{"id":4609,"date":"2024-10-21T10:54:59","date_gmt":"2024-10-21T08:54:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/oreskills.eu\/?p=4609"},"modified":"2024-10-21T17:15:12","modified_gmt":"2024-10-21T15:15:12","slug":"the-flores-project-releases-report-on-ore-skills-needs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/oreskills.eu\/it\/the-flores-project-releases-report-on-ore-skills-needs\/","title":{"rendered":"The FLORES Project releases Report on ORE skills needs"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The EU-funded project \u201cForward Looking at the Offshore Renewable Energies\u201d (FLORES) feeds into the European Pact for Skills. It promotes a strong large-scale partnership to foster upskilling and reskilling of Europeans from all ages in Offshore Renewable Energies (ORE).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As part of this cross-country initiative, the FLORES team has conducted a skills intelligence analysis, assessing the current skills demand and supply, and comparing the two in order to identify and highlight existing gaps and shortages that need to be addressed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>&#8220;Skills development in the Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) sector is a high priority on the EU political agenda, as clearly reflected in the recently published European Wind Power Action Plan and the Communication on achieving the EU\u2019s offshore wind ambitions. <strong>Understanding the current state-of-play and guiding actions to address significant existing gaps is invaluable, and this is where this report contributes<\/strong>. It performs a skills intelligence analysis, assessing the demand and supply of skills in the sector, and by taking a comparative approach, it identifies the current mismatches and highlights the most critical gaps and shortages that need to be addressed&#8221;.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Dr. Eleftherios Sdoukopoulos, Senior Researcher at Hellenic Institute of Transport, lead author of the report<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Methodology<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>For this report, the FLORES team has conducted desk-research activities and collected data from both established and emerging ORE markets across the EU. With all the available information, they have assesed skills demand and supply. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Analysis of demanded skills<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>The ORE value chain and the 174 corresponding occupational profiles identified, based on ESCO classification, served as the main reference layers for the analysis. <strong>981 job vacancies posted in an 8-month period in 11 European countries were analysed<\/strong> for identifying occupational profiles in higher demand and hard &amp; soft skills, knowledge, experiences, qualifications and language skills mostly requested. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Analysis of skills supply<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>On the supply side, the FLORES researchers identified <strong>398 relevant educational and training programmes and courses spread along 13 European countries<\/strong>. Those programmes and courses, which have been included in the <a href=\"https:\/\/marinetraining.eu\/flores\">MarineTraining platform<\/a>, were analysed in detail in terms of their type, format, characteristics, target audience and learning outcomes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Close comparison of the results of skills supply and demand, enabled to draw valuable conclusions on the actions to be performed for reconciling differences and thus equipping the market with a more skilled workforce.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Skills most needed<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The job profiles most searched for in the ORE industry are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Project managers<\/strong> were found to be the industry\u2019s top priority<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Followed by <strong>ORE technicians<\/strong>. <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Engineers<\/strong>, of different specialization, <strong>accounted for half of the top 10 in demand occupational profiles<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Software developers, purchasers and ORE plant operators<\/strong> completed the top 10 list.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>To perform these jobs, the skills demanded by industry are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Project and stakeholder management skills<\/strong> were found to be transversely requested for technical occupational profiles. <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Greater emphasis is also now given on <strong>QA\/QC and QHSE-related skills that apply across different operations<\/strong> and corresponding occupational profiles<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Soft skills are also acknowledged equally important to hard skills. \n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Communication and collaboration (internal and external) skills<\/strong> were required in all job vacancies assessed<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The demand was great also for <strong>adaptivity, problem-solving and candidates being open-minded, detail- and results-oriented, and self-motivated.<\/strong> <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>IT skills<\/strong> (at least basic ones) have become a prerequisite in the large majority of relevant occupational profiles (e.g. for monitoring performance, reporting results, managing documentation, etc.), while <strong>proficiency in using specialized software<\/strong> (e.g. CAD, ERP, etc.) was requested in several cases.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Most common training<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>While the needs from ORE industry are clear, the FLORES research had a look at the most common training programmes currently taught across Europe, to see if they actually match the real needs of the sector.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Level of trainings<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>Most of the identified programmes and courses were in <strong>higher education, primarily at the M.Sc. level (46%) and then at the B.Sc. (23%) and Ph.D. levels (13%).<\/strong> Short-cycle tertiary educational programmes and courses also represented a significant share (17%), while very few post-secondary non-tertiary programmes and courses were identified (1%). <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Language and location of trainings<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>Most programmes and courses are<strong> offered in English (59%)<\/strong> and opt for <strong>on-site teaching (49%). Online programmes and courses have grown in number (29%),<\/strong> while very often a blended format is deployed (22%).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Most programmes and courses offer competences and capacities that are applicable across all different ORE technologies. However, some are more targeted emphasizing on a particular technology. This is mostly the case for <strong>offshore wind, with 14% of the identified programmes and courses addressing this technology.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Occupation profiles addressed <\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>Overall, the<strong> identified programmes and courses addressed 43 occupational profiles, 90% of which are technical profiles.<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Renewable energy engineers are the main focus,<\/strong> while energy engineers and ORE engineers are also addressed by many programmes and courses (14% and 10% respectively). <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Interestingly enough, many programmes, <strong>particularly those related to safety, provide qualifications and competences for emergency response workers<\/strong>, an occupational profile initially not included in occupational profiles identified as corresponding to the ORE value chain. &nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Other occupational profiles adequately covered by the identified programmes and courses, in descending order, include: <strong>environmental engineers; mechanical engineers; offshore renewable energy technicians; electrical engineers; onshore wind energy engineers; and solar energy technicians.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Mismatches and gaps<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Despite being a top priority for the industry, <strong>project managers with competences in ORE are not being sufficiently targeted by available educational programmes and training courses. <\/strong>The same also applies to <strong>ORE technicians<\/strong>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Compared to the past, when ORE-related qualifications and competences were integrated within broader programmes and courses addressing renewables in general,<strong> there is now a greater number of programmes and courses dedicated to ORE<\/strong>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>A <strong>significant lack of VET programmes<\/strong> and courses was observed;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Occupational profiles that are currently in high demand are those that are key to the ORE value chain, while <strong>many of the identified educational programmes and training courses address occupational profiles with a more supporting role <\/strong>in the ORE value chain;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>The alignment of skills demand and supply for engineers is more balanced<\/strong>, with the same tasks however, often carried out by different types of engineers;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>More work-based learning opportunities, such as internships and apprenticeships, are needed<\/strong> for improving employment opportunities for graduates (in the same company or responding to another job vacancy where basic working experience is needed \u2013 this is usually the case);<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>It would be of <strong>great added value if additional industrial associations were to invest in providing targeted training,<\/strong> either via their own resources or by teaming up with key institutions. Such programmes \/ courses are often well respected and widely recognized.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons is-layout-flex wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-button is-style-fill\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/oreskills.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/FLORES_D2.1.pdf\">Download report<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The EU-funded project \u201cForward Looking at the Offshore Renewable Energies\u201d (FLORES) feeds into the European Pact for Skills. It promotes a strong large-scale partnership to foster upskilling and reskilling of Europeans from all ages in Offshore Renewable Energies (ORE). As part of this cross-country initiative, the FLORES team has conducted a skills intelligence analysis, assessing &#8230; <a title=\"The FLORES Project releases Report on ORE skills needs\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/oreskills.eu\/it\/the-flores-project-releases-report-on-ore-skills-needs\/\" aria-label=\"Per saperne di pi\u00f9 su The FLORES Project releases Report on ORE skills needs\">Leggi tutto<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4612,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,134,46],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4609","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all","category-careers-jobs","category-project-deliverable-report"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/oreskills.eu\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4609","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/oreskills.eu\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/oreskills.eu\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oreskills.eu\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oreskills.eu\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4609"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/oreskills.eu\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4609\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oreskills.eu\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4612"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/oreskills.eu\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4609"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oreskills.eu\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4609"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oreskills.eu\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4609"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}