Projects

B.I.G. InternPrize is an Erasmus+ Strategic Partnership for Vocational Education and Training under the leadership of Akdeniz University of Antalya.

The name stands for InternPrize : Business Ideas Generation because it equips trainers to empower the generation of creative, sound and viable business ideas by their students.

It is part of the InternPrize family of projects because it follows the philosophy that students study and learn while building their curriculum. It enables students to have something more to show than school qualifications to their future employers and to society when they leave school making them constructive entrepreneurs from the start of their career.

Our C19 digital response project aims to:
A. Build the capacity to deliver online, blended and distance learning and teaching through the implementation of suitable digital technologies;
B. Develop digital pedagogical competence of the trainers and creation, use and dissemination of digital learning content in accordance with the requirements and recommendations of the European framework for competence in the area of digital technologies;
C. Create a methodology and processes for the implementation of online-, blended- and distance- teaching and learning throughout the whole lifecycle of the training both under normal and COVID 19 like conditions. Pilot testing.
D. Perform pilot testing.

1. According to European Investment Bank survey, “Who is prepared for the new digital age?”, 2020, “Digitalization is an enormous opportunity and challenge for the current generation. The recent Covid-19 pandemic is a somber reminder of the relevance and the necessity of digital technology for variety of businesses and sectors: from health to retail, from manufacturing to education”. It is stated at this survey that European firms lag the US in the adoption of digital technologies.

Only 66% of manufacturing firms in the EU, compared to 78% in the US, report adopting at least one digital technology. The EU’s firms lag behind the US’ companies in improving business processes related to the digitalization of activities. The reasons we apply for this project are: 1. The digital transformation of European businesses is vital to the EU’s competitiveness. In particular, this applies to the digital transformation of education, including in-company training.

2. The digital transformation of education is important both for training organizations and for enterprises, their employees and that part of population of working age that is looking for a job.

3. The Covid-19 pandemic affected almost any organization and person in EU, forcing businesses to reorganize their operations, most of them implementing on-the-go information and communication technologies allowing remote work. These forms of work and operations are likely to persist for a long time.

4. The magnitude of the necessity to digitalize the business becomes clear from the Eurostat data. In the beginning of 2019 there were almost 25.3 million active enterprises with more than 131 million persons employed in EU-27. The EU’s population was estimated at 446.8 million, while the persons considered to be of working age (15 to 64 years old) accounted to 64.6% of the population. 10.8% of EU’s adults (population aged 25 to 64) participated in formal and non-formal education and training. Thus, we can estimate more than 20 million adults will participate some form of education and training during 2021 and next years. Upon the pandemic situations probably more of them in digital form.

5. We want to contribute to the EU’s firms competitiveness catching up in the digitalization of business and activities, especially in the area of adults education and training. 6. We believe that the digital transformation of the adult education must take place in organized way, transforming an adult education institution into Digital Education Enterprise. That’s why we called our project “Digital Education Enterprise”.