TRAINING IN TRANSNATIONAL CULTURAL CO-OPERATION PROJECTS - Reflections and Challenges on Validation and Certification
Adapted and edited by Rod Fisher and Effie Karpodini-Dimitriadi

Rapid technological changes and globalisation have affected the organization and the content of work, putting the spotlight in most cases on certain kinds of skills and competences that can assist the workforce to cope with new demands and perform efficiently different assigned tasks. This applies as much to the cultural sector as it does to work in other fields.

Cultural managers, and especially those involved in transnational cultural co-operation, have to face the challenges that have emerged in a multifaceted career environment, where a new set or combination of competences and skills is needed. Cultural professionals have to cope with new circumstances and need to have the opportunities to update their skills and knowledge in order to maintain and improve their effectiveness, as well as competitiveness and employability in the field. As a consequence, there is a necessity to have a training system that is validated and recognised. It is equally desirable to have a course formula addressed to professionals and in touch with current needs in the European arena.

The VANIA project (Validation and Certification of Training in the field of European Cultural Co-operation Project Management), part funded through the European Commission’s Leonardo da Vinci programme, was conceived to identify and analyse the needs of the sector, to raise awareness of innovative methods for training and to design a process for certification of courses
addressed to cultural managers involved in transnational cultural co-operation projects. The ultimate aim was to enhance national and European training policies for the recognition of occupational qualifications and the development of human capital.

In the VANIA project, certification is considered as a means to assist training and educational institutions in identifying training needs and develop accordingly the content of the training offered. It is seen as a part of a process, where all stakeholders (training institutions, learners and the labour market) recognise its value and guarantee its legitimacy.

This publication tries to summarize and depict many of the issues raised during the development of VANIA's project. Its content is based on the reports written by
, Anna KANERVA, Minna RUUSUVIRTA and Ritva MITCHELL (CUPORE), Rod FISHER (International Intelligence on Culture), Milena DRAGICEVIC SESIC , Michel GUERIN (for the Fondation Marcel Hicter ASBL) and Effie KARPODINI-DIMITRIADI (EVREMATHIA, AE).

The publication identifies some vital issues that demand serious consideration from all stakeholders involved in cultural co-operation — cultural managers, training institutions, educators, cultural organizations — who wish actively to participate in the building of a " Europe of Knowledge".

The publication is available on request to the
Fondation Marcel Hicter ASBL
2 Place Van Meenen
B - 1060 Bruxelles
Tel: +32 2 641 89 80
E.mail: contact@fondation-hicter.org


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