Published under the title “NEW CURRICULA FOR E-LEADERSHIP SKILLS IN EUROPE” (final report), the first results of the initiative on e-leadership are to be presented to the public in time for the EUROPEAN CONFERENCE ON DIGITAL AND KEY ENABLING TECHNOLOGIES SKILLS on 1: 2 June 2015 in Brussels and at www.eskills-guide.eu. The same holds true for the 28-page brochure summarising the results of this service contract. The results have already been endorsed by top-level stakeholders in European industry, academia and policy and their encouraging and inspiring testimonials confirming the value of the results of the two year work programme have been included in the publication.

Closing the e-leadership skills gap requires improvements in Europe’s educational ecosystem, through:

• Better processes for generating educational and training offers that meet the demands of industry
• Further encouragement for new course design and content
• Stronger communication in the development and deployment of e-leadership skills.

The consortium carrying out the service contract work has designed key building blocks and mechanisms for achieving these goals by creating both exemplary actual guidelines and processes and mechanisms for new curricula in close co-operation with stakeholders in the market: academia and employers predominantly, but also executives and professionals as learners, IT industry and policy makers. The e-leadership curriculum profiles, which are crucial to the guidelines on new curriculum development, are developed by a team of academics and industry representatives supported by education experts. The profiles provide comparability across programmes: bringing transparency into the e-skills ecosystem. They describe and expose demand for e-leadership skill sets, and help curricula to keep up with a changing environment. The profiles are simple in structure and require few resources for maintenance and use – in line with the economic climate. Solutions today must be lightweight!

A prototype web environment demonstrates the guidelines and the new approach to curriculum transparency and comparability. This environment can support recognition, stakeholder interaction and feedback with a minimum of administration.

Development of the curricula guidelines in 2013 was followed in 2014 with a series of demonstration activities open to education institutions, industry partners and associations promoting e-leadership skill requirements in the workplace. The ideas were exhibited across Europe in a series of events that engaged over 1200 experts, policy-makers and stakeholders from industry and academia from most EU countries. A local host championed each event, and engaged each region’s top education providers and the key industry players. The events generated interest and mobilised activity among all stakeholder groups. The multi-region campaign was followed by a high-level conference in Brussels, which attracted some 300 participants from across the EU. As the guidelines are taken up and curriculum profiles develop, a complete system of curricula generation and delivery will

• Deliver market transparency: certificates issued on successful completion of a programme contain a clear set of learning outcomes easily understood by any employer looking for candidates with e-leadership skills;
• Encourage autonomous innovation in teaching: any European educational institution can develop its own approach to meeting e-leadership curricula profiles in an employer-verified portfolio, modified and extended on advice from education providers;
• Adapt to changes in life-long learning trajectories, by allowing students that have followed related courses for a recognised Masters’ degree or MBA to receive full credit for conformant learning outcomes.

To tackle the digital leadership challenge, the consortium has together with over 40 experts in e-leadership skills policy formulated and published ten recommendations for action revolving around governance of an assessment and recognition system, frameworks and certification, new formats of delivery and policy action.