EU COOPC, European Coop Campus

Project status: concluded

Description

EU CoopC serves as a continuation of the Ariadne project, which concluded in 2012. The project developed out of the awareness of new training needs, responding to them by coming up with specific learning pathways for cooperative managers.

Objectives

The project intends to improve the skills of managers and elected representatives of cooperatives at a European level, to provide effective tools for learning and evaluation that can be applied throughout Europe, to promote the development and attractiveness of the collaborative business model and to strengthen the values of cooperation.

Within this general framework, the project’s specific objectives are:

  1. recognizing acquired skills as a basis for learning;
  2. improving transparency through the implementation of the ECVET credits system to strengthen non-formal and informal learning;
  3. promoting the exchange of experiences through the preparation and use of mobility learning units (MLUs);
  4. creating a European network of cooperative training centres.

Main results

The implemented activities have allowed the completion of a proposed job profile for elected members of cooperatives, and seven skill areas have been identified and checked through focus groups organized at a local level by the project members.

Taking these seven skills as a starting point, the partners focused on the design and pilot implementation of two mobility learning units (MLUs): Putting co-operative values and principles into practice and Stakeholders and relationships with the local community.

An existing and proven skills analysis model, produced and used by the Co-operative College UK – The Group Board Development Centre (GBDC), was adapted to test the MLUs. This model is based on the analysis of skills acquired through “informal” (“on the job”) learning methods, on the recognition of how much is learned throughout a whole career and the identification of further training paths needed to complete the skills. The participants were able to confirm the tools acquired during the project in two test sessions, held in March 2014 in Almeria, Spain, and in June 2014 in Germany.

The partnership worked to develop a permanent network which will allow the establishment of future collaborations and mobility exchanges within the European cooperative movement.

The final meeting was held in Brussels on 3 December, 2014, with a public conference to demonstrate the project’s results and raise awareness about future opportunities.
All of the information about the project, the results obtained and the material produced, is available on the website www.coopcampus.eu

Publications

Depedri, S., Fontana, P., Gotz, I., Strano, C., Identification of a European job profile for cooperative managers, Euricse.

European program: LLP Leonardo

Project duration: November 2012 – December 2014

Coordinator: Federazione Trentina della Cooperazione

Partners: Euricse (Italy) Co-operative College (UK) Academy of German Cooperatives (Germany) Coexhpal (Spain) University of Aegean (Greece) Fundatia pentru Dezvoltarea Societatii Civile (Romania) Actif Europe (France)

 

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