The transition to sustainability has become more and more of a critical necessity in all sectors. Efforts to foster a culture of sustainability in educational curricula have been initiated as a step towards achieving the global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Due to its potential relevance, the GREENING-IE project focuses primarily on fostering a culture of sustainability in the disciplines of sustainable design and production, considering the growing need to develop a culture of sustainable production, especially in countries such as Palestine and Jordan.
For these reasons, the main objective of the project is to set up study programmes for VET academic staff and learners to keep up with the latest breakthroughs in production and to become more functional through sustainable design. More specifically, the project consortium intends to design and develop tailor-made training courses aimed at preparing VET professionals and learners from the two Southern partner countries to work in the fields of sustainable and digitalised production, resource recovery and sustainable use of strategic resources. Moreover, thanks to the capacity building activities, VET learners will be updated on the latest issues and technologies related to the technical aspects of sustainable production (such as recycling and manufacturing systems, quality management, circular economy, etc.).
In this scenario, the European partners, ARCES and the LCE Foundation, are responsible for the transfer of leading European expertise in the field of sustainability. To achieve this goal, the project comprises six integrated work packages to be implemented over a period of twenty-four months under the management and guidance of the project coordinator (ARCES). Thanks to the project implementation, the consortium will contribute to achieve the following goals:
– Strengthen the links between the vocational training system, the private sector and policy makers in both Palestine and Jordan, and raise awareness through mutual dissemination activities in the field of sustainable design and production.
– Bring the labour market and VET closer through the establishment of the plastics recycling and production laboratory at PPU and INU in partnership with local industrial institutions.
– Improve the level of competences, skills and employability potential of VET learners by developing new and innovative VET training programmes in sustainable design and production to be included in the university curricula.
– Promote the cooperation between the shores of the Mediterranean to raise awareness of the opportunities offered by sustainable design and production, particularly in Palestine and Jordan.