curricula  for  the  new  age  need  to 
focus  on  the  holistic  view  of  a  product 
and system life cycles, in which students 
learn  to  alternate  between  the  abstract 
and  the  precisely  detailed,  to  decon-
struct  big  problems  and  accept  failure 
and  model  real-life  situations  by  simpli-
fying  assumptions38.  Specifically,  it  im-
plies  making  sure  that  students  acquire 
a  conceptual  understanding  by  learning 
about  the  theories  and  principles  of 
physical  phenomena  and  engineering 
sciences,  as  well  as  about  modelling  re-
al-life  problems,  to  be  able  to  transfer 
their knowledge into solutions and feasi-
ble  designs  of  an  appropriate  level  of 
complexity39.  

#3.5  Teaching  students  how  to  ac-
quire new knowledge 

There is a clear need for a shift of educa-
tional  methods  from  trying  to  impose 
large  amounts  of  expert  knowledge  on 
students  (which  primarily  serves  the 
needs of a minority of students who pur-
sue an academic career), towards teach-
ing  how  to  acquire  knowledge  from  the 
‘ocean’ of data, and what to make of it  

when  it  has  been  found40.  In  the  future, 
Internet  will  form  the  main  source  of 
knowledge  of  the  university  and  work-
place.  The  abovementioned  develop-
ments  signify  the  need  for  new-media 
literacy  and  especially  digital  literacy  to 
become  key  components  of  engineering 
education41.  

#3.6 Teaching students and workers 
about  safety  and  ergonomics  at 
work 

Students  and  workers  also  need  to  be 
taught  to  be  mindful  of  their  physical 
and  mental  health.  Although  this  is  a 
primary  responsibility  of  the  manage-
ment  of  their  future  workplace,  learners 
need  to  be  educated  about  the  im-
portance of maintaining good health, the 
possible  consequences  of  risk  exposure 
and also what can be done about it. 

Learners  need  to  be  made 
aware what factors make a cer-
tain  vocation  a  safe  long-term 
choice,  where  they  can  safely 
keep 
their  motivation  and 
health  -  therefore,  they  must 
learn how to place demands on 
good  workplace  health  and  de-
sign.” 

Dr. Cecilia Berlin, 
Associate Professor at 
Chalmers University of 
Technology (Sweden)

36 GEDC (2017) 
37 Biedenweg K., C. Monroe M.C., Oxarart A. 

(2013) 

38 Kamp. A (2016) 
39 Ibid. 

40 Ibid. 
41 Ibid. 

22 

  
 
 
 
 
                                                             
 
 
 
 
 
                                                             
 
Skills for Industry: Curriculum Guidelines 4.0 

#4 Learning environment

#4 Learning environment 

Learning  environment  includes  types  of 
environment  that  is  created  during  the 
educational or training program. 

#4.1  Applying  problem-based  learn-
ing 

Problem-based  learning  (PBL)  implies 
stimulating learners to work on challeng-
ing real-life problems for which there are 
no established answers, and encouraging 
learners to contextualise their theoretical 
learning  in  relation  to  how  it  would  be 
useful in the world around them.  

#4.2  Stimulating  creativity,  forming 
of  own  opinion  and  divergent  inter-
pretations 

Instead  of  focus  on  standardised  think-
ing,  correct  answers  and  objectivity  of 
judgment, there is a need for creating a 
learning  environment  that  would  stimu-
late  creativity,  forming  of  own  opinion 
and divergent interpretations. 

“The process of developing cur-
ricula is a complex societal pro-
ject  that  requires  consensus 
and  interaction  at  all  levels. 
Special  attention  needs  to  be 
paid  to  the  questions  of  ethics, 
social  inclusion,  diversity  and 
sustainability.  These  points  are 
clearly  addressed  in  the  Guide-
lines.” 

Giovanni Crisona, 
President of skillman.it/ 
cscs.it (Italy)

FIGURE 13: Six conceptual principles 
for Learning Environment 

23 

  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Skills for Industry: Curriculum Guidelines 4.0 

#4.3  Creating  a  culture  that  accepts 
potential failures 

Innovation can only be possible with the 
acceptance  of  potential  failures  and  the 
ability  to  turn  those  into  a  valuable 
learning  experience,  and  preferably  into 
a  winning  situation.  The  learners  should 
therefore  be  trained  the  ability  to  learn 
from  unexpected  results  and  transform 
these results into new opportunities42.  

#4.4  Offering  experiences  relevant 
to real-world working conditions 

There  is  a  need  for  learning  environ-
ments  that  can  offer  experiences  rele-
vant  to  real-world  working  conditions  in 
a physical and/or virtual form, maximally 
resembling  a  factory  setting,  featuring 
modern  and  state-of-the-art  equipment. 
Such an environment does not only need 
to  support  hands-on  training  and  learn-
ing-by-doing43,  but  also  serve  as  a  test-
bed  for  new  technologies  or  processes, 
or  simply  expose  workers  to  new  tech-
nologies  and  processes.  These  environ-
ments  can  feature  a  variety  of  spatial 
configurations  suitable  for  various  kinds 
of content and delivery methods such as 
classroom  learning,  group  assignments, 
self-paced  learning,  hands-on  demon-
strations,  practice  hours  with  new  hard-
ware/software,  virtual  reality  sessions 
etc.  

#4.5 
learning 

Encouraging 

collaborative 

Manufacturing-related  learning  environ-
ments  need  to  serve  as  a  meeting  hub, 
presentation space or library, which may 
be  compelling  to  visit  even  when  there 
are no active courses. They may feature 
regular 
talks  and  knowledge-sharing 
sessions  from  industry  experts,  show-
cases  and  demonstrations  by  sector-
specific  vendors  and  even  membership 
access  to  industrial  journals  and  other 
publications. By serving as a melting pot 
for professionals in industry, these spac-

es  might  allow  for  knowledge  and  expe-
riences  to  transfer  in  informal  peer-to-
peer  settings.  Collaborative  learning  can 
be stimulated in both physical and virtual 
settings. 

#4.6 
enabled learning 

Stimulating 

technology-

The  here  emphasis  needs  to  be  put  not 
on  the  education  and  training  with  a 
digital component, but rather on the fact 
that the world itself becomes increasing-
ly digital and hence education and train-
ing  should  remain  relevant  in  that  con-
text. In other words, technology-enabled 
learning is not a simple matter of digital-
ising  existing  material  and  making  it 
available online, but more fundamentally 
responding to the new opportunities and 
challenges  made  possible  by  digitalisa-
tion. Education and training that are rel-
evant  to  the  increasingly  digital  world 
will touch on digital/online topics in their 
learning content, and will also differ from 
traditional  learning  in  terms  of  delivery 
media44.  

“The  Curriculum  Guidelines  are 
aligned with the principles used 
in  the  Robot  for  Every  Student 
initiative  of  UiPath.  The  latter 
helps students  to develop skills 
for  building  their  own  digital 
assistants, to  work  faster  and 
smarter, 
research 
conduct 
more  easily,  find  opportunities 
and jobs.” 

Margareta Chesaru, 
Public Affairs Manager 
at UiPath (Romania)

42 Based on PwC (2016) 
43 

http://www.engineersjournal.ie/2016/02/23/lea
rning-factories-a-new-approach-to-training-in-
advanced-manufacturing/ 

44 PwC (2019) 

24 

  
 
                                                             
 
 
 
 
 
                                                             
Skills for Industry: Curriculum Guidelines 4.0 

Remaining elements of the framework 
Remaining elements of the framework 

The remaining elements of the framework 
include  Delivery  mechanisms,  Assess-
ment, Recognition and Quality. 

Delivery mechanisms 

Delivery  mechanisms  refer  to  the  means 
by  which  learners  experience  and  access 
education/training.  They  may  include  in-
person  delivery  where  teachers/trainers 
and  learners  interact  face-to-face,  via 
electronic  delivery,  and  blended  delivery 
(which  includes  a  combination  of  meth-
ods). 

Assessment 

Assessment refers to the various methods 
of  evaluation  and  their  relevance  to 
different  kinds  of  educational  offerings 
based  on  the  advantages  and  disad-
vantages of each. 

“Problem-based  learning,  em-
phasised  by  the  guidelines,  is 
the  inroad  to  lifelong  learning. 
While  routine  tasks  can  be  au-
tomated  easily,  the  art  of  find-
ing  creative  solutions  will  re-
main  a  human  domain  for  a 
long time.” 

Stephan Griebel, 
Director Business 
Development 
and Alliances Europe 
at Texas Instruments 
 (Germany) 

“There  is  a  clear  need  for  en-
riching  the  traditional  learning 
approach  for  industrial  engi-
neering  with  real-sized  applica-
tion  cases  designed  in  collabo-
ration  with  industry,  and  expe-
riencing  real  manufacturing  en-
internships, 
via 
vironments 
learning  factories,  and  virtual 
learning factories.” 

Marcello Urgo, 
Professor at 
Politecnico di Milano 
(Italy)

Recognition 

Recognition  traditionally  refers  to  the 
process  of  issuing,  accepting  and  ac-
knowledging  accredited  certification  or 
titles  that  have  formal  value  for  mastery 
of  skills  or  knowledge45.  However,  there 
are also emerging configurations, whereby 
non-institutional  actors  may  also  confer 
symbols  of  recognition  based  on  level  of 
participation, contribution and/or impact.  

Quality  

Developing  clear  and  effective  measures 
of  educational  quality  is  an  important 
venue for research46. Quality refers to the 
expectations  of  both  students,  workers 
and employers47  

45 http://uil.unesco.org/lifelong-

learning/recognition-validation-accreditation 

46 Serdyukov P. (2017) 
47 PwC analysis incorporating multiple expert 

sources 

25 

  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                             
Skills for Industry: Curriculum Guidelines 4.0 

A  roadmap  for  promotion  and  implementation  of  the  Curriculum 
Guidelines 4.0 

A roadmap for promotion and implementation of 
the Curriculum Guidelines 4.0 

In  order  to  achieve  impact  from  the 
developed  Curriculum  Guidelines,  there  is 
a need to ensure their massive dissemina-
tion  and  the  facilitation  of  their  adoption 
by  education  and  training  providers.  For 
that,  a  roadmap  for  the  promotion  and 
implementation  of  the  Curriculum  Guide-
lines 4.0 was developed. 

After the presentation of key highlights at 
the conference of 26 November 2019 and 
the  official  release  of  the  Guidelines  in 
January  2020  on  the  EU  Publications 
website,  the  first-stage  dissemination  will 
take  place  in  late  January  2020  -  early 
February 2020 among the key stakeholder 
groups and among the coordinators of the 
key networks/communities. 

The  second-stage  dissemination  will  take 
place in February 2020. 

Following  the  two-stage  dissemination 
campaign,  the  stakeholders  will  be  en-
couraged  to  initiate  discussions  and 
exchange  opinions  via  a  dedicated 
LinkedIn  Group.  Furthermore,  in  order 
to ensure continuity, we suggest creat-
ing  a  roundtable/  thematic  network, 
with  an  objective  to  facilitate  further 
exchanges  of  experiences,  monitor  the 
implementation  and  keep  updating  the 
Guidelines. 

Specifically,  the  original  version  of  the 
Guidelines  could  be  made  open  for 
stakeholders  in  a  form  of  an  ‘open 
source’  approach,  allowing  for  continu-
ous comments, updates and additions. 

FIGURE 14: Proposed roadmap for promotion and implementation of the Curriculum 
Guidelines 4.0 

26 

  
 
 
 
 
 
 
Skills for Industry: Curriculum Guidelines 4.0 

Creating a dedicated thematic network 

Creating a dedicated thematic network 

In  order  to  ensure  continuity,  progress 
and  co-creation  efforts,  there  is  a  need 
for developing a dedicated thematic net-
work/roundtable.  The  latter  would  ena-
ble  a  continuous  dialogue  and  network-
ing to help manufacturing-related educa-
tion  and  training  providers  to  faster 
adapt  their  curricula  to  the  needs  of  the 
new age.  

To  this  end,  this  sub-section  aims  at 
elaborating  recommendations  for  setting 
up  a  dedicated  pan-European  thematic 
network.  The  two  key  objectives  of  the 
network would include:  

(cid:129)  Promoting  the  wide  adoption  of 
the  Curriculum  Guidelines  across 
the EU;  

(cid:129)  Connecting education and training 
providers  active  in  manufactur-
ing-related  domain  and  facilitat-
ing  the  exchange  of  experiences, 
lessons learned and good practice 
examples, developed solutions, as 
well  as  practical  tools  that  would 
equip teachers and trainers. 

The  thematic  network  needs  to  be  de-
signed in a way that it engages all the 
key stakeholder groups (namely, edu-
cation and training providers, companies  
(and  particularly  SMEs),  policy  makers 
(at  all  levels:  EU,  MS  and  regional,  to 
ensure policy impact), learners and sup-
porting structures, e.g. industry associa-
tions,  cluster  organisations,  coordinators 
of  relevant  multi-stakeholder  partner-
ships/initiatives etc.). 

“Practices such as learning fac-
tories  or  open  access 
joint 
technical  platforms  need  to  be 
actively  promoted.  Such  plat-
forms  facilitate  expertise  and 
cost  sharing,  and  provide  ac-
cess  to  a  large  number  of 
learners  to  the  state-of-the-art 
equipment,  software  and  tech-
nology.” 

Ahmad Bsiesy, 
Professor at 
CIME Nanotech, 
University Grenoble 
Alpes (France)

“Europe  urgently  needs  a  mul-
tinational EdTech ecosystem for 
innovating 
learning. 
lifelong 
The  focus  areas  to  achieve  re-
sults  include  consolidation  of 
learning  tools,  ecosystem  de-
velopment,  and   dissemination 
of good practices.” 

Märt Aro, 
Chairman of the Board 
at Nordic EdTech 
Forum - N8 
(Estonia)

27 

  
 
 
 
 
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