Anticipating Skills in The Textile and Clothing Industry

ANTICIPATING SKILLS IN THE TEXTILE AND CLOTHING INDUSTRY
Report based on the results of the desk research conducted in

February - March 2015
Deliverable: Anticipating Skills in the Textile and Clothing

Industry
Work Package: WP2
Deliverable ID 2.2
WP Lead partner: P9 RO -TUIASI
Dissemination level: Public
Status: Final
Due date of deliverable: 30 April 2015
Actual submission date: 30 April 2015
Responsible partner: P9 RO - TUIASI

Co-responsible partner: P8 EL - CRE.THI.DEV.
The European Commission support for the production of this publication does not constitute an endorsement of the contents
which reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made
of the information contained therein.
CONTENT
Executive Summary ........................................................................................................................... 7

1. Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 13
1.1 Aims ........................................................................................................................................ 14
1.2 Methodological aspects ....................................................................................................... 15
2. Overview of the Textile and Clothing Sector ....................................................................... 17
2.1 Short overview of the Textile and Clothing Sector in Europe ......................................... 17
2.1.1 Companies ........................................................................................................................ 17
2.1.2 Exports and demands ....................................................................................................... 18
2.1.3 Innovations and New Technologies ................................................................................. 18
2.1.4 Regulations and Branding ................................................................................................ 19
2.1.5 Employment ..................................................................................................................... 20
2.1.6 Cooperation with HEI ....................................................................................................... 20
2.2 Main international sectoral observatories/ associations, research centres and HEIs 21
3. Anticipated Trends on New Skills for the Future Textile and Clothing Sector ................ 22
3.1 Literature review on new skills needed in the Textile and Clothing sector .................. 22
References.................................................................................................................................... 30
Internet References .................................................................................................................... 32
Other sources............................................................................................................................... 32
4. Main evidence based advantages for SMEs to co-invest and participate in the
activities of HEIs ............................................................................................................................... 34
4.1. Aims ....................................................................................................................................... 34
4.2 Advantages of partnership between companies, HEIs and research centres .............. 35
4.3 Barriers and incentives......................................................................................................... 39
4.4 Conclusions ............................................................................................................................ 43
References.................................................................................................................................... 46
Internet References .................................................................................................................... 47
Other sources............................................................................................................................... 48
5. Trends and approach for building effective and engaging MOOCs ................................. 49
5.1 Aims and methodology ........................................................................................................ 49
5.2 Literature review on MOOCs............................................................................................... 49
5.2.1 The evolution of MOOCs .................................................................................................. 50
5.2.2 MOOC’s taxonomies ......................................................................................................... 56
5.2.3 MOOC’s platforms ............................................................................................................ 58
5.2.4 Learner’s perspectives in MOOCs .................................................................................... 60
5.3. Case studies on using MOOCs ............................................................................................ 62
5.4. Database of MOOCs ............................................................................................................ 71
5.5. Learning methodologies that can be implemented ........................................................ 72
5.5.1 Gamification ..................................................................................................................... 72
5.5.2 Serious games and game-based learning......................................................................... 74
5.6 Conclusions and recommendations ................................................................................... 77
5.6.1 The choice of the model ................................................................................................... 77
5.6.2 The choice of the assessment .......................................................................................... 78
5.6.3 The choice of the platform ............................................................................................... 79
5.6.4 The choice of certification ................................................................................................ 80
5.6.5 A useful infographic.......................................................................................................... 80
References.................................................................................................................................... 81
6. Field Research – planning and Methodology ...................................................................... 84
6.1 Aims ........................................................................................................................................ 84
6.2 Tools ....................................................................................................................................... 85
6.3.The target groups ................................................................................................................. 86
6.4 Contact phase and the motivation letter .......................................................................... 87
6.5 Structure of the questionnaires .......................................................................................... 88
7. Conclusions .............................................................................................................................. 90
Annex 1. International observatories /Associations, Research Centres and HEIs .............. 92
Annex 2. Publications.................................................................................................................. 99
Annex 3 European Sectoral Reports ....................................................................................... 112
Annex 4 Best Practices and Case Studies on SMEs and HEIs Collaboration ...................... 130
Annex 5 MOOCs......................................................................................................................... 138
Section A. Instructional quality database................................................................................ 138
Section B. MOOCs and online courses about textiles ............................................................. 142
Section C. MOOCs for teaching transversal skills .................................................................... 144
Annex 6 Questionnaires ........................................................................................................... 148
6.1 Questionnaire for SMEs..................................................................................................... 148
6.2. Questionnaire for HEIs ..................................................................................................... 153
ANTICIPATING SKILLS
IN THE TEXTILE AND CLOTHING INDUSTRY
1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The report “Anticipating skills in the Textile and Clothing sector” has been made within the
framework of the project “Future textile and clothing managers for export, marketing, innovation,
sustainability and entrepreneurship oriented companies - TECLO”, as a deliverable of the WP2-
“Needs and constrains of the Textile and Clothing sector”.
This report draws the key findings of the planned desk research, gathering information from
different available sources to accomplish the defined tasks, and highlights major conclusions in
order to describe the situation of the textile and clothing industry, the new skills needs in the sector
and the support needed by the SMEs that will be given by the project outcomes.
The main aspects included in the present report can be summarized as follows: 7
• A short overview of the Textile and Clothing sector in Europe;

• References to main sectoral observatories/ associations, research centres and HEIs at
different national levels and at European level;
• A description of the new skills needed by Future Textile and clothing Managers;
• Main European sectoral reports on the new skills for the future Textile and Clothing sector;
• Main evidence based advantages deriving from co-investing and sharing amongst companies,
higher education institutions, research and business centres to address new skills
requirements;
• Trends and approaches for developing new flexible, innovative learning methods based on
using ICT that can be applied in the textile and clothing HEI sector;
• A general and documented view on the potential benefits of using MOOCs as new flexible,
innovative learning approach and delivery method;
• The methodology and tools needed for the field survey in order to identify, respectively, main
needs and kind of support needed by the textile and clothing SMEs in order to become
“efficient and innovative”, main advantages of teaching transversal skills, via MOOCs.
The introductory part of the report presents the general context of the project and its goals,
pointing out the need of the creation of a framework that will anticipate necessary skills and result
in better qualified professionals and that requires to bring all stakeholders within the textile and
clothing sector to work together in the validation of educational programmes and vocational
training courses to meet the changing demands of domestic, international and emerging markets,
increasing the efficiency and competitiveness of EU textile and clothing small and medium
enterprises. Also, the aims of the WP2 –“Needs and constrains of the textile and clothing sector”
are highlighted which includes, as one of its outcomes, the present report “Anticipating skills in the
textile and clothing industry” that, by its results, will be the basis for reaching certain project
objectives.
The purpose of the second chapter “Overview of the Textile and Clothing Sector” is to provide an
analysis of the T&C sector, reporting on the performance of its sub-sectors and identifying
opportunities the sector affords. Statistical data have been drawn from reliable sources before
being consolidated and cross referenced with national and international reports focusing on drivers
of change and anticipated skill needs within the sector.
Within the European Textile and Clothing industry five key drivers of change have been identified
and described: industrial and consumer markets, globalization, knowledge and technology, policy
and regulation as well as the financial crisis. The main findings on trends and drivers of changes
point out the demands, industrial strategies, technology and financial and human resources.
This chapter also includes the results of the desk research referring to the identification of relevant
entities which monitor sectoral skills development and anticipate skills needs: national 8
bodies/authorities, agencies, universities, research institutions, professional
organizations/associations, enterprises, other relevant stakeholders etc., at different national levels
and at European level.
The presented results constitute a database in the form of the References to main sectoral
observatories, associations, research centres and HEIs at different national levels and at the
European level and a list of contact persons per country. The database contains a variety of
stakeholders in the sector of Textile and Clothing, including universities with textile and clothing
study programmes, research centres in the textile and clothing field, governmental bodies,
national/ local agencies, committees, enterprises from the textile and clothing sector, NGOs.
The main goal of the Report lies in the anticipation of new skills for the future textile and clothing
sector, as the labour market in this sector and the skills people need, are evolving faster and future
jobs require different mix of skills, competences and qualifications. In this context, it will be
increasingly necessary for managers from T&C SMEs to acquire diversified transversal key
competences and to develop new skills to be able to adapt to a variety of tasks.
The information about this topic, included in Chapter 3 of the Report, was achieved through the
desk research that includes literature review and analysis of European sectoral reports on the new
skills for the future textile and clothing sector.
The literature review on the new skills needed in the future textile and clothing sector, points out
the need of restructuring the processes and changing the business model of T&C companies as well
as the key drivers of new skills demand in the sector.
The managerial skills are increasingly becoming a basic need in the T&C industry. There is a great
demand for employees having a blend of technical and management skills, completed with soft and
transversal skills, (e.g. communication and interpersonal skills) especially entrepreneurship. As
many economic projections point out that demands in emerging markets are growing, the T&C
industry should orient its strategy for export to those markets and this will require, from the new
managers, a combination of branding, marketing and distribution skills. Innovation has been
identified as a key area for resistance and growth for the textile and clothing sector. But innovation
in these firms is not just about developing and applying new technologies, but also to successfully
transfer new ideas and new business opportunities into market success and to re-organise business
routines, external relations and marketing. In most companies which are successful in textile
innovation, the management has mastered the skills of mass customization, project management,
management of IPR and of relations with research centres. 9
In Chapter 4, the report presents different types of university and industry collaboration that
already exist, with an analysis of those considered most strategic to the execution of the TECLO
project. Furthermore, advantages but also obstacles of such collaborations are underlined and the
barriers that prohibit a better collaboration are analyzed.
The literature review on this topic underlines the advantages of a deep relationship between
Industry and HEI’s, emphasizing the forms of collaboration and their effectiveness and the
opportunities for the SMEs and HEIs to work together on quantifiable benefits for both parties.
Main advantages of partnership between companies, HEIs and research centers lie in innovation
and transfer of knowledge.
Many authors (Perkmann, 2007, Bonaccorsi and Piccaluga, 1994, Blumenthal et al., 1996, Webster,
1994, Urayaa, 2010, Etzkowitz, 2008) emphasize the new role of HEIs, their influence in the
economy and society, the need for a pro-active approach, for strategic thinking when drawing the
long-term plans. HEIs evolve from the basic functions of teaching and research to a third one,
commercialization where the partnership with the companies is the most important element.
The number of research partnerships between corporations, research centres and HEIs has
increased dramatically over the past 20 years. A great influence has been companies’ need to
remain competitive by outsourcing specific research projects to HEIs and research centres. To
remain competitive in the global economy, it is imperative that corporations accelerate their
innovation process.
The collected good practices and best studies were concentrated into a set of fifteen examplesthat
show an already existing collaboration between HEIs and SMEs and their objectives.
Open education brings new opportunities for innovation in higher education that will allow
institutions and academics to explore new online learning models and innovative practices in
teaching and learning. Therefore, one of the main activities planned within the framework of the
TECLO project was the desk research on the trends and approaches for building effective and
engaging MOOC.
The collected information was organized in several sections included in Chapter 5 of the present
report:
• Literature review on MOOCs that includes a historical approach to MOOCs, the state of the art
for the present including MOOCs’ taxonomy, the list of the main platforms that are used to
distribute MOOCs and different profiles of MOOCs’ participants. 10
• Case studies on using MOOCs pointing out the general characteristics of the courses of each
course type in order to define the factors that make MOOCs attractive but also engaging. The
main aim is an analysis of the course structure and organization of the curriculum in the
various types.
• Database on MOOCs with a general vocational training aim. The effectiveness of MOOCs (as
supported by available attendance statistics) is evaluated. Testing and certifying methods are
examined as trends show that most MOOC attendants do not seek to pursue a certificate, just
browsing the course as “ghost attendants”.
• Learning methodologies that can be implemented within MOOCs. Gamification and game-
based learning are taken into consideration, as well as the goal of transferring the benefits of
gamification and game-based learning to MOOCs.
• The last section of the chapter contains final indications that must be kept in mind when
planning to create a MOOC. A list of choices which must be made is reported to be used as a
checklist, together with an infographic summarizing MOOCs’ principal issues.
The final Chapter of the report deals with the methodology and tools for the planned field survey
that will lead to the competence mapping and designing of the matrices of new skills to be acquired
by the new managers. These will lie at the basis of setting-up the EU curricula for the new
professional profile of the TECLOM, endowed with more advanced entrepreneurial and managerial
skills.The tools designed for performing the field research are represented by the questionnaires for
sectoral SMEs and HEIs in order to identify, respectively, main needs and kind of support needed by
SMEs in order to become “efficient and innovative”, and main advantages of teaching transversal
skills, especially entrepreneurship, via MOOCs.
The chapter on conclusions captures the main points and acknowledges directions for further
research and reflection. It assesses the needs of European SMEs in the textile and clothing sector,
focusing on growth, innovation and sustainability, through a framework that will anticipate
necessary skills and result in better qualified professionals. Collaboration among professional
associations, employers and higher education institutions in the formation of future courses is vital
to the sector’s survival and growth.
The following six Annexes provide additional information related to the material presented in the
main body of this report. More specifically, ANNEX 1 contains a list of the main international
observatories, associations, research centres and HEIs at both European and national level. ANNEX
2 presents useful publications concerning the new skills needed in the textile and clothing sector.
ANNEX 3 provides Main European sectorial reports on new skills for the future textile and clothing
sector. ANNEX 4 addresses Best Practices and Case Studies on SMEs and HEIs Collaboration.
ANNEX 5 deals with Trends and approaches for building effective and engaging MOOCs. It
conducts a research carrying out an in-depth examination of the course environment of 76 MOOCs
and it also reports a list of Case studies/good practices on using MOOCs for teaching transversal 11
skills. Finally, ANNEX 6 provides two questionnaires, one addressed to companies and the other to
HEIs. The questionnaires are developed according to a standard research methodology using the
results of the desk research provided in this report. They will be applied mainly to managers from
SMEs/micro enterprises and to relevant stakeholders from HEIs belonging to the textile and
clothing sector. The field research seeks to identify the barriers / incentives met by the textile and
clothing HEIs in introducing innovative MOOCs, as well as the main evidence based advantages of
teaching transversal skills, esp. entrepreneurship to SMEs. The final outcome of the Field Research
is going to be a comparative research report, stressing the main elements to be considered in the
planning of the Project products giving necessary information for establishing the strategy for
future knowledge intensive and innovative textile and clothing SMEs.
The potential beneficiaries of the report are: educational institutions (universities, institutes of
technology), enterprises (SMEs, suppliers, R&D centres etc), public bodies (chambers of commerce,
local governments, professional associations) and users (students, manufacturing companies,
creative companies, teachers, researchers, designers, project managers) at European, national and
regional levels.
Partnership
Number Organization name

P1 Link Campus University
P2 Universiteit Gent/ Department of Textiles
P3 Material Connexion Italia Srl
P4 Associació Agrupació d’Empreses Innovadores Tèxtils
P5 Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya
P6 Technological Education Institute of Piraeus
P7 A Fotopoulou GLP
P8 Creative Thinking Development
P9 “Gheorghe Asachi” Technical University of Iasi
P10 Asociatia Absolventilor Facultatii de Textile-Pielarie din Iasi
P11 University of Ljubljana
P12 Fundacja Rozwoju Przedsiebiorczosci
P13 CIAPE - Centro Italiano per l'Apprendimento Permanente
12
P14 Maison de la Promotion Sociale
2. INTRODUCTION
The clothing and textile industries in the European Union are characterized by very intense
international competition. EU producers face fierce competition from exports of new industrialized
countries whose low wages and social charges give them a considerable competitive advantage.
At the same time the financial crisis has severely affected small and medium enterprises in the EU.
The enterprises’ ability to seek funding has been compromised and opportunities for expansion
present a disproportionate risk to most of them.
Changes in qualification requirements combined with changes in lifestyle and a growing concern for
environmental guidelines and sustainable solutions have not been met by corresponding changes in
education and vocational training causing a lack in qualified staff especially in the management and
strategic sectors.
The small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the textile and clothing sector within the EU seem to
lack the potential to reach international emerging markets, lacking an export oriented growth plan
and a capability to create the conditions necessary for exports.
13
At the same time the market stagnation has affected innovation, mainly non-technological
innovation, comprising organizational and marketing methods. The cultivation of an innovative
mentality is considered vital in any sector and should be an integral part of management training.
Meanwhile developments in environmental issues have made sustainability and sound
environmental production and organization practices of utmost importance for all levels of
production. Managers will need to focus on energy efficiency and emission control and quality
control will concentrate on environmental standards.
Essential managerial skills, like leadership, communication skills, collaboration skills, finance skills,
project management skills and critical thinking will always be on the forefront of any vocational
training.
The project’s context is the creation of a framework that will anticipate necessary skills and result in
better qualified professionals. The main aim is bridging the gap between education and production
in order to foster stronger synergies between innovation, skills and jobs, within an adaptive, global
context.
The most important factors contributing to the formation of this gap are the inadequacy of
educational processes that fail to meet professional demands, especially in non-technical and
strategic sectors (mainly due to fast and unprecedented changes within the EU and international
market environments), and the almost complete absence of professional and employer
associations in the validation and formation of educational curricula.
The project’s context is bringing all stakeholders within the textile and clothing sector to work
together in the validation of educational programmes and vocational training courses to meet the
changing demands of domestic, international and emerging markets, increasing the efficiency and
competitiveness of EU textile and clothing small and medium enterprises.
Collaboration among professional associations, employers and higher education institutions in the
formation of future courses is vital to the sector’s survival and growth.
Aiming at the modernization of Europe’s higher education systems and keeping in mind that the
Textile and Clothing sector is dominated by SMEs the project mainly aims at:
- Enhancing innovation in higher education textile and clothing businesses, through the joint
development of new, problem-based, learning and teaching methods centered on learners,
and responses to challenges and problems affecting the sector. Emphasis will be given on
export oriented management, non-technological innovation, marketing innovation, re-
engineering of processes according to sustainability, CSR and Quality. 14
- Cultivating an entrepreneurial mind-set and skills in the new generation of textile and
clothing managers, through innovative approaches to transversal skill learning throughout
higher education programmes developed in cooperation with enterprises. Emphasis will be
put on entrepreneurial skills, namely: leadership, risk-taking and creativity.
Considering the new demands and pressures the financial crisis puts on SMEs, the sustainability of
the collaboration between education and production is of prime importance, guaranteeing the
encouragement of strategic skills and initiatives taken through a visionary and educated
assessment of risks.
The project’s ultimate goal is the design, creation and administration of a Massive Open Online
Course (MOOC) that will crystallize and reproduce the results of the research and collaboration
between education and production.
1.1 Aims
In the context of the general project objectives, the objectives of the WP2 -Needs and constrains of
the Textile and Clothing sector-are to assess the needs of European SMEs in the textile and clothing
sector, focusing on growth, innovation and sustainability. This phase supports the exchange of good
practices, mutual learning and the development of joint results amongst stakeholders in the
partner countries.
The present report “Anticipating skills in the textile and clothing industry” represents one of the
outcomes of the WP2 that, by its results, will be the basis for reaching the following project specific
objectives:
• Development of sectoral methods for anticipation of high skills needs;
• Identification of the new skills for Future Textile and clothing Managers
• Design and implementation of specific initiatives that stimulate employers to co-invest and
participate in the activities of higher education institutions, research and business centres to
address new skills requirements;
• Development of a new flexible, innovative learning approach and delivery method for the
textile and clothing sector, taking into account barriers existing among HEIs and SMEs, micro
enterprises and based on experiential learning / real-life situations.
1.2 Methodological aspects

The methodology employed in the task of anticipating skills needs for the new managers in textile
and clothing SMEs was based on qualitative research employing qualitative methods.
At this stage of the project, the main qualitative methodological approach used in skills anticipation 15
consisted in secondary research through secondary data collection. This has involved the summary,
collation and synthesis of the existing research publications and reports, as: sectoral reports,
communications and studies at international, European, national and local levels, statistical data,
publications (textbooks, articles, white papers), case studies, good practices etc.
The desk research focused mainly on a qualitative analysis of the Textile and Clothing sector,
recording trends and aspects of the industry within an 8 year framework. Statistical data have been
drawn from reliable sources before being consolidated and cross referenced with national and
international reports focusing on drivers of change and anticipated skill needs within the sector.
The partners have searched for information collecting data using existing resources at
organizational, national, European and worldwide levels, such as: Web resources; Articles (or other
publications); Textbooks; Documents from the Government and relevant National Authorities,
universities and research organizations, other industrial sources. All partners have covered their
national sources. The International/European sources have been distributed among partners. A
database with contact details of stakeholders and target groups has been formed, for use within
the framework of several work packages: WP2, WP3, WP5, WP6 and WP7.
The desk research has focused on a qualitative, as well as quantitative (wherever trustworthy
statistical data have been located) analysis and description of the following aspects of the industry:
• analysis of the current situation in the partner countries (or/and in the neighboring regions) of
the Textile and Clothing sector;
• analysis of the new skills for the future Textile and Clothing sector based on the European
sectoral reports (including partners’ countries);
• synthetic information on sectoral observatories / associations, research centres and HEIs at
different national levels and at European level monitoring sectoral skills development and
anticipating skills needs;
• analysis of the specific existing initiatives that stimulate employers to co-invest and
participate in the activities of higher education institutions, research and business centres to
address new skills requirements;
• analysis on trends and approaches for building effective and engaging MOOCs as a new
flexible, innovative learning approach and delivery method for the textile and clothing sector,
taking into account barriers existing among HEIs and SMEs and micro enterprises, and based
on experiential learning / real-life situations;
• contact databases (with national bodies/authorities, universities, RTOs (Research Technical
Organizations), VET schools and centres, professional organizations/ associations, other
relevant educational institutions, and enterprises).
To elaborate this report and accomplish its aims, the required information and analysis are based
on the work of all partners who have followed the methodological guidelines agreed in January 16
2015 for the desk research, accomplishing the following distributed tasks:
• Overview of the national textile and clothing sector (partners involved: P10-responsible, P2,
P5, P6, P8, P11, P12, P13, P14);
• Literature review aiming at new skills needed in the textile and clothing sector (partners
involved: all, P9-responsible);
• Main European sectoral reports on new skills for the future textile and clothing sector
(partners involved: P2-responsible, P4, P13);
• Main international sectoral observatories / associations, research centres, HEIs at different
national level and at European level monitoring sectoral skills development and anticipating
skills needs (partners involved: P5-responsible, P2, P3, P6, P9, P11, P12, P13, P14);
• Main evidence based advantages for SMEs to co-invest and participate in the activities of HEIs,
research and business centres to address new skills requirements (P3-responsible, P4, P7);
• Trends and approaches for building effective and engaging MOOCs supporting a more active
involvement in their education as well as decentralized, self-directed and efficient experiential
learning more independently in time and space(partners involved: P1-responsible, P9, P14).
3. OVERVIEW OF THE TEXTILE AND CLOTHING SECTOR
2.1 Short overview of the Textile and Clothing Sector in Europe

Within the European Textile and Clothing industry five key drivers of change have been identified
and described: industrial and consumer markets, globalization, knowledge and technology, policy
and regulation as well as the financial crisis. The main findings in the trends and drivers point to
trends in demand, trends in industrial strategies, trends in technology and trends in financial and
human resources.
2.1.1 Companies
The number of companies has dropped since 2007 but begin to stabilize and slowly increase after
2013 as can be seen in the graph below (the graph incorporates EU27 statistics until 2009 and
EU28 statistics after 2010):
17
The industry is highly export oriented since it represents a total value of € 34 billion. The size of
the industry declined substantially between 2000 and 2010. The turnover of the industry declined
by 25% (slightly more in textiles) while employment declined by 50% (equal in textiles and
clothing) and the number of companies declined by 27% between 2000 and 2010.
This also means that the average employment and turnover by company declined. In clothing the
turnover by companies remained almost stable. Nevertheless, the T&C industry is now more
fragmented than it was in 2000. The financial crisis starting in 2008/09 accelerated the decline on
all indicators. In 2010 there were some signs of recovery in some member states; a trend that
seems to continue through the next years.
2.1.2 Exports and demands

In terms of demand, the clothing and home textiles market in Europe is by and large slowly growing
in volume and stable in value. Decline in the northern and southern member states is only partly
compensated by growth in the eastern member states. The financial crisis led to a sudden drop in
demand for textile and clothing products, followed by a small recovery only in Northwest Europe
and Poland. In general, changing consumption patterns and the impact of imports lead to a
preference for lower priced items. While the luxury and high end section performs rather well,
there is mainly a squeeze in the middle of the market. Demand for technical textiles has been
growing, but this growth has not compensated for the decline of clothing and home textiles.
The European industry is at a disadvantage when it comes to supply lower and middle parts of the
market. Cost competition favours third countries (especially China) and the European industry can
no longer compete in volume markets, partly because of the fragmentation of the industry. In the
middle markets Europe appears to be competitive when small batches or flexible responses to 18
specific demands are requested. The potential of the European industry in the high end and luxury
markets is still strong, but the skills required in design, branding and manufacturing present
barriers. Especially the luxury segment has shown excellent export potential; however, exports to
third markets grow much slower than imports.
By mid 2012 the crisis is lasting too long and the perspective on new opportunities is less clear.
European demand is not picking up, exports are growing but are hampered by trade barriers and
difficult access to export credit or insurance.
2.1.3 Innovations and New Technologies

The textile sector is well aware of new opportunities presented by new material technologies, new
process technologies and ICT. The industrialization of the advances of organic chemistry and
mechanization along with, more recently, the growing perception of the potential of a more
sustainable industrialization based on materials made from bio-resources and processed with
biotechnology bring change to the sector. Companies and consumer are more and more conscious
of the environmental footprint and specific industrial markets are pulling innovation, also as a
consequence of European regulations.
Despite this general climate, breakthrough is hampered by the major costs of commercialization
and industrialization, high standard demands for product quality, fragmentation of supply chains
and initiatives and ultimately a lack of financial resources from the financial crisis onwards. The
financial crisis with its corresponding substantial drop in demand and general weakening of the
financial reserves of companies is indeed a break and possibly a catalyst of change in the industry.
The potential of new technologies is also hampered by reductions in public budgets for research
and innovation as well as pressure of demand in industrial markets. The financial crisis is also
limiting the resources available for mid-term and long-term innovation. The problem of
fragmentation is compounding a more structured approach towards sustainability.
The most significant change identified by companies is the development of new products, while
non technological innovation is also present, including the introduction of new strategies,
improvements of productivity and finally access to new markets. Adjustments in the business areas
have mostly focused on new products and markets as well as on cost and resource management.
Finally, research centres have set up new services and improved marketing and communication
actions following the crisis. Over the last decade, companies stressed that the EU27 has been the
market showing the strongest evolutions.
2.1.4 Regulations and Branding 19

Administrative procedures and customs and additional standards and regulations (i.e.
environmental, consumer protection, labour market, safety) have been highlighted, by companies
and associations, as the most significant trade barriers to enter third markets. According to surveys
the largest share of companies has no protection of their intellectual property rights, particularly in
non-EU countries. Long and complex procedures and a high cost of registering trademarks and
designs especially in third countries remain key concerns for T&C companies (non-tariff-barriers).
The fact that some T&C companies are still using no protection of their IP rights highlights their lack
of knowledge regarding the various possibilities and the risks to which the lack of protection
exposes their businesses. Nevertheless, T&C companies are more sensitised by the protection of
trademarks than of other rights such as patents, design/models and copyrights.
Energy costs are perceived by companies to have the highest negative consequences on their
competitiveness, yet regulations that affect international competition, access to raw materials and
to capital-finance/credit also adversely influence competitiveness.
2.1.5 Employment
Within the last decade companies intensified their investment in human capital as well as life-long
learning and increased the workforce flexibility. The workforce composition is changing to adapt to
increased competition and changes in the market. The share of employees with higher education is
increasing, whereas employees of lower education are decreasing.
According to Trade Unions, the highest growth is in employment categories such as marketing and
sales as well as research and development in terms of fashion, design and style, whereas the
number of general production workers declines. As a consequence, shortages of staff with the right
qualifications are a growing issue for the companies. The most pressing shortages are experienced
in relation to skilled workers. However, companies have also experienced or expect to experience a
lack of technicians and shortages of graduate staff.
20
2.1.6 Cooperation with HEI

Educational centres are collaborating with T&C companies to some level, especially through ad hoc
consultation on educational issues and regular dialogue with companies through student work
placement or internships.
Labour unions seem to be less implicated with education, especially higher education. The main
type of training is tailor-made courses or seminars of a few days length and the most requested
topics are advanced materials, textile technology and product development. In addition,
educational centres are engaged in collaboration on research with T&C companies, and this
collaboration is mainly funded from own budget or national public funds.
2.2 Main international sectoral observatories/ associations, research centres and HEIs
The content of this paragraph is based on the results of the desk research
performed by the partners P5 (responsible), P2, P3, P6, P9, P11, P12, P13
and P14 (contributors)
The task aimed at the identification of the relevant entities: national bodies/authorities, agencies,
universities, research institutions, professional organizations/associations, enterprises, other
relevant stakeholders etc.) at different national levels and at European level monitoring sectoral
skills development and anticipating skills needs.
The collected information constitutes a database in the form of the References to main sectoral
observatories, associations, research centres and HEIs at different national levels and at the
European level and a list of contact persons per country.
The database contains a variety of stakeholders in the sector of Textile and Clothing, including
universities with textile and clothing study programmes, research centres in the textile and clothing
field, governmental bodies, national/ local agencies, committees, enterprises from the textile and
clothing sector, NGOs.
21
The contact person for each entity has been informed about the project. A brief description of their
activities was provided and they were asked for executive permission for the publication of their
organization’s contact information in the project website. In a further stage of the project
implementation they will be asked to assess and validate the products that will be developed.
4. ANTICIPATED TRENDS ON NEW SKILLS FOR THE FUTURE TEXTILE AND CLOTHING
SECTOR
3.1 Literature review on new skills needed in the Textile and Clothing sector
Skills needed by jobs in the EU textile and clothing industry have greatly evolved and (according to
the European Commission 1) will continue to evolve rapidly from 2013 to 2025. Specifically,
according to their report, in terms of specific skills needed by the EU textile and clothing sector
based on where the sector might progress towards 2020:
• Technical production competences will remain central to recruitment with increased focus on
the demand for versatile staff that can operate across different workstations.
• Supply chain management, business, sales and marketing skills (including the skills in
international trade) are growing in importance. For many EU textile and clothing companies,
“trade has taken the place of production”.
• The EU textile and clothing industry is further expecting skills on technology, innovation and
sustainability. Leading technology-led areas include mass customization, 3D body
measurement, advanced CAD and e-Commerce technologies, internet infrastructures for
custom-tailored clothing and business-to-consumer e-Commerce among retailers.
The evolving conditions will demand from companies in the sector to successfully overcome a 22
restructuring process and often change their business model. This restructuring will mainly
demand that companies are:
Changing their role in the value chain – companies might have to redesign their agenda, reduce or
expand their core activities along the value chain, for instance by changing from being a
production company to outsourcing production and focusing on design, logistics, and marketing.
Turning to specialization and niche products – focusing on products and/or production methods
that increase the added value and are (to the same extent) less subject to competition from
manufacturers using cheap labour to produce for the mass market. Examples are high-quality or
environmentally friendly products or use of specialized sewing techniques.
Developing a two string strategy – combining two production locations, usually producing large
volumes in Asia with longer delivery times (and lower costs) and small to medium volumes in
Europe (or Northern Africa) with shorter delivery times, allowing for just-in-time delivery (and
often higher costs) e.g. bespoke curtain production in Europe and ready made curtains in India.
Looking into co-contractors, hybrids and new distribution channels – finding new ways of selling
products. Co-contractors add services to the sub-contracting work such as co-design; hybrids
1
Annual Report (2012). European Skills Council -- Textile, Clothing and Leather
operate their own label while at the same time acting as sub-contractor to another branding
company. For example new distribution channels may include setting up own shops or selling on-
line.
Consolidating - maintaining a position in a shrinking market by taking over competitors and

combining increased market share with economies of scale. This is sometimes accompanied by
rationalization in the direction of reduction of capacity or improvement of productivity.
Key drivers of skills demand

In the above context the key drivers of skills demand in the textile and clothing sector are:
Liberalisation of Markets and Globalisation– global competition

The textile and clothing sector has been impacted by the onset of globalisation more than any
other. The dismantling of trade barriers, along with lower communication and transport costs, has
caused an outsourcing of value added manufacturing to low-cost nations.
In order to gain competitiveness within the global markets, companies have turned towards niche
manufacturing and balancing supply sourcing or outsourcing operations.
Environmental change - EU environmental legislation

With growing environmental awareness and the evolving corresponding legislation, companies will
need to shift to strategies ensuring an environmentally sound and sustainable production model. 23
This shift demands a clear understanding of the contributing factors, combined with an
environmentally sound approach to management marketing, since environmental issues become
increasingly prominent within the public opinion.
Overcapacity - Changing consumer behavior

Changes in the European and worldwide markets and customer behavior have greatly affected
production in all industrial sectors. Fluctuations in demand will call for greater flexibility in
production and the anticipation of need and trends worldwide.
New and improved fibres, textiles and composite materials

Advancements in science and technology have led to new textiles and materials that can add
desirable characteristics and even new functionalities to textiles and apparel. These innovations
include:
- Technical textiles, defined as “textile materials and products manufactured primarily for
their technical performance and functional properties rather than their aesthetic or
decorative characteristics” according to the Textile Institute´s publication “Textile Terms
and Definitions”. The technical textiles’ definition does not depend on the fibre, yarn or
textile structure type or on the technology which is used for its production: it’s the end-use
of the product itself and its application that defines a technical textile product.
- Smart Textiles defined, according to the standardization working group CEN/TC 248/WG
31, as a functional textile material which interacts actively with its environment, i.e. it
responds or adapts to changes. The “Smart” concept can in fact address a textile material
per se or a smart textile system, which exhibits an intended and exploitable response as a
reaction either to changes in its surroundings/ environment or to an external signal/input.
Information and communication technologies

Information technology is gaining in relevance and prominence in all sectors of industrial
production, management and marketing, posing new challenges and offering new opportunities.
Companies in the European textile and clothing sector will need to incorporate basic information
and communication tools that can bring efficiency to their management strategies and allow them
to reach wider markets through electronic commerce.
e-trade - E-facilitated trade is becoming increasingly prominent in textiles and clothing. Companies
incorporate electronic trade to respond to buyers’ new “electronic” requirements - from
computer-assisted design to electronically-managed supply chains.
e-management - The incorporation of information technology into the sector goes far beyond 24
creating an online marketplace. It calls for a restructuring of management towards more efficient
and responsive strategies through the use of information technology.
Innovation in processing technology

European companies are in the forefront of the technical products market, as in the fashion or
home-textiles market. Product oriented innovation is in most cases resulting from a creative
combination of fibres, finishing, materials or chemicals, powered by an experienced combination
of processing options and amplified by the introduction of new designs or new product
functionalities. Frequently all these kind of innovations will not be considered as research but fall
more into the concept of non-technological innovation.
New Skills
The skills implications of the above drivers include:
• a reliance on design creativity, allied to strong technical and commercial awareness;
• successful branding and marketing skills;
• the development of new technologies and applications of oriented engineering in specialty
textiles, like technical textiles and smart textiles;
• a better understanding of informatics, leading to a stronger incorporation of information and
communication innovations into production and, more importantly management and
marketing;
• the ability to compete in premium and niche markets on a global level by maintaining craft
skills;
• maintaining the current trajectory of business start-ups by ensuring that owner-managers
have the correct skills available;
• ensuring that firms have the ability to manage overseas supply chains and understand the
product environment;
• development of environmentally conscious management, taking into account sustainability
and evolving environmental legislation;
• the maximisation of production efficiencies enabling firms to reduce costs through multi-
skilling;
• attracting a greater number of graduates into the sector (this is a key problem where strong
leadership is needed in times of rapid change, due to the long-term decline in apprenticeships
and other development mechanisms, along with the negative image of the sector, the ageing
workforce is going to be a key problem).
3.2 Main European sectoral reports of the new skills for the future Textile and Clothing sector
The content of this paragraph is based on the results of the desk research
25
performed by the partners P2 (responsible), P4 and P13 (contributors)
The European Textile and Clothing (T&C) sector has been seriously affected by the recent economic
crisis. However, after the recession of 2008 and 2009, the latest Report (2014) of the TCLF (Textile,
Clothing, Footwear and Leather) European Sector Skills Council 2 indicates an economic recovery,
and the key figures for T&C sub-sector in 2013 are: turnover of 166,500 million Euro, 172,662
companies and 1,664,000 employees of which 38% in textiles and 62% in clothing.
Europe has a well known tradition and valuable know-how in T&C manufacturing. Since 2004, the
European Economic and Social Committee 3 advises T&C companies to add to their assets in
manufacturing the capacity for innovation by introducing the results of research on new materials,
by making the environmental issues and workplace safety legislation more visible to consumers, by
exploiting new technologies and developing new products such as technical textiles. In 2011, the
European Network of Textile Research Organizations (TEXTRANET) 4 highlighted that design and
2
Report of the TCLF European Sector Skills Council, 2014
3
Opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee on the Communication of the European Commission to the Council, the European
Parliament, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions: The Future of the Textiles and Clothing Sector in the
Enlarged European Union, 2004
4
Position Paper for Common Strategic Framework for EU Research and Innovation Funding (CSFRI), Textranet-European Network of Textile Research
Organisations, 2011
creativity, fashion oriented products and technical goods of high added-value are major
competitive advantages of the EU T&C industry. However, there are a number of threats that
companies need to keep in mind: ageing workforce, difficulties in attracting young people, a
mismatch between education systems and the industry’s needs.
As other manufacturing sectors, the T&C sector is very sensitive to challenges represented by
internationalization, globalization and emerging markets. Internationalization is necessary for
growth, but it is also assumed that the company should remain strong on the domestic market 5. In
order to meet the consumers’ demand for “ethical” and “environmental friendly” products, the EU
companies are more and more interested to invest in their corporate responsibility and
sustainability. Also, the T&C sector is required to go forward by adding higher value in terms of
innovative products, technologies and processes. For example, many EU companies have moved
their awareness into higher value technical markets, such as the one of technical textiles. At the
same time, the sector needs to keep its traditional advantages that come from fashion and brands,
creative designs, new business models and good practices. All these challenges require highly
qualified and multi-skilled employees.
In acccordance with the opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee 6, the growth of
the T&C sector should be SMART through creativity, innovation and internationalization. Also, it
should be INCLUSIVE, through development of customized products. At the same time, the growth 26
of the sector has to be SUSTAINABLE, through the development of eco-friendly products.
A sectoral analysis 7 made by the European Commission in 2009 revealed the importance of the
following rising areas: value chain management, marketing and sales, technology and engineering
oriented applications, and environmental issues. These directions are sustained when the T&C
companies demonstrate increasing performances in networking on global markets, corporate social
responsibility, capacity for creativity, innovation and research, product and process engineering,
including logistics and cost control.
The working document 8 published by the European Commission in 2012 pointed out that the
essential knowledge and skills in textile and clothing manufacturing should be safeguarded, while
entrepreneurial and managerial skills should be further developed. Moreover, the new
occupational profiles for the T&C industry should demonstrate hybrid skills, such as: effective
leadership combined with creativity and innovation for finding niches in mature markets,
5
Support and Training Needs Among Swedish Fashion Companies, The Swedish School of Textiles, University of Boras, 2012
6
Opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee on “Growth Driver Technical Textiles”, 2013
7
Textiles, Wearing Apparel and Leather Products Sector - Comprehensive Sectoral Analysis of Emerging Competences and Economic Activities in the
European Union, European Commission, 2009
8
Commission Staff Working Document Policy Options for the Competitiveness of the European Fashion Industries — ‘Where Manufacturing Meets
Creativity’, European Commission, 2012
traditional manufacturing and technologies combined with new business models, design and
fashion combined with materials science and engineering.
Due to a lack of shared vision and anticipation strategy at European level, the T&C sector lacks in
employees with a high level of education. Because of the lack of attractiveness of technological
studies and careers among youths, the sector is confronted with the difficulty to bring promising
and talented new workers to the sector. Through an in-depth assessment of the EU T&C sector 9,
realized in 2012 by Scheffer M.R. for the European Commission Enterprise and Industry DG, it was
revealed that around 10,000 students are currently enrolled in higher textile and clothing education.
Beside the fact that the number is not sufficient for the needs of the labour market, it is also
insufficient for covering all the technological issues involved in T&C manufacturing. The above
mentioned report refers to the needed skills that the top and middle managers should have in
order to be able to innovate and restructure their company. Depending on how the company is
strategically orientated on a market, updated skills are required for: branding, marketing and
distribution, innovation new technological application areas, sustainability and environmental
management, supply chain management, e-commerce, costs management and planning, customer
needs, negotiation. This report brings the idea of eliminating the boundaries between various
disciplines (technology, design and fashion, management, marketing) in designing the study
curricula for higher education. Also, the necessity of involving the employers in the governance of
schools or in the definition or validation of curricula is highlighted. 27
The report 10 of the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions
listed the relevant areas of knowledge for the T&C sector, such as: basic natural sciences, materials
science, engineering, electronics and informatics, product and process design, marketing. Among
these, the sector would significantly benefit from the softener personal skills of their employees,
which could include: vision, planning and strategy, personal and organizational ambition, flexibility
and motivation for learning.
The T&C sector is shifting from supply-driven to demand-oriented companies. Having into mind
various scenarios that forecast a decline of the total employment in the T&C industry, this
decreasing goes hand in hand with an increasing need for occupational profiles that meet the
expectations of demand-oriented companies 11. The report elaborated by Albertijn M. and Desseyn
J. in 2010 listed following tendencies with impact on future skills demands: The use of other/new
9
In-Depth Assessment of the Situation of the T&C Sector in the EU and Prospects- Synthesis Report for the European Textile and Clothing Sector,
Michiel R. Scheffer, 2012
10
Trends and Drivers of Change in the EU Textiles and Leather Sector: Mapping report, European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and
Working Conditions, 2004
11
Toekomstige competentievereisten in de Vlaamse textielindustrie Kwantitatieve rapportage Een onderzoek in opdracht van de sociale partners
van de textile sector, TEMPERA, authors: Michel Albertijn and Johan Desseyn, 2010
raw materials; Delocalization of purchase markets; Increasing automation and computerization;
New production techniques; Increasing importance of environmentally friendly products and
production processes; Growing standardization of company processes; Higher importance of
projects linked and demand-driven; Delocalization of existing markets; New applications and
markets for textile products; Shortened average product life cycle; Increasing intensity of co-
operation across departments; Higher delocalization of the production capacity ; Growing
importance of service to the customer.
The report 12 elaborated by SKILLSET (UK) in 2011 identifies skills gaps in the management of textile
companies due to the fact that it is common for individuals in the sector to progress from a textile
production background into management without any formal training. Also, this report emphasizes
that there are insufficient production management skills and a lack of understanding between
designers and manufacturers. Management and leadership gaps should be tackled by increasing
the business content in fashion and textile courses. Competences such as marketing and brand
awareness, markets analysis, export sales, customers’ analysis and e-commerce should be
improved for managerial and sales staff, while technicians should deepen their knowledge about
new processes, fabric technology and quality control.
The managerial skills are increasingly becoming a basic need in the T&C industry 13. There is a great
demand for employees having a blend of technical and management skills, completed with ‘soft 28
skills’, for example, communication and interpersonal skills. Leadership is an area where the T&C
sector needs to “develop global aspirations and world class leadership to match” 14. Management
skills gaps should be tackled by increasing the business content in fashion and textiles courses 15. As
companies are required to spend a greater amount of time managing processes, supply chain and
customer relations, the managerial and technical positions are forecasted to proportionally make
up a larger part of the workforce.
The national training plan 16 elaborated by the Italian Ministry of Labour and Social Policies in 2010
starts from the idea that the implementation of new competitive business models in the T&C sector
requires new technical and managerial skills, which should be added to the traditional ones. These
technical and managerial skills should be completed by: Innovation skills - companies should
periodically innovate their own products, while their quality is maintained; Commercial skills -
capacity to create networks with suppliers; Marketing skills - capacity to build the brand awareness
12
Sector Skills Assessment for the Fashion and Textile Sector in England, Skillset- The Sector Skills Council for Creative Media, 2011
13
An Assessment of Skills Needs in the Clothing, Textiles, Footwear and Leather and Furniture, Furnishings and Interiors Industries, Miranda Pye,
2011.
14
Scottish Textiles Skills Strategy & Action Plan Summary (2013-2016), Scottish Textiles Skills Partnership, 2012
15
Sector Skills Assessment for the Fashion and Textiles Sector in Northern Ireland, Alliance Sector Skills Council, 2011
16
Piano nazionale formativo integrato per il settore tessile abbigliamento e calzaturiero / National Integrated Training Plan for the Textile, Apparel
and Footwear Sector, Italian Ministry of Labour and Social Policies, 2010
and value; Communication and networking skills - capacity to build a relation with costumers and
capacity to build a relation with other companies.
The analysis of university training needs 17 in Spain highlights that besides a basic scientific training
and the technological specialization, it is needed to develop areas with common contents such as:
Business strategy, management and logistics; Marketing and international commerce, Innovation
projects; Economy, legislation and taxation system of textile companies; Environment and
sustainability; Languages.
The 2012 report of the Textile Clothing Leather (TCL) European Sector Skill Council 18 provides an
analysis of the sector based on the needs and opportunities detected by EU social partners. It gives
an overview of employment and trends in recent years. In order to collect data and to elaborate
reliable recommendations for implementing the findings from the 2012 report on needs of skills,
the TCL European Skill Council continued to develop national networks, aiming at favouring an
efficient system data and information. Thus, the latest report (2014) of the Textile Clothing Leather
and Footwear (TCLF) European Sector Skills Council offers a much broader image and it identifies
the drivers of skills demand within the sector and analyses their impact. This analysis starts from
the fact that the TCLF sector has seen changes to its employment and structural composition in the
recent past like no other. Being both a skilled labour intensive industry, subject to many economic
and global pressures, as well as one whose products are constantly changing to satisfy consumer 29
demand, this has meant it is susceptible to many drivers that influence sector requirements and the
skills needed. The impact of these drivers has changed many of the skills needs for various
occupations. Several occupations from the ESCO classification system (where 107 occupations have
to date been mapped into this new taxonomy) are analysed in terms of skills and competences
required due to the following drivers: Regulation and governance, Demographic and population
change, Environmental change, Economics and globalization, Technological change, Values and
identities, Consumer demand.
Whilst traditional occupations which are currently in demand require very specific skills and
competences, the sector due to the rapid and continuing evolution and change, has also seen new
occupations beginning to emerge. In this respect, many of the new occupations identified in the
ESCO classification are at managerial, professional and associate professional level where many of
the drivers on the sector require both harnessing and driving forward to the TCLF sectors
advantage. However, the demands on skilled trades and operative occupations are also high to
ensure new technologies are properly used. For defining both current occupational profiles and the
17
Analysis of University Training Needs in Spain for the Textile Sector and Comparative Study of Textile Careers in Spain and in Europe, Observatorio
Industrial del Sector Textil y de la Confección, 2010.
18
Annual Report - Launch of the Activities & Initiatives of the TCL (Textile Clothing Leather) European Sectoral Council for Employment and Skills,
European Skills Council, 2012
future ones which are emerging within the TCLF sectors, the development and utilization of the
ESCO tool by the industry, education providers and stakeholders alike are required in order to
ensure that the TCLF sector can reach its growth potential and take advantage of the current
opportunities.
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ESSC. ( 2012). Report n° 1: The evolution of the supply, employment and skills needs including foresight and
forecast analyses for the sector.
ESSC. (2012). Report n° 2: Good practices bringing the worlds of education and work closer and reducing
the persistent skills mismatch at sectoral level, as well as on the mechanisms existing at national or regional
level between anticipation bodies and education and training providers.
ESSC. (2012). Report n° 3: Innovative tools, national and/or regional strategies, local initiatives, methods
put in place for peer learning purposes.
Euratex (2014). Annual report 2013, Brussels.
Euratex (2014). T&C statistics in Focus nr 19, june 2014, Brussels.
European Commission (2014). Action Plan for Fashion and High-end Industries. Non paper, Brussels.
European Commission (2014). European Economic Forecast - spring 2014, Brussels.
European Skills Council. Textile Clothing and Leather (2012). Annual report, Brussels.
EU Skills Panorama (2014). Textiles, leather and clothing Analytical Highlight, prepared by ICF GHK and
CEDEFOP for the European Commission.
OECD (2012). Better Skills, Better Jobs, Better Lives: A Strategic Approach to Skills Policies. OECD Publishing.
Trends Business Research (2008). Re-sizing the Skillfast-UK Sectors and the contribution of Micro
businesses, Newcastle upon Tyne.
UKCES (2012), Working Futures Evidence Report 41, Coventry, Cambridge.
Unione Nazionale Industria Conciaria. (2013). Social & Environmental Report, Milan.
33
5. MAIN EVIDENCE BASED ADVANTAGES FOR SMES TO CO-INVEST AND PARTICIPATE
IN THE ACTIVITIES OF HEIS
The content of this chapter is based on the results of the desk research
performed by the partners P3 (responsible), P4 and P7 (contributors)
The chapter presents different types of university and industry collaboration that already exist, with
an analysis on those considered most strategic to the execution of the TECLO project.
Furthermore advantages but also obstacles of such collaborations are underlined and the barriers
that prohibit a better collaboration are analyzed.
Finally,15 best studies or good practices that show an already existing collaboration between HEIs
and SMEs and the objectives of each programme are included in the Annex 4.
4.1. Aims 34
This project aims to locate collaborations between HEIs, research centers and the Market.
The aim of this task is to identify the advantages that stimulate employers to co-invest and
participate in the activities of higher education institutions, research and business centers to
address new skills requirements. The results of the research will provide EU textile and clothing
SMEs, employers’ associations and trade unions with a motivational tool (Decalogue) for a higher
implication in the future textile education, acting as partners with HEIs, in the definition and
validation of curricula, attuning curricula to current and emerging labor market needs, removing
the boundaries between technical, design, commercial and social skills disciplines, and providing
the ‘soft skills’ for process innovation which are especially important to micro-, small and medium-
sized firms trying to close the productivity gap. The desk report on the topic should reflect the
outcomes of university-industry links that can be measured, the existing policies towards
university-industry links aiming to maximize the knowledge transfer and learning potential, in order
to overcome the knowledge gaps, to stimulate entrepreneurial mindsets among students etc.
Particular barriers and possible incentives that could motivate SMEs networking with HEIs to close
the productivity gap should be also pointed out in the task report.
The report analyses the advantages of partnership between companies, HEIs and research centers
and will also present information both from literature review and case studies. Further, the matter
of incentives that could motivate universities and companies to collaborate but also the barriers
that could prevent them will be discussed.
4.2 Advantages of partnership between companies, HEIs and research centres
Literature review
The main objective of this review is to underline advantages of a strongrelationship between
Industry and HEs.
One of the main advantages of partnership between companies, HEIs and research centers lies in
one word: innovation.
A thorough discussion of design, innovation and academia can be found in Norman and Verganti’s
paper ‘Incremental and Radical Innovation’. Here the relationship between academic research in
design and design as a professional practice is discussed with greater nuance. ‘Incremental and
Radical Innovation’ provides a helpful critical discussion of the similarities, differences and
interdependencies of ‘incremental’ and ‘radical’ forms of innovation. The former is described as
‘doing better what we already do’ and the latter described as ‘doing what we did not do before’. 35
The nature of radical innovation is disruptive, challenging and often prone to failure. This is
frequently due to the additional challenges of gaining social acceptance for an idea that occupies a
space outside of established personal and social norms and the resultant lack of infrastructure and
support. Incremental and radical innovation is equally valuable and interdependent. Radical
innovation creates new possibilities; incremental innovation maximizes the effectiveness and
efficiency of the outcome. Norman and Verganti also discuss the relationship between innovation
and different kinds of design research.
Design research is described in four categories: ‘Basic Design Research’, ‘Design-Driven Research’,
‘Human-Centered Research’, and ‘Tinkering’. Basic Design Research is described as ‘Research aimed
at exploring new meanings, without specific consideration for us in products’. This model is defined
by in-depth and comprehensive research activities that lead to advancement in knowledge that
may or may not be applicable to product development. Design-Driven research is described as a
process ‘… aimed at envisioning new meanings that are intended to be applied in products’. This
model can be conceived as the process of redefining product meanings – an incremental
development from functional device to desirable object for example. Human-Centered Research is
described as the process of understanding people’s current understandings of products. This
approach is considered to be a particularly effective method for understanding and enhancing the
values of current categories of products. Tinkering is described as ‘[playing around] with a product
or technology with no goal’. This process is considered to be highly valuable but equally
unpredictable and often irreplaceable. Norman and Verganti (2014) emphasize the
interconnectedness of these practices and describe through each model a sequential design
evolution and the value of divergence as an approach to design research that will help to overcome
some of the trappings of the more traditional and reductive approaches to innovation and
development.
One of the mutual benefits of collaboration between HEIs and companies is the possibility for both
to be up-to-date. Skills are adapted to real industry needs: By working together, HEIs and
employers could develop courses more suited to meeting skills needs. Clusters are a good tool for
that, as company members often have similar needs. HEIs that find niche training for employers,
will gain more students. Companies are a potential customer of HEIs. Research becomes more
effective: there is the possibility to explore new research areas in collaboration between industry
and academic partners. There is a transfer of knowledge which allows the possibility to introduce
research into the market.
According to the DG education and Culture Study on the Cooperation between HEIs and public and
private organizations in Europe, there are 8 types of cooperation between the two parties, which
are presented below: 36
• “Collaboration in Research and Development” which includes joint R&D activities, contract
research, R&D consulting, cooperation in innovation, joint publications with firm
scientists/researchers, joint supervision of Bachelor, Master or PhD theses or projects in
cooperation with industry.
• “Mobility of academics” that consists of temporary movement of professors and researchers
from HEIs to business, and employees, managers and researchers from business to HEIs.
• “Mobility of students” which consists of temporary movement of students from HEIs to
companies.
• “Commercialization of R&D results” that includes the commercialization of scientific R&D
results through disclosures of inventions, patenting and licenses.
• “Curriculum development and delivery” that means joint development of a programme of
courses, modules, majors or minors, planned experiences as well as guest lectures by
delegates from external private and public organizations within undergraduate, graduate or
PhD programmes.
• “Lifelong Learning” that includes the provision of adult education, permanent education
and/or continuing education involving the acquisition of skills, knowledge, attitudes and
behaviors by HEIs to people working in external organizations.
• “Entrepreneurship” that consists of actions involving HEIs towards the creation of new
ventures or developing entrepreneurial mind-sets in cooperation with business.
• “Governance” includes academics involved in firm decision-making or sitting on the boards of
firms and also having business leaders in HEI decision-making or sitting on the board of HEIs or
at a faculty management level.
The most developed types of cooperation between HEIs and Business are Collaboration in R&D (1),
Mobility of Students (2) and Lifelong Learning (3). Those three types are further analyzed
below.(http://www.ub-cooperation.eu/pdf/finland.pdf)
(1) Collaboration in R&D

This type of cooperation is the most common in Europe according to the DG education and Culture
Study. “Whilst both the total public expenditure on R&D and the research activity of large
companies in Europe and the USA are broadly comparable, SMEs in Europe undertake between 7 to
8 times less researches than their American counterparts.” Most regional and national SME
programmes in Europe do not support the research activities or business partnering of their SMEs
beyond their national frontiers. European programmes with sufficient resources are essential to fill
this gap. Funding is considered as an essential solution for SMEs when taking into consideration the
following benefits for both parties.
Benefits for HEIs:

• Gain awareness and attractiveness of the region and of the university itself. Increase 37
competitiveness. Indeed, successful collaborative research projects have resulted in enhanced
visibility of the university, at both national and international level.
• Awareness because a successful R&D cooperation offers more opportunities for collaboration
with companies, other universities and prestigious networks.
• Increase in the development of interdisciplinary research and in the number of research
outputs produced.
• Employment or internship opportunities for early stage researchers in the company with
which they cooperated.
• Improvement of the learning experience of students.
• Improvement in the degree of professionalization of human resources.
• Availability of long-term funding.
• Opportunities to use company data and research facilities.
Benefits for SMEs:

• Access to academic expertise on specific research areas and working with high-profile
institutions with strong research capacity.
• Find out solutions for industrial challenges and additional.
• Develop new innovative products or improve existing ones.
• Increased competitiveness of SMEs, as knowledge and research capacity is transferred from
HEIs.
• Research challenges give the opportunity of research results that can be translated into
specific products or outcomes that can have a direct impact on customer’s lives.
(2) Mobility of students (Internships):

Internships are a short period of professional experience during a degree programme or a graduate
internship as a post‐graduation professional experience. Internships may be paid or unpaid,
depending on the nature of the placement, and the employer’s policy.
It must be underlined that internships benefit SMEs as it is proved that when looking for fulltime
work, the top talent often go for big-name businesses. But when seeking internships, learning is the
leading draw. Many candidates feel they'll get more hands-on training, real experience, and
mentoring opportunities with smaller organizations. Therefore, specific benefits for SMEs are
offered by internships.
Benefits for HEI students:

• Have an edge in the job market, people met during the internship can be future colleagues or
can be the connection to a first job.
• Make decisions about their career, by getting to know what really happens in the field they
are interested in.
• Be more marketable after graduation as their needs of training will be less and they will have
the skills needed in any field (ex. communication skills, computer, teamwork).
38
• It is a more effective way of learning, everyone can benefit from seeing the things that they
have been learning in class, put to action.
• Develop new skills and refine others by learning their strengths and weaknesses.
Benefits for SMEs:

• They see interns as prospective employees. Many students finish their internships and
continue working with the company full time. Internships are the number one way for
employers to find new staff in the US. Evidence is NACE's 2009 Experiential Education Survey,
which states that almost 40% of employers reported a higher five-year retention rate among
employees they'd hired via their internship programmes.
• It's a human resource reality: A new employee makes a solid impression in the interview, but
then just doesn't gel with the current team or the company's way of doing things. With
internships, employers have the opportunity to confirm that the specific candidate matches
with the company, as internships are like a long interview.
• Taking into consideration that most of the times employers do not pay for the internship, an
opportunity of training the potential employee without cost, arises for the employer.
• With an internship the employer will be able to increase its productivity as an extra set of
hands can help the rest of the employees by preventing them from becoming overburdened
by side projects, as well as free them to accomplish more creative tasks or those where
higher-level, strategic thinking or expertise is required.
• Novel perspectives, fresh ideas, and specialized strengths and skill sets are valuable assets for
SMEs, as they are structured with a small number of employees and they are facing
saturation.
(3) Lifelong Learning

Training is something essential for every business. As a result many big companies include in their
staff specialists in training. However, this is considered as a “luxury”. Most companies, especially
SMEs, do not have the essential funding so as to educate their staff. Although training budgets are
the first to be reduced or even removed when a company wants to minimize costs, it is obvious
that this is not a practice that provides benefits. Training is still essential when financial problems
occur; this may even be the way to get ahead of those problems. New skills, new technologies etc.
are the solution to many problems and those can be gained with training. “Effective training
provision enhances employee efficiency, skills and knowledge with the potential to enhance
employee motivation and organizational commitment. Moreover, organizations with effective and
committed workforces are typically more likely to survive and grow and provide benefit to the
economies in which they trade” For that reason HEIs, government and enterprise support agencies
must find the way to help SMEs in that field.
4.3 Barriers and incentives

The collaboration between industry and the academic world has always been an important but 39
complex topic. Due to the rapid evolution of the business environment and the vast
transformations throughout the academic realm, the subject is now even more “strategic” than it
has been. The main benefit for companies from this cooperation is the access to the latest research
results and innovative new methodologies. It’s a mutual approach – the companies offer business
insights and the students contribute proven methodology and expertise. It is a win-win situation for
both parties. However, since the universities and industrial companies have different business
models, some investment needs to be made to converge the two positions before the mutual
benefits can be reaped.
Universities focus on educating people and on creating new knowledge and excelling in existing
know-how, while companies concentrate on mastering the challenges of a competitive
environment and are striving for market success. Obviously the core interest of both differs. When
they collaborate, each party has certain expectations of the other side – the companies expect
innovative and state-of-the-art lectures to secure high quality education, valuable knowledge and
groundbreaking methodologies, while the universities expect their students to be given business
experience e.g. through internships and opportunities to put their skills into practice.
The academics also expect to be given the opportunity to transfer theoretical ideas into practical
projects and to implement research in the real world. Both parties have fundamental points of
interest and this is where a win-win situation is achieved for both of them. With students being well
educated in new methodologies and the corporate experts transferring these innovations into
practical projects which involve the students, we will soon be able to see how the collaboration can
bring about mutual advantages. Companies which do not have a close relationship with the
academic community are expected to advance slower. They miss out on early access to the latest
research results and methodologies and then need more time to put these methods into practice.
By being out of touch with a university, its students and young professionals, they become less
attractive as prospective employers and often find it more challenging to recruit graduates and
commit them for their first 2-3 professional years. It therefore seems much more effective for a
company to collaborate with the academic world than not.
On the other hand, it is important to remember that Academics are sometimes far away and
disconnected from the industry world and SMEs don’t see them as possible collaborators. There is a
need to change that. SMEs could profit from academics knowledge, but they think that University is
far away from companies in terms of R&D (they see Technological Centres closer). There is a need
to change that as Universities are the first actor of the R&D process. HEIs and companies are two
from the three elements of the Triple-Helix concept (HEIs-companies-government). The Triple Helix
hypothesis is that the potential for innovation and economic development in a Knowledge Society 40
lies in a more prominent role for the university and in the hybridization of elements from
university, industry and government to generate new institutional and social formats for the
production, transfer and application of knowledge. Universities are a pool of recruitment for SMEs.
They could offer SMEs easy access to students and researchers. Universities can also offer job
opportunities to students. Cooperation with HEIs offers to SMEs acknowledgment and the
possibility to take advantage of it in terms of dissemination (to promote the collaboration as a
competitive advantage). An important aspect which emerged lately is the possibility to join
financial incentives together which won’t be possible separately (i.e Horizon 2020 calls dedicated to
SMEs, such as Industrial Leadership, Innovation in
SMEs:(http://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/portal/desktop/en/opportunities/h2020/calls/h2
020-smeinst-2-2015.html).
Collaboration has also indirect incomes such as support for local business, creation of jobs,
stimulation of the economic growth, etc. According to Munster University (Germany), which
conducted a study on the University - Enterprise relationship with a sample of 6280 professors from
33 European countries, this relationship is still in a premature stage in Europe.
As mentioned above, there are many forms of cooperation. According to the research, if a
professor operates in one of those forms, it is more likely for him to devote time to another form.
Overall, it appears that the most popular and developed forms are those who offer the most direct
and measurable advantages, more specific cooperation in R&D, commercialization of the results of
R&D and the mobility of students.
Scholars stated that the highest barriers in the cooperation are: lack of funding and bureaucracy
inside the Universities. In addition, they believe that Universities are responsible for the lack of
funding. On the other hand, University representatives claimed that the problem is the lack of
funding but not bureaucracy. Furthermore, they believe that funding is an issue for which the
government is responsible. Both sides believe that resources’ sufficiency itself is not able to
activate the cooperation, as mutual trust and shared objectives are absent.
Other elements that affect the level of cooperation with enterprises are personal characteristics
(age, gender, experience etc.) of professors. Men use to have a greater cooperation with
enterprises with forms such as student mobility, trade exploitation of R&D, entrepreneurship and
governance. Meanwhile, older teachers take more initiatives compared with younger and greater
involvement in all forms of cooperation is shown from professors with over 10 years of service in
the universities, those working in the fields of technology and those who have worked for years ( >
10) in industry. 41
More specific barriers for SMEs:

• Many SMEs have very limited capital, human or financial
• Time is literally money – 6 months is forever
• Outside pressures can shipwreck an SME (e.g. bank, reliance on single customer/product)
• Owner/manager is often multi-tasking – is finance director, marketer, researcher..
• They operate in an extremely competitive environment
• Financial benefit is the key driver
• It is sometimes difficult to get an entrepreneur to open up and share ideas (Crown Jewels)
• Building a trusting relationship is essential – entrepreneurs need to be reassured that they will
benefit
• Entrepreneurs are not generally people who readily share
• Small business owners are easily spooked
• Entrepreneurs are turned off by weighty confidentiality agreements
• Entrepreneurs tend to suspect agreements favor the University to the detriment of the SME.
• Entrepreneurs are often unwilling to appoint specialist solicitors to check agreements (cost,
time)
private organizations in Europe, the main barriers are:
• Differing time horizons between universities and businesses
• Limited absorption capacity of SMEs to take on internships or projects
• Business lack awareness of university research activities/offerings
• Lack of university funding for cooperation
• Differing motivation/ values between university and business
• Lack of external funding for cooperation
• Bureaucracy within or external to the university
• Universities lack awareness of opportunities arising from cooperation
• Limited ability of business to absorb research findings
• Lack of contact people with scientific knowledge within business
• Differing mode of communication and language between the two parties
• Need for business to have confidentiality of research results
• Current financial crisis
• Difficulty in finding the appropriate collaboration partner
• Cooperation is not rewarded so it is seen from teachers as an extra effort
According to a field research that took place in Australia, the same problems were observed:
• Cultural differences between universities and businesses can cause major barriers (Decter,
Bennett & Leseure, 2007). Differences in motivation, timeframe and general attitudes made it
difficult for the two parties to understand fully each other’s view.
• Uncertainty over funding: Research centers are not able to know if they are going to survive
42
even in the short period.
• HEIs prefer to cooperate with bigger enterprises because Institutions choose those who are
capable of taking ideas to market.
• Lack of coordination between the research priorities of the programmes and the real research
need of industries and SMEs is a major barrier to the success of the support programmes.
What SMEs need is to consider their business priorities and that they do not waste time on
meaningless administration.
• SMEs feel isolated and marginalized when working in large projects, they feel that their
influence is minimum and diluted.
The first step in order to support the cooperation between universities and enterprises is to deal
with the problem of funding and find solutions forall possible barriers. Subsequently, incentives
must be discovered and communicated so as to motivate both parties to cooperate. Some
incentives are:
Motivation for HEIs:

• Scholar’s evaluation could be associated with their initiatives for cooperation
• A criterion for recruitment from universities could be the professor’s potentiality of
cooperating with enterprises (ex. Previous experience in an enterprise)
• Access to funding
• Image of a business- oriented university, which can gain extra points in the HEI evaluation
• Possible recruitment of students or universities’ staff in enterprises
• Professional recognition from peers
• Monetary rewards
• Sponsorships
Motivation for SMEs:
By cooperating with HEIs and Research centers, SMEs have a lot of benefits that are strong
motivators for them.
• Access to research, facilities and scientific knowledge
• SMEs have limited resources to pay for multiple journal and database subscriptions.
Therefore, cooperating with a HEI or a research center can provide SMEs with valuable
assistance (Libraries, journal collections)
• Internal motivation: clearly understand the benefits for each partner
• Development of new products or innovate existing products
• Access to new customers or new markets
• Increase the range of external partners
private organizations in Europe, the main drivers are:
• Existence of mutual trust
• Short geographical distance of the university from the business partner 43
• Prior relation with the business partner
• Existence of a mutual commitment
• Employment by business of university staff and students and vice versa
4.4 Conclusions
Universities can be major resources in a company’s innovation strategy and Companies can be a
source of applied research and tangible results for the University. The key word of the collaboration
is the kind of knowledge derived from such collaboration and how each partner can contribute and
enhance the other one’s performance and results.
A study conducted by the Cambridge-MIT Institute and by the Kauffman Foundation by Julio A.
Pertuzé that lasted three-year determined best practices for industry-university collaboration and
then defined the seven keys to collaboration success:
1. Define the project’s strategic context as part of the selection process.
a. Use your company research portfolio to determine collaboration opportunities.
b. Define specific collaboration outputs that can provide value to the company
c. Identify internal users of this output at the working level; executive champions are
not a substitute for this requirement.
2. Select boundary-spanning project managers with three key attributes:
a. In-depth knowledge of the technology needs in the field
b. The inclination to network across functional and organizational boundaries
c. The ability to make connections between research and opportunities for product
applications
3. Share with the university team the vision of how the collaboration can help the
company.
a. Select researchers who will understand the company practices and technology
goals.
b. Ensure that the university team appreciates the project’s strategic context.
4. Invest in long-term relationships.
a. Plan multiyear collaboration time frames.
b. Cultivate relationships with target university researchers, even if research is not
directly supported.
5. Establish a strong communication linkage with the university team.
a. Conduct face-to-face meetings on a regular basis.
b. Develop an overall communication routine to supplement the meetings.
c. Encourage extended personnel exchange, both company to university and
university to company.
6. Build broad awareness of the project within the company
a. Promote university team interactions with different functional areas within the 44
company.
b. Promote feedback to the university team on project alignment with company
needs.
7. Support the work internally both during the contract and after, until the research can be
exploited.
a. Provide appropriate internal support for technical and management oversight.
b. Include accountability for company uptake of research results as part of the project
manager role.
Speaking about the knowledge gained by companies through the collaboration with the University,
four main areas can be found:
1. Broader innovation spectrum
Technology-driven innovation consists most of the R&D which is performed in industry. The
lessons learned on managing innovation processes as well as on designing an innovation-
friendly environment can assist in shifting to a broader innovation process. In other words,
Industry has an opportunity to utilize the experience it has gained to foster broader
innovation processes which can benefit it to a great extent. The academy can contribute to
the process by promoting the awareness of holistic innovation and by encouraging the
industry to use the knowledge pool present in universities.
2. Design Value and Design Culture
As design is not integrated enough into the industry, a great potential lies in proving the value
of design for business which will subsequently lead to greater investment in design. This
can be achieved by sharing knowledge on topics such as: design thinking, design
management and service design. Companies could be trained to integrate design by
extensive education and guidance (by external experts for the matter). Academy can,
obviously, have a great contribution to these processes and to the creation of a design &
innovation culture.
3. Generation shift
Naturally, many traditional companies go through a process of generation shift. Senior
managers give way to younger officials who lead their companies into new business
channels while fostering innovative new methods which might pave the way to new
products and services. This ongoing process has the potential to strengthen the capabilities
of SMEs and subsequently to increase their ability to compete in the global market.
4. Knowledge and technology transfer
This knowledge sharing process has the potential of creating a culture of innovation excellence
built on industry’s DNA and extensive know-how. The industry might benefit from this
process which might translate into further investments by global entities.
Although many types of collaboration exist, as we mentioned before, they are mostly used by big
companies and not by SMEs, because SMEs lack the resources, the knowledge and the awareness
of university research activities/offerings. Although SME and university collaboration takes place in 45
some degree, the coin indenture has not produced as many results, due to the barriers that exist
and the lack of motivators for the SMEs and HEIs. Most SMEs do not have a plan and they just react
to changes, so most of them do not feel the necessity to change or collaborate with universities.
The case studies presented show that universities try to connect with SMEs because they have
comprehended the advantages and the benefits both of them will harvest.
Having highlighted the advantages of such cooperation, it is important to define the efforts for
cooperation between the two parties as an urgent need. From our side, lack of awareness of the
programmes is the most important barrier. Therefore, it is strongly advised that in order to achieve
a stronger collaboration in the future the first step that must be made is to make the SMEs aware
of the university programmes and offers. Technology provides many tools that are able to offer
effective communication between the two parties. A web platform can be the space where all
programmes will be published. Business, by accessing just one website and selecting their field, can
then find the programmes related to them.
As a second step, the importance of SMEs in Europe and the advantages of cooperation must be
better communicated than they already are. Something that must be understood is that more than
99% of all European businesses are, in fact, SMEs. According to the European Commission
(http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/policies/sme/facts-figures-analysis/ ), SMEs provide two out of
three of the private sector jobs and contribute to more than half of the total value-added created
by businesses in the EU. Moreover, SMEs are the true back-bone of the European economy, being
primarily responsible for wealth and economic growth, next to their key role in innovation and
R&D. As a result, we strongly believe that HEIs must have in mind those facts, so as to include SMEs
in Universities exhibitions and programmes in a higher level and make bigger efforts for SMEs than
for big companies. HEIs can now feel important for helping SMEs, by conforming programmes to
SMEs’ needs. In addition, if the advantages of the collaboration were better communicated, then
the SMEs would increase their efforts to search and find a programme that suits their needs, and in
that way the whole coin indenture would not be one sided anymore. Furthermore, Universities and
SMEs agree on the fact that there is a lack of funding from the state. So the better communication
of the importance of SMEs and the advantages of their collaboration would also make the state
more aware and it would force it to increase its funding towards this kind of coin indentures.
Conforming the programmes to SMEs’ needs refers to each type of cooperation stated above.
Specifically lifelong learning can be provided by HEIs, but this type of cooperation must take a form
that fits SMEs needs. The form that the educating programmes will have, must overcome the
barriers that SMEs face, such as lack of time. For example, the training programmes can take a form
of training performed inside the organization but through outside trainers or even e-learning.
46
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What Things Mean. Harvard Business Press.
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48
6. TRENDS AND APPROACH FOR BUILDING EFFECTIVE AND ENGAGING MOOCS
The content of this chapter is based on the results of the desk research performed
by the partners P1 (responsible), P9 and P14 (contributors)
5.1 Aims and methodology

In the last decade, one the most prominent developments in education is represented by the
deployment of massive open online courses (MOOCs). In this context, the aim of this report is to
provide a general and documented view on the potential benefits of using MOOCs as new flexible,
innovative learning approach and delivery method.
Prior to building an effective and engaging MOOC as a new model of training provision for the
textile and clothing HEIs, based on experiential learning / real-life situations in which students take
a more active involvement in their education taking into account the barriers existing among SMEs
and microenterprises, a strong documentation on the subject is required.
The Desk research of trends and approaches for building an effective and engaging MOOC aims at
bringing the arguments and solutions for the production of a flexible ICT tool addressed to Textile
and clothing future Managers, offering contents in a very practical and job-oriented form, with a
strong use of simulation and real-life situation. 49
A search for significant documents has been conducted through the Internet and scientific
databases giving access to electronic resources. The research (documents, news, courses) was
restricted to English language. Some keywords for the research were: MOOC, review, model,
benchmark, etc. Preference was given to resources whose date of publication was after 2012.
A final list of references is given to have access to the original and complete sources.
5.2 Literature review on MOOCs

This section starts with an historical approach to MOOCs, through which their main characteristics
are illustrated. The state of the art for the present is explained using an articulated MOOCs’
taxonomy, together with the list of the main platforms that are used to distribute MOOCs. The end
of the section focuses on the learner’s perspective, trying to identify different profiles of MOOCs’
participants.
5.2.1 The evolution of MOOCs
Paul Stacey (2014) summarized the history of MOOCs dividing it into three phases.
The Early Days - cMOOCs

MOOCs originated in Canada from pioneering work of people like Stephen Downes, Alec Couros,
Dave Cormier, and George Siemens. In 2007 there was Social Media & Open Education, in 2008 &
2009 Connectivism, in 2010 Personal Learning Environments Networks and Knowledge, in 2011
Learning and Knowledge Analytics.
Siemens et al. created the first MOOC in 2008, called ‘Connectivism and Connective Knowledge’.
The course was based on a connectivist pedagogy, which aimed to foster the affordances of social
and participatory media. It relied on the benefits of scale through significant interaction with a
distributed network of peers. Participants were encouraged to use a variety of technologies; to
reflect on their learning and to interact with others. There was no ‘right way’ through the course;
the emphasis was on personalized learning through a personal learning environment. Variants on
this course emerged, collectively known as cMOOCs, examples included: David Wiley’s course on
‘Open Education’, ‘Personal Learning Environments and Networks (CCK11)’, and ‘Learning Analytics
(LAK12)’.
50
All of these early MOOCs were open to anyone to participate. Some of these early MOOCs, taught
by university faculties, had tuition paying students taking the course for university credits who were
joined in the same class with non-tuition paying, non-credit students who got to fully participate in
a variety of non-formal ways. Alec Couros pedagogically designed his graduate course in a way that
relies on the participation of non-credit students. Other early MOOCs were solely offered as a form
of informal learning open to anyone for free without a for-credit component.
As evidenced by Conole (2014),the most fascinating aspect of these early MOOCs was the
pedagogical approach, called ‘connectivist’ and based on four major types of activity, described as:
1. Aggregate, 2. Remix, 3. Repurpose, 4. Feed Forward. Cormier, in a video describing the nature of
Connectivist MOOCs, defines five steps to success: orient, declare, network, cluster and focus. He
also argues that knowledge in a MOOC is emergent and dependent on the interaction with others.
Therefore the intention of cMOOCs is to harness the power of social and participatory media to
enable participants to communicate and collaborate through a variety of channels; for example
Twitter, blogs, wikis, etc. and the use of hashtags and curation tools (such as Pinterist or Scoop.it)
to filter and aggregate. The focus is on personalization, but also on collective intelligence (Lévy,
1997). Each participant forges its own learning path through the materials; picking and mixing
which content, activities and communications are meaningful for him. These types of course align
well with Cormier’s notion of Rhizomatic learning (Cormier, 2008, 2011), i.e. networks are
horizontal, dynamic and emergent, developing in different directions for different individuals. Barry
provides a nice comparison of three different MOOCs in terms of workload, technology, content,
pedagogy, assessment, etc. (Barry, 2013).
As stated by Bali (2014), social media are used extensively in connectivist cMOOCs (Rodriguez,
2012) because knowledge is distributed across a network of connections, and therefore learning
consists of the ability to construct and traverse those networks (Downes, 2007). Most of the
cMOOCs are about connective knowledge or at least some form of eLearning or technology; some
are not regular university courses but professional development activities for educators and/or
technologists, and are similar to earlier professional development events. Moreover, the high
degree of autonomy, flexibility, and technological skill needed to benefit from cMOOCs (Mackness,
Mak, & Williams, 2010) suggests that connectivist approaches are unlikely to be widely used in
existing traditional university courses in the short term.
From cMOOCS to xMOOC

In 2011 MOOC’s migrated to the US with Jim Groom’s DS106 Digital Storytelling at the University of
Mary Washington in Virginia. DS106 took MOOCs in new pedagogical directions. DS106 has a highly
innovative pedagogical approach to assignments. Rather than confidential, secret assignments 51
created by faculty, ds106 course assignments are collectively created by course participants over all
offerings of the course and are posted online in an Assignment Bank anyone can access. This model
of having course participants collectively build the course assignments which are then used by
students in future classes is a hugely significant pedagogical innovation. DS106 was the first ever
online course with its own radio station (ds106 radio).
MOOCs go mainstream – xMOOCs

The next big step for MOOC’s came in the fall of 2011 when Stanford Engineering professors
offered three of the school’s most popular computer science courses for free online as MOOCs –
Machine Learning, Introduction to Artificial Intelligence, and Introduction to Databases.
A new type of MOOC emerged, namely xMOOCs. These were primarily based on interactive media,
such as lectures, videos and text. xMOOCs adopted a more behaviorist pedagogical approach, with
the emphasis on individual learning, rather than learning through peers. As a result a number of
companies emerged, such as: Audacity, EdX, and Coursera. These courses tend to be offered by
prestigious institutions, such as Harvard and Stanford, and the emphasis is on delivery of content
via professors from these institutions.
However, pedagogically these MOOCs from Stanford were a step backward. The teaching and
learning experience was comprised of watching video lecture recordings, reading course materials,
completing assignments and taking quizzes and an exam. Gone were the rich pedagogical
innovations from the earlier MOOCs. Instead, these MOOCs simply migrated campus-based didactic
methods of teaching to the online environment. Most disappointing of all was the absence of any
effort to utilize the rich body of research that had already been done on how to teach online
effectively.
The Stanford Artificial Intelligence MOOC was so compelling that it raised venture capital to launch
Udacity with a mission to change the future of education by making high-quality classes affordable
and accessible for students across the globe. Udacity courses include lecture videos, quizzes and
homework assignments. Multiple short video sections make up each course unit. Each video is
roughly five minutes or less, giving you the chance to learn piece by piece and re-watch short lesson
portions. All Udacity courses are made up of distinct units. Each unit is designed to provide a week’s
worth of instruction and homework. However, since Udacity enrollment is open, you can take as
long as you want to complete Udacity courses. Udacity courses include discussion forums and a wiki
for course notes, additional explanations, examples and extra materials. Each course has an area
where instructors can make comments but the pedagogical emphasis is on self-study.
In late December 2011 MIT announced edX with the aim of letting thousands of online learners 52
take laboratory-intensive courses, while assessing their ability to work through complex problems,
complete projects, and write assignments. As with other MOOC style offerings students won’t have
interaction with faculty employees or earn credits toward an MIT degree. However, for a small fee
students can take an assessment which, if successfully completed, will provide them with a
certificate from edX. The focus of edX so far seems primarily to be not on pedagogy but on
engineering an open source MOOC platform.
Coursera founded by computer science professors Andrew Ng and Daphne Koller from Stanford
University was launched in April 2012 as an educational technology company offering massive open
online courses (MOOCs). Shortly after launch Coursera was working with Stanford University, the
University of Michigan, Princeton, and the University of Pennsylvania. By February 2013 Coursera
had over 69 university partners and was offering courses in Chinese, Italian, and Spanish.
Coursera is one of the few MOOCs that actually describes its pedagogical foundations. Coursera
pedagogy involves video lectures, mastery learning, and peer assessment. Coursera is providing its
university partners with a flipped classroom opportunity whereby the lecture, course reading, and
to some extent assessment and peer-to-peer interaction for campus-based tuition paying students
are handled in the MOOC with on-campus activities focused more on active learning. However, for
Coursera MOOC participants who are not tuition paying campus-based students there is no active
learning component. Although once again students are tossed a tidbit of social learning in the form
of discussion forums.
All of these new MOOCs are focused on objectivist and behaviorist methods of teaching and
learning. Their pedagogy is based on an assumption that when there are tens of thousands of
learners social learning isn’t feasible. So instead of interaction with a person these MOOCs focus on
replacing the human social component of learning with a kind of artificial intelligence interaction
with the platform.
The big new MOOCs also seem to be ignoring Open Educational Resources (OER) and the incredible
pedagogical affordances openly licensing course content brings. Many of the early MOOCs were
not just open in terms of enrollment; they were open in terms of utilizing the open web, utilizing
open content, and making continuous improvement of courses an integral part of the teaching and
learning experience. The new MOOCs seem intent on enclosing students in a closed environment
that is locked down and DRM’ed in a proprietary way.
xMOOCs are regular university courses converted to MOOC format, and as such are more
structured and follow more widely known pedagogies used face-to-face (F2F) and modified for
online teaching – those course designs are mainly influenced by cognitive-behaviorism and some 53
social constructivism (Rodriguez, 2012). Many xMOOCs are primarily based on interactive material
and videos plus multiple choice quizzes. Udacity, Coursera and EdX courses consist mainly of lecture
videos, course materials, quizzes and assignments. Some do contain wikis and discussion forums,
although these are not extensively promoted or used. In some cases forum posts can be up or
down-voted by other participants; if a post is up-voted that participant receives a ‘karma point’. For
some Udacity courses, participants have organized their own meet-ups with others who are
Geographically co-located. Udacity has set up a meet-up site to facilitate this.
The state of the art

The academic and professional community must be not only interested but directly involved in
developing solutions for creative forms of education. It is clear that the approach of the new
educational space must be made in the context of its contribution to improve employment and
economic development. The key terms in the new educational programmes are defined by the
need for flexible response to new challenges, for better adaptability, for training the workforce
with renewed competences and skills.
The speed of change in education from traditional to digital delivery is so high that, in less than a
decade, many Universities worldwide have started to produce MOOCs as a mean of enhancing
pedagogy and learner outcomes and as an excellent platform for professional development.
MOOCs have a fast growing audience, reaching in 2014 millions of users throughout the world, and
this success is opening another chapter in higher education (Pătru, 2014).
From historical point of view the MOOCs represent an evolution of previous experiments in open
education and online learning (Yuan & Powell, 2013). The original aim of MOOCs was to provide
free access to university level education for as many students as possible.
Open education brings new opportunities for innovation in higher education that will allow
institutions and academics to explore new online learning models and innovative practices in
teaching and learning.
MOOCs promise to open up higher education by providing accessible, flexible, affordable and fast-
track completion of university courses for free or at a low cost for learners who are interested in
learning.
Drivers for application of the MOOC model to deliver high-quality outcomes have been identified in 54
a very large number of areas, including skills development, as the employers’ requirements for
‘soft’ skills (such as team skills, strategy, agility, technical competence,) are considered.
Through MOOCs, the Universities or other training centres can provide tertiary courses, to a broad
and diverse audience who otherwise may not have the chance to engage with the organizing
institution.
These MOOCs offer unprecedented opportunities for both students and professors. They enable
professors to experiment with innovative teaching formats and provide students and independent
learners with a customized higher education experience: a digital Erasmus for everyone.
The MOOC Guide (de Waard, 2011) lists 12 benefits of using MOOCs:
• Appropriate for any setting that has connectivity (Web or Wi-Fi)
• Any language or multiple languages
• Any online tool
• Escape time zones and physical boundaries
• Produce and deliver in short timeframe (e.g. for relief aid)
• Contextualized content can be shared by all
• Informal setting
• Peer-to-peer contact can trigger serendipitous learning
• Easier to cross disciplines and institutional barriers
• Lower barriers to student entry
• Enhance personal learning environment and/or network by participating
• Improve lifelong learning skills
Nowadays different types of MOOCs can be found: xMOOCs, cMOOCs, vMOOCs, sMOOCs, mini
MOOCs, group MOOCs, asynch MOOCs, etc. but the most used types are the first two:
• cMOOCs (C for “connectivist”, the educational theory that inspired them) run on open source
learning platforms and are led by academics as part of their university activity. Their
pedagogical model is peer learning.
• xMOOCs are online versions of traditional learning formats (lecture, instruction, discussion
etc.) on proprietary specialist software platforms owned by private enterprises.
The three biggest MOOC platforms on the web – Coursera, EdX and Udacity – provide almost 700
online education courses to over 8.5 million students from more than 225 countries and territories.
Other popular MOOC platforms include Iversity, Open Learning, Alison, Udemy, Canvas Networks,
FutureLearn, NovoEd, CourseSites, Miriada X and Open2Study (Tucker, 2014). The providers’
distribution in 2013 is presented in the figure below that indicates Coursera as the largest MOOC
provider, with almost half of all the MOOCs offered. 55
Figure 1. MOOC platforms providers’ distribution
According to Edsurge data (Shah, 2013), in 2013, 20% of MOOCs today are in the humanities, 16%
are in computer science and programming, 15% are in business and management and only 5,1% in
Engineering, as one can see in figure 2. According to Coursera data, 75% of MOOC students hold at
least a bachelor’s degree, 73% of users are in full-time employment and the average age of users is
between 25 and 35 (Tucker, 2014).
Figure 2. MOOCs distribution according to the category
5.2.2 MOOC’s taxonomies 56

Lane (2012) rejects the good (cMOOC) vs. bad (xMOOC) model and instead proposes the following
three classifications categories:
• In network-based MOOCs, the goal is socially constructed knowledge, developed through
conversation and exploration that takes place through various communication channels and
modes.
• Task-based MOOCs, on the other hand, emphasize skill development through the completion
of tasks, and while success in those tasks relies upon collaboration, the creation of community
is not a primary goal. The pedagogical approach of these MOOCs tends to be a mixture of
constructivism and instructivism.
• Content-based MOOCs focus on content transmission and acquisition and tend to be
instructivist in approach. They rely upon automated assessment, and while they might also
include opportunities for networking and joint tasks completion, learners can take these
courses without engaging with any of the participatory elements.
Clark (2013) proposes a taxonomy of MOOCs, based on pedagogy, going beyond the dualism of
cMOOCs vs. xMOOCs. According to this author MOOCs can be classified according to the following
categories:
• Connectivist MOOCS: As previously said, pioneered by George Siemens and Stephen Downes,
these connectivist MOOCs (cMOOCs) rely on the connections across a network rather than
pre-defined content. Siemen’s famously said “cMOOCs focus on knowledge creation and
generation whereas xMOOCs focus on knowledge duplication”. More simply, Smith says “in an
xMOOC you watch videos, in a cMOOC you make videos”. The whole point is to harvest and
share knowledge that is contributed by the participants and not see the ‘course’ as a diet of
fairly, fixed knowledge. These courses tend to create their own trajectory, rather than follow a
linear path.
• Extended (or transfer) MOOCs: Similarly to the traditional classification of xMOOC, transfer
MOOCs literally take existing courses and decant them into a MOOC platform, on the
pedagogic assumption that they are teacher-led and many rely on a ‘name’ of the institution
or academic to attract learners. The pedagogic assumption is that of transfer from teacher
and course content to learner. Many mimic the traditional academic course with lectures,
short quizzes, set texts and assessments. You could describe them as being on the cutting
edge of tradition. Coursera courses largely fall into this category.
• Made MOOCs: Made MOOCs tend to be more innovative in their use of video, avoiding talking
heads in favor of Khan Academy or Udacity hand on board sequences. They also tend to have
more of a formal, quality driven approach to the creation of material and more crafted and
challenging assignments, problem solving and various levels of sophisticated software-driven
interactive experiences. Peer work and peer-assessment, used to cope with the high teacher-
student ratios. These tend to be more vocational in nature, VOOCs (Vocational Open Online
Courses), where the aim is to acquire a skill or skills. Udacity takes this approach. Remember
that Thrun and Norvig were not academics but corporate researchers working for Google.
• Synch MOOCs: Synchronous MOOCs have a fixed start date, tend to have fixed deadlines for
assignments and assessments and a clear end date. They often are organised around the
57
academic calendar. For example, Coursera offers courses on strict start and end dates with
clear deadlines for assignment. Udacity started with their ‘hexamester’ 7 week courses with
fixed start dates. Many argue that this helps motivation and aligns teacher availability and
student cohort work.
• Asynch MOOCs: Asynchronous MOOCs have no or frequent start dates, tend to have no or
looser deadlines for assignments and assessments and no final end date. The pedagogic
advantages of asynchronous MOOCs is that they can literally be taken anytime, anywhere and
clearly work better over different time zones. Interestingly, Udacity have relaxed their courses
to enroll and proceed at user’s own pace. Some skeptics point towards this as being a tactic to
reduce drop-out rates due to missed assignment deadlines. Note that Coursera offers a
completely open self-study option but this does not warrant a certificate of completion.
• Adaptive MOOCs: Adaptive MOOCs use adaptive algorithms to present personalized learning
experiences, based on dynamic assessment and data gathering on the course and courses.
They rely on networks of pre-requisites and take learners on different, personalized paths
through the content. This has been identified by the Gates Foundation as an important new
area for large scale productivity in online courses. These MOOCs tend not to deliver flat, linear
structured knowledge but leaning experiences driven by back-end algorithms. Analytics are
also used to change and improve the course in the future. Cogbooks is a leading example of
this type of MOOC.
• Group MOOCs: Group MOOCs start with small, collaborative groups of students. The aim is to
increase student retention. Stanford, the MOOC manufacturing factory, has spun out
NovoEd(formerly Venture Lab) which offers both MOOCs and closed, limited number, internal
courses. They argue that some subjects and courses, such as entrepreneurship and business
courses, lose a lot in loose, open MOOC structures and need a more focused approach to
group-work. The groups are software selected by geography, ability and type. They have
mentors and rate each other commitment and progress. Groups are also dissolved and
reformed during the course.
• Mini MOOCSs: So far, MOOCs tend to be associated with Universities, whose courses last many
weeks and often fit the semester structure and timetable of traditional institutions. We have
also seen the emergence of shorter MOOCs for content and skills that do not require such long
timescales. This is more typical of commercial e-learning courses, which tend to be more
intense experiences that last for hours and days, not weeks. They are more suitable for precise
domains and tasks with clear learning objectives. The Open Badges movement tends to be
more aligned with this type of MOOC.
5.2.3 MOOC’s platforms

Clark (2013b) analyzes the so-called MOOCosphere as a pluralistic and expanded landscape formed
by the most important mainstream platforms, global Learning Management Systems (LMS) and
Virtual Learning Environments (VLE) vendors, and MOOC’s aggregators.
Mainstream platforms 58
• EdX: Funded by Harvard and MIT, EdX has established a firm position with its ‘open source’
offer, solid funding and global reach in the Americas, Europe and Asia. Google Coursebuilder
has announced that it will fold into EdX and it has a strong R&D programme. Even Stanford,
the MOOC platform generator, has now gone for EdX. https://www.edx.org
• Coursera: With $85 million of funding, massive global growth and a solid management team,
Coursera deals with US State Universities (especially Yale) and dozens of others around the
globe, in Europe and Asia. Their partnership with the World Bank won’t do them any harm
either. Solid for-profit offer but courses are seen as a bit primitive and video heavy.
https://www.coursera.org
• Futurelearn: A private company, set up by the UK’s Open University (and a backroom
Government deal) as a bulwark against US domination, has done deals with a large number of
UK universities and is not looking to expand abroad. They have built their own platform. It will
be interesting to see how commercial they will be. Courses have been launched but the
platform is not as ground-breaking as they claimed. https://www.futurelearn.com
• Udacity: Much has been made of Udacity’s switch into the corporate market but this may be
smarter than many think, as it is relatively untouched. The Open Education Alliance is
interesting and all seems well with Udacity’s online Masters degree in Computer Science with
AT&T at Georgia Tech. https://www.udacity.com
• Udemy: Udemy offers a large catalogue of largely business and IT oriented courses that vary
from free to $500. You can also create your own courses. They’ve set their sights on revenues
from the start.http://www.udemy.com
• Iversity: This Berlin based start-up offers a few courses, some in English, others in German.
With a rack of European Universities signed up, they are getting there and have an eye on the
European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS). They have an interesting
Ambassador programme. They are new and will have to raise money to survive.
https://iversity.org
• NovoEd: Previously Venture Lab, this platform wants to break down massive numbers into
manageable groups of ten or less, for group peer work. With over 30 free courses, and a focus
on entrepreneurship, NovoEd takes a collaborative approach to MOOCs with an emphasis on
teamwork and social learning. Like Coursera and Udacity, also NovoEd is out of Stanford and
aims to deliver change both within and outside of the institution.
https://novoed.com
• Canvas: Canvas is a cloud-based, open source LMS and Canvas Network its MOOC platform,
with over 40 courses on canvas.net, mostly free, with some at $49-$199.
https://www.canvas.net
LMS/VLE vendors
• Moodle: Moodle is not really built for MOOC delivery as it only has one database and will
struggle with over 10,000 users. But it is a lightweight option, especially if used with other
platforms (such as Mahara).http://learn.moodle.net
• Blackboard: Blackboard is a LMS/VLE, not a MOOC platform. Nevertheless, if it is used to offer
‘open’ courses, there is no reason for not calling it a MOOC platform.
http://bbbb.blackboard.com/mooc-powered-by-blackboard 59
• Desire2learn: Similarly with Desire2learn, another attempt at rebranding LMS/VLE
functionality as a delivery vehicle for MOOCs in its OpenCourses.
http://www.desire2learn.com/products/open-courses
• SAP: SAP has announced Open.SAP.com for SAP product training. This is simply rebranding an
LMS as a MOOC platform, which is OK, if you are a SAP house. https://open.sap.com/courses
Aggregators
• World Wide Ed: Formed in May 2013, and made in Canada, it is mainly a platform for
Canadian MOOCs. http://wideworlded.org
• OpenupEd: This Pan-European initiative is supported by the European Commission, with 12
current partners in Europe (also Russia and Israel) and an emphasis on Open Universities. The
courses are designed to be delivered in 11 languages plus Arabic. This is not actually a
platform, more an aggregator, as each institution is free to choose their own chosen platform.
http://www.openuped.eu
• Class Central: Free online MOOC aggregator from top universities like Stanford, MIT, Harvard,
etc. offered via Coursera, Udacity, edX, & others. https://www.class-central.com
• Course Talk: Organizes courses by rating, popularity, timing, subject area, university, and top
reviewers; includes smaller providers; recommendation feature similar to one employed by
the online retailer Amazon. http://www.coursetalk.com
• Course Buffet: Lists courses from various MOOC providers; each course is assigned a difficulty
level assigned by Course Buffet’s professional staff (Psychology 100, for example), to help
students move from easier to more difficult material and to easily compare similar classes by
different providers. http://www.coursebuffet.com
• Degreed: Helps users track, organize, share, and validate everything learned through MOOCs;
applies an algorithmic and normalized approach to track and measure educational
achievements including formal (e.g., degrees), informal (e.g., books read, conferences
attended), and soon, experiential learning. https://degreed.com
• MOOC List: Directory of MOOCs offered by different providers; find MOOCs by providers,
categories, university/entity, instructor, country, language, type of certificate, start date,
estimated effort, or tag. https://www.mooc-list.com
• My Education Path: Helps users navigate in e-Learning sources and MOOCs to find MOOCs,
online courses, share comments and reviews; helps users find free alternatives to expensive
college/university courses. http://myeducationpath.com/courses
• Open Education Europa: European version of a MOOC aggregator, with some courses in
languages other than English. http://www.openeducationeuropa.eu/en/find/moocs
5.2.4 Learner’s perspectives in MOOCs

Studying three computer science MOOCs (a High School, Undergraduate and Graduate School
course, respectively), Kizilcec, Piech, and Schneider analyzed learners’ profiles in MOOCs,
identifying four significant clusters:
60
• Auditing - learners watched lectures throughout the course, but attempted very few
assessments.
• Completing - learners attempted most of the assessments offered in the course.
• Disengaging - learners attempted assessments at the beginning of the course but then
sometimes only watched lectures or disappeared entirely from the course.
• Sampling - learners briefly explored the course by watching a few videos.
The authors argue that the higher completion rates in the High School MOOCs related to their
increased proportion of highly engaging activities, notably in-video interactions through video.
Learner analytics show that improvements to course discussion forums in particular, the best
predictor of completion, could boost drop-out rates.
Phil Hill (2013) has developed a similar 4-part typology of MOOC learners:
• No-Shows – These students appear to be the largest group of those registering for aCoursera-
style MOOC, where people register but never login to the course while it is active.
• Observers – These students login and may read content or browse discussions, but do not
take any form of assessment beyond pop-up quizzes embedded in videos.
• Drop-Ins – These are students who perform some activity (watch videos, browse or
participate in discussion forum) for a select topic within the course, but do not attempt to
complete the entire course. Some of these students are focused participants who use MOOCs
informally to find content that help them meet course goals elsewhere.
• Passive Participants – These are students who view a course as content to consume. They may
watch videos, take quizzes, read discuss forums, but generally do not engage with the
assignments.
• Active Participants – These are the students who fully intend to participate in the MOOC and
take part in discussion forums, the majority of assignments and all quizzes & assessments.
Hill has produced a widely-quoted chart using this taxonomy, aggregating the available data, and
shows a characteristic distribution of MOOC learner types across course duration in Coursera-style
MOOCs (i.e. xMOOCs).
Figure 3. Distribution of MOOC learner types across course duration
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Hill provides also a numerically based confirmation of the trend using numbers of video views
reported in a single Coursera MOOC on Bioelectricity (see figure below).
Figure 4. Numbers of video views per week
In a study of the Edinburgh University on six MOOCs the main reasons given by participants for
joining the courses were curiosity about MOOCs and online learning, and desire to learn new
subject matter. Career advancement and obtaining certificates were less important motivations.
MOOC learners in terms of their attitudes, skills and motivation are more akin to lifelong learning
students in traditional universities than to students on degree programmes. Motivations were
more exploratory than instrumental. This was a broadly curious audience, not motivated by any
very specific goals, yet willing to commit significant effort if the content engages them (see figure
below).
Figure 5. MOOC learner aspirations
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5.3. Case studies on using MOOCs

This section examines some case studies about MOOCs taken from a research by Hollands& Tirthali
(2014). Courses with available data and analysis of students’ participation and/or didactic design
were taken into account and reported.
Connectivism and Connected Knowledge, University of Manitoba, 2008

Mackness, Mak, & Williams (2010), studied participants’ experiences in the 2008 CCK08 module (an
early MOOC entitled Connectivism and Connected Knowledge, run at the University of Manitoba).
This was a seminal connectivist MOOC and the researchers’ findings are heavily based on
connectivism. The main finding was that participants valued their autonomy in the MOOC, but did
so at different levels depending upon language command, subject expertise, assessment for credit
participants, personal learning styles and identity as well as the reputation of instructors and fellow
participants. Diversity was problematic for the participants, many of whom appeared not ready to
become autonomous learners. The large number of participants also created a risk and fear for
participants that conversations would degenerate into “noise”. Openness, while representing
sharing of resources and open communication, could also present issues of clarity as to course
structure and expectations.
The authors argue that these three problems impact on students’ connectedness and interactivity.
The conclusion that despite the positive implementation of a connectivist pedagogy in the course,
learners may have been compromised by lack of support and moderation, leads the authors to
recommend light touch moderation to prevent confusion, firmly intervene in cases of negative
behavior, and explicitly communicate what forms unacceptable behavior that can impede learning
in the network. The lesson drawn for learners is that some constraints may actually improve the
learning experience.
Mak, Williams, & Mackness (2010) further analyzed learner attitudes to blogs and forums in the
CCK08 MOOC. The authors compared how forums and blogs enabled learners to succeed with (1)
personal connections with other participants; (2) conceptual connections with the ideas introduced
in the course; (3) use of tools and learning affordances; (4) learning approaches. They found that a
minority ceased participation due to unacceptable behavior from fellow course participants. A new
learning affordance was seen in the use of aggregated network blogs. However, a reduction in 63
openness and autonomy was noticed due to a substantial preference for forums. The overall
interpretation was that a steadily maturing set of social networking skills in the audience was
enabling a new generation of learners ready to create their own learning affordances, and to
develop their own learning practice.
Three dimensions were proposed for describing the attitudes of MOOC participants:
• Home >< Bazaar - the dimension of presence, identity, autonomy and having a home base
online.
• Long-loop >< Short-loop - the dimension pertaining to pace, crafted responses and type of
sequence.
• Engagement >< Reflection – the dimension ranging between use of blogs and forums as a way
to connect with and “process” ideas.
Introduction to Circuit Analysis, San José State University, 2012

Introduction to Circuit Analysis, a bottleneck electronics and engineering course required of all
engineering undergraduates at San José State University (SJSU), traditionally yields a 65% pass rate.
The course appeared to be a suitable candidate for a make-over in an effort to improve the passing
rate and allow students to progress with their degrees in a timely manner. Using edX course
materials, course instructor Khosrow Ghadiri re-designed the 15-week Introduction to Circuit
Analysis into a flipped classroom. The re-designed course was offered as EE 098-MIT, one of the
three sections of Introduction to Circuit Analysis, in Fall 2012. Eighty-six students were registered
for Ghadiri’s section and were given the option to enroll in the new format or in the traditional
course offered in another section. None switched out of the re-designed section (Ghadiri, Qayoumi,
Junn, Hsu, & Sujitparapitaya, 2013).
Ghadiri et al. (2013) describe the highly structured nature of in-class sessions and out-of-class
requirements each week. Students in EE 098-MIT were granted full access to the online materials
from Anant Agarwal’s MIT Circuits and Electronics MOOC and also to Agarwal’s electronic textbook.
They were assigned sections of the MOOC lecture videos, embedded questions, auto-graded
problem sets, and labs to complete outside of class, and were expected to show up in the
classroom prepared to spend 5-10 minutes answering questions about the assigned material.
Ghadiri also asked students to rate concepts presented in the MOOC materials in order of difficulty
using feedback forms that he created. Based on these ratings, he spent 20 minutes of class time
explaining concepts that students had rated most difficult. Subsequently, the class broke up into
groups of three to work collaboratively on problems and to complete a group quiz. This activity was
followed by a second quiz to be completed independently. Sixty in-class assessments were
completed during the semester, each designed and graded by Ghadiri: a time investment of 80
hours per week (Kolowich, 2013). Cheal, Associate Vice President and Senior Academic Technology
Officer at SJSU, reported that while students initially balked at the workload (12 hours per week), 64
they were eventually swayed by their own results.
Ninety-one percent of the Fall 2012 EE 098-MIT students passed the course, compared with 59% of
students in the traditional course offered the previous year. Ghadiri et al. (2013) compared the
mid-term and final exam results for EE 098-MIT with the results from the previous year’s traditional
sections of Introduction to Circuit Analysis and found that scores were 10 to 12 percentage points
higher in the re-designed section and that the “lower tail of the curve”(p. 8) had disappeared.
Comparing the three Fall 2012 sections, they report a mean score on the final exam for EE 098-MIT
of 62% (n=78), compared with 50% (n=50) and 45% (n= 75) in the two concurrent, traditional
sections. Ghadiri et al.(2013) reported no significant differences among the three Fall 2012 sections
of Introduction to Circuit Analysis in students’ starting GPA, suggesting that, on average, students in
each section began with similar academic abilities.
At the end of EE 098-MIT, Ghadiri solicited feedback from the students about their course
experience and asked for suggestions as to how the re-designed course could be further adjusted
for Spring 2013. While over half the class indicated that access to resources online was what they
liked most about the new class format, 71% felt that the MOOC material did not correspond well to
the SJSU class material, and almost half claimed that the online lectures were not helpful, were
long, or were difficult. One third of the students suggested replacing the online homework
problems with sample problems solved step-by-step.
Pre-Algebra, Cuyahoga Community College, 2013

Cuyahoga Community College, OH, (Tri-C) received a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates
Foundation in November 2012 to create and facilitate a developmental education math MOOC,
Pre-Algebra CCC. The MOOC was targeted at students performing at the lowest level of
developmental education in math. Students placed at this levelneed three semesters of
developmental education courses before they can enroll in college-level math courses. Participants
in developmental education MOOCs like Pre-Algebra CCC represent a totally different population
from those participating in MOOCs created by universities. 70% of those Pre-Algebra CCC
participants who recorded their highest level of education in the pre-survey had not yet earned any
degree and, most likely, have relatively few sources of information regarding educational
opportunities. The goal of offering the MOOC was to leapfrog students out of at least one level of
developmental education, reducing the delay in earning credits towards a degree.
Tri-C’s Pre-Algebra CCC MOOC was hosted on CourseSites, the open platform offered by
Blackboard. The four-week long MOOC was offered in March, April, May, and June 2013. The
MOOC was different from most xMOOCs in two ways. Firstly, it used only pre-existing open
educational resources, including videos from Khan Academy and TeacherTube, freely available 65
exercises, and OpenStudy to facilitate collaboration among students. Secondly, the entire MOOC
was structured as a game with a wrap-around story. Custom graphics were donated by an artist.
The game mechanics included leveling-up, that is, students could not get access to a higher level
until they had completed the previous one. The bar for leveling-up was set high at 80 percent. After
the first four facilitated iterations of Pre-Algebra CCC, the course has been kept open on
CourseSites, but without facilitation from Tri-C faculty.
A total of 1,372 students signed up for Pre-Algebra CCC during the four facilitated iterations, with
enrollment rising from 138 in the March 2013 offering to 537 in the June offering. Students were
asked to complete a survey before being given access to the course materials. The survey queried
the students’ demographics, background experiences, and reasons for taking the course. Eight
hundred and nine of the enrolled students completed the survey and were able to participate in
the course. Eleven percent of the initial enrollees completed the course and among those who
actually participated, 18% completed with a score of 80% or above. Tri-C set the passing bar higher
than the typical 70% for passing math courses because of historical Tri-C data indicating that
students who earn only a “C” grade in the first-level developmental education course are far less
likely to be successful at the next level. Tri-C wanted to ensure that students completing Pre-
Algebra CCC would also be successful in future developmental courses.
Among the 147 Pre-Algebra CCC completers, 13 took a math placement test before the MOOC as
well as after. Of these, seven performed well enough on the second placement test to skip one
developmental education math course and three were able to skip all three required
developmental education courses and move directly to credit-bearing courses. While the numbers
are small, they indicate that the goal of reducing the number of full-length, developmental
education courses students need to complete was certainly feasible, saving students both time and
money.
American Museum of Natural History MOOC Initiative, 2013
In early 2013, Coursera invited the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) in New York City
to create three science-oriented MOOCs to be delivered in the Fall of 2013 through Coursera’s
Teacher Professional Development programme. AMNH successfully launched three 4-week long
MOOCs targeted at science educators: Genetics and Society: A Course for Educators, The Dynamic
Earth: A Course for Educators, and Evolution: A Course for Educators. While the museum had
several goals for this initiative including improving teachers’ science content knowledge and use of
AMNH materials in their classrooms, their primary goal was to increase the museum’s visibility,
especially with science educators and international audiences.
Some indicators of success in achieving this goal include the following: 66

• At time of offering the three MOOCs, AMNH was one of only three museums worldwide
represented in the Coursera Teacher Professional Development programme, accounting for
three of the 44 MOOCs available.
• A total of 39,685 people registered for the three courses.
• Around two-thirds of these registrants were international, representing 110 countries. This
contrasts significantly with the almost purely domestic population of participants in the
museum’s regular online courses.
• Sixty-two percent of the survey respondents had no prior experience with the museum or its
content and were therefore “new customers.”
• Forty-two percent of the MOOC participants who responded to surveys at the start of each
course were educators, the target population for the AMNH MOOCs.
• While the vast majority of survey respondents learned about the AMNH MOOCs from the
Coursera website, some heard about them from a friend or colleague, an online social
network, a search engine, blog or press article, AMNH’s own website or from their school or
school district.
• The promotional videos for each of the three MOOCs were discoverable on YouTube outside
of the Coursera platform and were viewed between 450 and 864 times.
Introduction to Solid-state Chemistry, MIT, 2013
Michael Cima, Professor of Materials and Science Engineering at MIT, was invited to offer his
course as a MOOC in the Fall of 2012 and, over a period of around six months, spent several
hundred hours re-designing the course to conform to the current xMOOC format. Once the MOOC
Introduction to Solid-state Chemistry was completed, Cima decided to experiment with some of the
MOOC instructional strategies in his face-to-face course to see if he could improve learning
outcomes for the on-campus students. He surveyed students who had taken his course in previous
years to solicit feedback on potential changes to the course design, ranging from eliminating
lectures to no change at all. Not surprisingly, he found that the top performers were inclined
towards no change in the course design while those who had struggled were more enthusiastic
about changing the assessment format.
Cima’s goals for the re-design project were:

• To experiment with new forms of assessment that might stimulate more learning and more
accurately measure what students know.
• To ensure that all students kept up with the material from the beginning of the course rather
than wait for the customary MIT “fifth-week warning flag” to notify students who were not
meeting expectations.
• To bring up the bottom of the class and raise the pass rate of the course to 100% from an
already high rate of around 97%.
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The re-designed on-campus course was delivered in the Fall of 2013. It involved three lectures and
two recitations per week, as in previous iterations, but a requirement to attend 80% of the sessions
was instituted. The course text was replaced by the online content from the MOOC. This content
consisted of “learning sequences” which students could use as much or as little as they needed.
Each learning sequence is five minutes of the teacher at a chalkboard, then five minutes of a
screencast, like a Khan Academy kind of thing. Then there may be a practical problem that you can
solve. It alternates like that for, on average, about 40-50 minutes of video podcasts. It's like a
lecture, but broken down into individual concepts and students are asked to attempt a problem
related to the material the lecture's about.
Cima found that putting the content online was particularly helpful in addressing the fact that
students regularly enter the course with a wide range of background in chemistry, ranging from
almost none to three years’ worth of high school courses. In practice, he estimated that around
50% of the students used the online content. Course assignments and assessments were
overhauled to replace homework, mid- and end-of-term exams with 14 weekly, online, proctored
opportunities for students to check their understanding and demonstrate mastery. The online
assessments (a total of 37 spread over the 14 units) were constructed from problems that had been
collected in a database over the previous 40 years for use in mid-term and final exams. Each week,
students were expected to attempt to solve problems delivered on a platform specially designed
for the class. The platform presented students with problems selected at random from the
database. In some of the problems, even the numbers used within the problem were randomized
to ensure different students received different versions.
Cima reported the following outcomes as a result of the course re-design:
• The new format of the class appears to have attracted more students. The typical class size of
320-325 students grew to 361. Despite various glitches during the first two weeks, few
students switched to the alternative, traditional chemistry class offered on-campus.
• Part way through the course, Cima surveyed the students to ask if they preferred the weekly
computer-based assessments or a written exam. Around 80% of the 290 respondents
preferred the weekly assessments.
• The number of fifth-week warning flags issued dropped from the typical 30-60 (around 15% of
the class) to three (less than 1% of the class). Cima believes that getting feedback on
performance starting the first week, rather than waiting till Week 5, allowed students to
adjust their study habits immediately to meet the course expectations.
• Students reported spending eight hours per week on the course compared with 8.3 hours per
week for the previous year’s cohort.
• Cima believes the new format helped the weakest and least prepared students the most. All
but two students passed the assessment requirements of the re-designed course. “There is no
bottom of the class now.” However, eight students did not meet the attendance requirements
for lectures and recitations. 68
• Some of the stronger students complained that the new assessment regime denied them the
opportunity to “shine” because all students were able to do well if they made enough effort.
• A comparison of student performance in 12 topic areas that were similarly tested in both
2012 and 2013 indicated that average performance for the class in 2013 was significantly
higher on every topic.
Edinburgh University MOOC Initiative, 2013

In 2013 Edinburgh University ran the first Coursera MOOCs in the UK and has devoted some effort
to statistical analysis. Over 300,000 people applied for the first batch of six MOOCs: Introduction to
philosophy; Critical thinking; E-learning & digital cultures; Astrobiology; Artificial Intelligence
planning; and Equine nutrition. Edinburgh surveyed 45,000 users on entry, and 15,000 on exit from
its six MOOCs.
The points which emerged clearly include:

• A very high proportion of window-shopping learners in all MOOCs.
• Participation from many different countries.
• Dramatic declines in participation from enrollment to Week 1.
• A very small proportion (3%) of completing learners felt they had not “got what they wanted”
out of the courses – implying a high level of satisfaction.
• Even if participation patterns after commencement varied widely between the six MOOCs, the
Edinburgh data confirms the trend observed elsewhere; of clear declines in participation after
the first two weeks of course units are served. However, the retention stabilizes from Week 3
onwards (see figure below).
Figure 6: MOOC course activity record
The following tables report the conversion trends between enrolment and course participant 69
activity, the forum activity, the participant assessment submissions, and the statements of
accomplishment (SoAs) as a percentage of active learners.
Table 1. Conversion trends between enrolment and course participant activity

Course Enrolments Active in Conversion Enrolment Total active Conversion
(04.02.13) first week at peak participants
(08.02.13)
Introduction to 96,717 41,528 43% 98,128 53,255 54%
Philosophy
Critical 74,006 26,320 36% 75,884 35,084 46%
Thinking
E-learning & 42,091 16,250 39% 42,844 21,862 51%
Digital Cultures
Astrobiology 40,048 18,323 46% 39,556 20,413 52%
Al Planning 29,586 10,181 34% 29,894 15,546 52%
Equine 22,605 15,100 65% 23,322 18,998 81%
Nutrition
Total 305,053 127,229 42% 309,628 165,158 53%
Table 2. Forum activity by course
Total Average no. Total no. Average no. Total no. Average
participants post participants comments participants no. votes
(posting) (commenting) (voting)
Al Planning 638 2.88 201 3.47 476 4.50
Astrobiology 3961 3.24 1861 4.79 3546 12.34
Critical 4783 2.32 1512 2.35 2728 4.16
Thinking
E-learning 2623 3.41 1453 3.64 1763 5.24
Equine 6031 3.11 1778 3.71 1761 6.17
Nutrition
Philosophy 7206 2.71 3265 5.24 5784 8.58
Table 3. Course participant assessment submissions

Course No. of Week 3 No. of Week 5 (or final) No. of Week 7
assessments submitted assessments submitted assessments submitted
Introduction to 13,928 11,439 9,937
Philosophy
Critical Thinking 5,301 7,286
E-Learning & Digital 1,811 1,728
Cultures 70
Astrobiology 8,564 7,916
Al Planning 739 743
Equine Nutrition 9,513 8,897
Total 39,856 38,009 9,937
Table 4. Statements of accomplishment (SoAs) as a percentage of active learners

Course Total SoAs awarded % of active learners
Introduction to Philosophy 9,445 18%
Critical Thinking 6,909 20%
E-Learning & Digital Cultures 1,719 8%
Astrobiology 7,707 38%
Al Planning 654 4%
Equine Nutrition 8,416 44%
Total 34,850 21%
5.4. Database of MOOCs
This section is formed by three selections of MOOCs.
• The first one originates from a research on MOOCs quality (pedagogy, organization and
presentation);
• the second one is formed by MOOCs and online courses dealing with textiles and reports
simply the name of the institution organizing the course(s), the title of the course(s), and the
URL;
• the third one is a list of case studies/best practices of using MOOCS for teaching soft skills,
where the main characteristics are given for each course.
Instructional quality Database

Margaryan, Bianco, and Littlejohn (2015) conducted a research carrying out an in-depth
examination of the course environment of 76 MOOCs, closely studying the course description,
materials and resources, learning activity descriptions, learners' submissions and discussions in the
course forum. The 76 courses (50 xMOOCs and 26 cMOOCs) selected for analysis were randomly
extracted from a starting list of 344 courses obtained using search engines and referrals from
relevant blogs. The selected courses are included in the ANNEX 5, section A (Table 1).
This database of MOOCs was then evaluated through a grid inspired by the “Principles of
Instruction and related components” of Merrill (2002, 2009, 2013). In addition, the evaluation grid 71
included a set of key criteria for assessing the quality of organization and presentation of a course.
The majority of MOOCs, both xMOOCs and cMOOCs, attained a low score on the majority of the
principles (see ANNEX 5,section A, Table 2). For each course, the range of possible scores was 0-72,
with 0 indicating that none of the principles and organizational criteria was reflected in the course,
and 72 indicating that all principles and criteria were reflected to a very high standard. It was found
that for the overall sample of 76 MOOCs, the range of scores was 0-28 points (median 9; mode 6;
StD 5.93). For xMOOCs, the range was 3-25 points (median 8; mode 6; StD 4.46); and for cMOOCs
the range was 0-28 (median 11; mode 9; StD 7.24).
List of MOOCs and online courses about textiles

A list of MOOCs and online courses dealing with textiles(updated in February 2015) is presented in
ANNEX 5,section B, Table 3.
List of Case studies on using MOOCs for teaching transversal skills
A list of Case studies/good practices on using MOOCs for teaching transversal skills (updated in
February 2015) is included in the tables of ANNEX 5, section C.
5.5. Learning methodologies that can be implemented
This section is dedicated to illustrate some learning methodologies and solutions that can be
efficiently applied to MOOCs. The main scope is to find didactic integrations that enhance MOOCs’
efficiency in terms of learners’ motivation and engagement.
Gamification and game-based learning will be taken into consideration, since they can improve
motivational elements within a learning framework or system to increase user engagement based
upon sound game theory and game mechanics.
The goal of transferring the benefits of gamification and game-based learning to MOOCs appears to
correctly address the problems of drop-outs and scarce motivation. However, this must not be
considered as an automatic switch, since what has been demonstrated to be valid in traditional
online courses must be verified when applied to a MOOC. This is exactly the challenge undertaken
by the TECLO project in the design and implementation of its cross-disciplinary MOOC.
5.5.1 Gamification
Bryant Nielson (2013) gives some suggestions about applying gamification to MOOCs. Gamified
corporate training programmes can increase user engagement, and MOOCs have incredible
potential to reduce the drop-out rates and increase the benefits associated with training.
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Gamification involves using game elements and game design techniques in non-game situations,
but there are many different ways to do this. Gamification is merely an additional, albeit very
powerful, tool organizations can use to increase motivation and engagement in their training
programmes. The specific game elements and design techniques that are most effective will
depend on the organization’s training goals and resources. Below a review is given of how some
basic game elements can be applied in a MOOC context.
Basic Gamification – The Progress Bar

The Lowly progress bar is a very potent game element. Many studies in human–computer
interactions showed that people want progress bars and that progress bars enhance both the
attractiveness and the effectiveness of computer interfaces. Adding a progress bar to your MOOC
interface is a simple way to increase your employees’ engagement within the training
programme.
Intermediate Gamification – Points, badges, and leaderboards (PBLs)

• Points are used to keep score, determine levels, unlock rewards, and determine who wins. In
a MOOC, points can be accumulated for visiting the site, watching videos, completing
activities, participating in simulations, asking and answering questions in the discussion forum,
and pretty much any other activity imaginable. Points are like a universal currency – they can
represent virtually anything depending upon the training goals.
• Badges represent larger achievements. They are highly flexible and serve as publicly visible
status symbols. In a MOOC, badges can be issued for specific achievements such as
completing a module, finishing a series of related activities, or acquiring a new skill; or for
more abstract achievements like teamwork and leadership. Badges are excellent motivators
and give users something to display in recognition of their achievements. There are several
options for designing and awarding badges. For example, the Mozilla Open Badge project
allows instructors to create badges specific to what they teach and students to collect and
display the badges they earn across the web.
• Leaderboards show player rankings, which are often determined by the number of points
earned. Leaderboards give participants feedback on where they stand in relation to everyone
else. In a MOOC, leaderboards can be used to compare the progress of individuals within a
department or departments within a company.
Gamification is an amazing tool for enhancing motivation and training effectiveness, but gamified
training programmes must be well designed based on the needs of the organization and its
employees. Just slapping PBLs onto a MOOC is not good gamification, and in some situations these
game elements can actually be de-motivating. For example, points and badges need to be
attainable – some should be easier and some should be more challenging, but they must be
achievable within the context of the training programme. Similarly, leaderboards can be highly
motivating for people at the top of the list, but highly de-motivating for people at the bottom.
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Experience has shown that leaderboards work best on a small-scale, such as in a single
department, where people can see their scores relative to their friends and neighbors, rather than
on a large scale, such as across a whole company.
Advanced Gamification – Filling Up the Toolbox

There are many other game elements and design techniques that can be incorporated into a
MOOC:
• Avatars – Employees can create their own digital learning personas.
• Bonuses – Special rewards can be available for employees who achieve certain milestones.
• Competitions – MOOCs offer a range of possibilities for competitions. For example,
departments can compete to have everyone complete each learning module or teams can
compete in problem-solving and idea-generating activities.
• Content unlocking – Employees who achieve a certain number of points/badges can unlock
advanced course modules.
• Levels – “Leveling up” is one of the highest motivators for gamers. Reaching a higher level is
usually associated with higher-value rewards.
• Rewards – Rewards can take many forms. Points and leveling up are rewards earned within
the game. Rewards can also be external, for example, accumulated points can be redeemed
for real goods (e.g., a company-sponsored lunch) or virtual goods (e.g. new avatar options).
These are just a few of the many game elements and mechanics that can be incorporated into a
training MOOC. In a well-designed gamified training programme, these tools can greatly enhance
employee commitment, performance, and success.
5.5.2 Serious games and game-based learning

Serious games or educational games, are games designed for a primary purpose other than pure
entertainment(Donovan, 2012). Serious games have an explicit and carefully thought-out
educational purpose and are not intended to be played primarily for amusement. Serious games
are used to train adults in a variety of subjects. Despite the fact that it is a relatively new term in
the training industry, the results have already been positively proven. Serious games enhance
knowledge acquisition and skills development by facing different situations, challenges and
problems and therefore make it possible to put learning into practice. Serious games are especially
interesting for soft skills as they make the training of the theoretical contents possible, which is
essential for efficient skills learning. For professionals, soft skills are increasingly important for their
development. Using classic formats for soft skills training is proving ineffective while serious games
have become an essential tool for corporate training.
Recent research-work in educational serious games (SG) is changing our understanding of the
capabilities of learning with games. While early studies focused upon proofs of concept [25], [26],
we now see a shift of emphasis of these environments away from early pilots, isolated research 74
projects and silos in different disciplinary fields into a more cohesive field of SGs with research
perspectives from cognitive psychology, pedagogy, computer science, artificial intelligence,
business studies, health and human–computer interaction (Girard, Ecalle, & Magnan, 2013). Most
authors underline the advantages of this approach for motivation and engagement of learners
through immersion and fidelity (Wouters, van Nimwegen, van Oostendorp, & van der Spek, 2013).
Csikszentmihalyi’s (1990) flow experience, explaining total involvement or engagement in the
study, sheds light on the known benefits of game-based learning. Flow is a holistically controlled
feeling where one acts with total involvement or engagement with a particular activity, with a
narrowing of focus of attention. In order for learners to experience flow while engaged in a learning
activity, they must perceive a balance between their controls and the challenges of the activity,
which should present them with playful interaction, exploratory behavior, and a positive subjective
experience (Hoffman, Novak, 1996). Learners are more motivated when the instructional design
generates curiosity and interest about the content and learning context. If the challenges of an
activity are beyond the individual’s skill level, demanding more than the individual can handle, they
may disengage from further learning. On the other hand, if the challenges are lower than the
individual’s skill level, boredom may be the result, also leading to disengagement (Park, Parsons, &
Ryu, 2010).
Learning games are regarded as a perfect environment for teaching soft skills that support self-
efficacy, self-directed learning and reflection upon performance, in addition to interpersonal skills
that allow students to collaborate, communicate, cooperate and negotiate important skills for
problem-solving and leadership, team work, and long-term cooperation (Gorlinsky & Serva, 2009;
de Freitas & Routledge, 2013). Soft skills development and assessment in-game requires a different
approach and perspective from traditional approaches in order for it to be most effective. Towards
defining a model for e-leadership in the educational game context, it is worth considering the
findings from the literature review undertaken above, as well as reflecting some of the key game
design parameters such as motivation (Garris, Ahlers, & Driskell, 2002); increased engagement of
learners through immersion and fidelity (de Freitas, Rebolledo-Mendez, Liarokapis, Magoulas, &
Poulovassilis, 2010); importance of game rules, competition, reward system, role play and narrative
for effective game design (Järvinen, 2008; Ducheneaut & Moore, 2005); team work and long-term
cooperation (Gorlinsky & Serva, 2009; Siitonen, 2009) and the importance of immediate feedback
for ensuring learning (de Freitas & Routledge, 2013; Dunwell, Jarvis, & de Freitas, 2011).
There is evidence to show that, appropriately used, computer games can positively impact learning
outcomes in all three learning domains: cognitive, affective and psychomotor. Corporate training is
mostly focused on the cognitive domain, which deals with learning ranging from factual
(declarative) knowledge to problem solving and decision making skills. When considering a game-
based learning approach it is important that the appropriate instructional strategy for the different 75
types of training is considered. Learning designers currently deploy these best-practice instructional
strategies when designing e-Learning courses and it is important that they are not overlooked when
moving to a game-based learning approach. The game-based environment offers the opportunity
to improve, extend and exploit some of the instructional strategies over and above what traditional
e-Learning environments can facilitate in order to improve the effectiveness and transfer of
training.
A considerable amount of training in organizations involves declarative (factual) knowledge. For

employees this type of learning can be boring and un-engaging. For employers, it’s important that
employees take this type of information onboard and apply it to their job. What does a game-based
learning approach do more effectively in terms of learner engagement than conventional e-
Learning courses for this type of content? Games provide a narrative structure that helps encode
facts in memory more effectively than other non-game instructional strategies. Of course learning
designers can employ storytelling to provide context to the learning as part of e-Learning courses,
but it is the interplay between the various elements in a game that potentiate the narrative effect
in a computer game. The narrative effect in a game can also facilitate elaboration – the linking of
prior knowledge (previously learned facts) to new facts.
Over and above the usual instructional strategies used to teach concepts, games facilitate
experiential learning. Learners can experience the concept first hand for themselves through cause
and effect scenarios based on their understanding of the concept. Examples and non-examples of
the concept should be an inherent element of the game scenario. A complex 3D environment is not
necessary for learners to become effectively immersed in the concept being taught.
Compliance training is considered a necessary evil for most organizations. This type of training is
generally dry and un-engaging for employees. Very often learning and development (L&D)
departments don’t see the value in ensuring and evaluating the effectiveness of compliance
training, yet ineffective compliance training can be very costly for organizations. As well as the
motivational and engagement advantages of game-based learning for compliance training, games
can improve on traditional e-Learning in many ways. Compliance training by its nature is rules-
based. Games can enable learners to apply rules through role play simulations and experience
cause-and-effect of appropriate or inappropriate application of the rules.
Game-based simulations can be particularly effective in teaching procedures and can move learners
from novice to expert in a safe environment which allows them to practice, make mistakes and
learn from them through scaffolded feedback. Guidance can be gradually withdrawn as novices,
through experiential learning, progressively and actively work their way through the spectrum of
expertise without realizing it. 76
Although many e-Learning programmes use video role-play as the appropriate instructional
strategy for soft skills training, it is often too costly to do it effectively. Branched scenarios and
professional actors are required for video role play to be realistic and effective and costs can mount
up in terms of production. Games are as effective as video role play for teaching leadership skills
and more cost effective. Hagel &Seely Brown (2009) are advocates of using games such as World of
Warcraft to teach leadership and other soft skills required for success in business. Through
experience of interacting with characters in the game-based learning environment, learners figure
out for themselves the appropriate skills to apply while simultaneously learning about group
dynamics.
Problem solving skills are valuable skills within a workforce. They contribute to an organization’s
competitive edge in the marketplace enabling them to be agile and respond quickly to change.
There is a growing body of evidence to support the use of game-based learning in the development
of critical thinking and problem solving skills and to suggest that after engagement and motivation,
this is possibly the most powerful pedagogical application of game-based learning. Problem-based
learning is an instructional strategy used by educators whereby the learner is presented with real-
world problems and provided with the tools and support to solve them, alone or collaboratively.
Games are ideal environments in which to exploit this instructional strategy to its full potential,
enabling learners to manipulate variables and to synthesize knowledge in order to solve problems.
The real power of games is that they can simultaneously, and positively, impact both the cognitive
and affective domains. The affective domain deals with feelings, attitudes and values. If a learner
has a positive attitude towards learning, as they do when learning through well-designed games, he
should learn more effectively and his intrinsic motivation should be higher. Tapping into the
affective domain can also be used to effectively change behaviors and attitudes. For example,
games can be used effectively to alter attitudes and behaviors to training in the case of employees
and to influence purchasing decisions of existing or future customers when used as a marketing
tool.
Evidence shows that serious games can positively impact learning outcomes in all learning domains.
The implication for corporate training is that a similar training strategy can be applied to soft skills,
motor skills and cognitive skills training. This enables training departments, currently purchasing
different training solutions for each of the different learning domains, to improve efficiencies while
not compromising training outcomes. However, when considering a game-based learning approach
it is important that the appropriate instructional strategy for the different types of learning content
is applied. Learning designers currently deploy these best-practice instructional strategies when
designing e-Learning courses and it is important that they are not overlooked when moving to a 77
game-based learning approach.
5.6 Conclusions and recommendations

At the end of this chapter some recommendations are given when facing the challenge of creating
and distributing a MOOC. A list of choices is indicated as the key points that must be addressed for
an efficient solution in the field of MOOCs.
5.6.1 The choice of the model

As summarized byMcGuire (2014) the two main models that can be chosen are:
The self-paced model

Though MOOCs have starting points, they don’t always have starting dates. Instead, some “self-
paced” classes are always accessible, allowing you to start and finish when you like and to work at
your own pace.
Udacity classes work on this self-paced model, which means you can go there today and start any
freeware class in their catalog. And you can continue to work on any class you may have started in
the past, because it had no end date.
The downside to self-paced courses is that there are typically fewer active students to interact with
in the forums. Similarly, the teacher is unlikely to be actively participating. As we discussed above,
this stretches the definition of a MOOC a little bit. Udacity classes may have a massive number of
students over time, but they don’t have a massive cohort of students working at once.
The scheduled model

Most MOOCs, though, do have start dates and end dates and are accessible only during that time.
You work on the class on your own time, but not at your own pace. You’ll have occasional deadlines
for assignments. Eventually the class will end and the lights will be shut off.
Coursera and edX MOOCs work on this scheduled model. Only a portion of the classes in their
catalogs are active at a given time. For a few weeks after a class starts, you may still be able to
enroll. However, assignment deadlines may have passed that make it impossible to earn a
certificate. And even if you’re not concerned with the certificate, you may not be able to catch up
and do all the work before the course ends.
The upside of the scheduled model is that you will have thousands of peers for moral support and
can make friends from around the world. This is one of the most exciting characteristics of the
Coursera and edX MOOCs. 78
Also, even though the teachers do not have time to engage with most people personally, they will
often be active on the discussion boards during these active classes. As a result, the experience
overall feels less “canned” than the free version of Udacity classes.
The downside of the scheduled model is that you may have to wait months for the course you are
dying to take to come around again. Even worse, some Coursera and edX courses run only once and
then languish in the catalog without any clear sign that they will be offered again.
5.6.2 The choice of the assessment

Assessment models for MOOCs vary, from simple Multiple Choice responses, through to peer-
reviewed feedback and more formal, traditional modes of assessment. An original approach to
assessment is structured in such a way that course assignments are collectively created by
participants and then posted to an assessment bank. Participants can then choose which
assignment they want to do which is rated on a difficulty scale of 1 – 5. In this model the
assessment bank expands for use by further participants. An interesting recent innovation in terms
of assessment is the use of open badges. The concept is simple; learners can apply for badges
demonstrating their completion of aspects of a MOOC. This may be as simple as completion of part
of the course or evidence of particular aspects of learning. Badges have criteria associated with
them; learners are expected to demonstrate how they have achieved these criteria and this is
validated either by peers or tutors. The Mozilla’s Open Badges are perhaps the best known
examples of badges. Their slogan is ‘Get recognition for skills you learn anywhere’. There are three
parts to the process: earn (earn badges for skills you learn online and off), issue (get recognition for
things you teach) and display (show your badges on the places that matter).
5.6.3 The choice of the platform

According to Pickhardt (2013) solutions for the platforms and places to use to host a MOOC can be
classified according to the following categories:
• Free open content: The focus of these platforms (Khan Academy, Wikiversity, OER Commons,
P2P university,…) lies in freeing educational content from the publishing industry. In most
cases the focus seems to be on content, distributed using, for instance, a Creative Commons
(CC) license, and not so much on learning paths or didactics or pedagogy.
• Commercial: A rising industry (Coursera, Udacity, edX, iversity,..) is commercializing massive
open online education with high quality content and strong relationships with universities.
Courses can use traditional copyright (©), and are usually not available under an open license.
There can be tuition fees (those on Udemy, for instance), but content is usually available at no
cost (like courses on Canvas, Coursera, Udacity), while the business model is related to
certification.
• Self hosted with the use of a learning management system: There are various learning
management systems (OLAT, Moodle, Google Course Builder, ILIAS,…) which enables one to 79
host a MOOC oneself.
When choosing to deliver a MOOC, Pickhardt (2014) suggests to analyze existing platforms
according to the following dimensions:
• Overhead: How much overhead is associated with providing the content for a certain platform
infrastructure?
• Open: Will the platform accept our course?
• License: Who has the copyright and what is the licensing model?
• Hosting time: How much time of hosting does the platform guarantee?
• Open Format: Will the course content be in an open format so that we can easily export the
data from the host and take it to some other service?
• Feedback: Feedback for instructors like how long do people interact with some content?
• Quizzes: Will quizzes be supported in the Platform?
• Community: Is there an active community and exchange of instructors?
• Audience: Is there a large audience using the platform?
• Support: is there active support from the platform?
• Online Meetings: Does the platform support meetings of students and teachers on the
cyberspace?
• Account Management: Is it possible to have different roles for the accounts (e.g. student,
tutor, creator,…)?
• Risk: What are the risks of using this particular platform?
5.6.4 The choice of certification

When considering the certification, MOOCs can adopt different solutions, as summarized by Robert
McGuire. Coursera and edX offer two tiers of Statements of Accomplishment (SOA), one free and
one for a fee. The free SOAs are “honor system” certificates that don’t verify your identity. Verified
SOA’s (called “Signature Track” for Coursera, and “Verified Certificate of Achievement” for edX)
require you to use a webcam and a government ID to confirm your real identity and that it was you
who did the work. They can cost up to $100.
Coursera and edX both have a third level of certificate you can earn by completing a sequence of
classes (from 3 to 10 courses) in a subject. The total cost is the sum of the fees for each of the
verified SOA’s in the sequence plus an additional programme fee. The Coursera version, called a
Specialization certificate, requires a capstone project and has other features or incentives included
in some sequences, designed by each university.
5.6.5 A useful infographic

MOOC poster by Plourde (2013) explores the meaning of MOOCs and can be used as a useful tool 80
to summarize in a very synthetic way many questions faced by who wants to produce and publish a
MOOC.
Figure 7. MOOC poster by Mathieu Plourde (2013)
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7. FIELD RESEARCH – PLANNING AND METHODOLOGY
6.1 Aims
The aims of the field research are to provide crucial information about:
• Main problems faced by T&C micro- and SMEs in: (1) Implementing export oriented strategies;
(2) Implementing non-technological and marketing innovation; (3) Re-engineering processes
according to sustainability, CSR and Quality; (4) Pursuing change and efficiency through
innovative entrepreneurship skills; as well as main support needed;
• Main barriers/incentives met by textile and clothing HEIs in introducing innovative MOOCs;
• Main evidence based advantages of teaching transversal skills, especially entrepreneurship.
Special focus will be given to the subjects and challenges deemed critical for the European T&C
sector:
• Importance of export oriented strategies, requiring a combination of branding, marketing
and distribution skills from managers, but also the capabilities to create conditions for
exports, such as protection of IPR, access to export credit and to financial instruments
enabling to industrialize and commercialize the fruits of innovation.
• Extension of the concept of innovation from technological to non-technological innovation by
introducing new organizational and marketing methods. This requires good communication
with final consumers and better knowledge of issues related to marketing innovation (product
placement, product promotion and pricing) and skills of mass customization, project 84
management and management of IPR and of relations with research centres.
• Sustainability issues in terms of protecting the environment and global social responsibility.
Managers will need to focus on energy efficiency and emission control (concentrating quality
control on environmental standards) and improve their ability to re-engineer processes
according to CSR and quality, as well as to settle the bases for providing confidence to
customers that the products offered by the organization are manufactured with the aim of
reducing the negative impact on the environment.
• Prevalence of the basic leadership and entrepreneurial skills, i.e. the ability to take decisions
based on risk assessment(risk-taking), the ability to recognize and implement opportunities
for business growth(creativity and critical thinking), and other soft skills as communication,
collaboration, cost management, project management, time management, quality
management.
Providers of education and training (particularly universities, but also other types of educational
institutions) are an important source of information, both about future skills supply (because they
have access to knowledge about trends shaping the future labour market) and learning provision,
as their main mission is to provide education in correlation with labour market demands.
In this context, the field survey addressed to HEIs will be focused both on the new skills to be
acquired by the managers from T&C SMEs and on the innovative learning approach and delivery
method based on freely accessible online courses via web with a strong use of simulation and real-
life situations. Blended and online learning will be considered in various formats; the strongest
interest being given to the Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) and the respondents’
experience and/or interest and needs in developing these types of online courses.
It is expected that the results will point out the barriers and incentives met by the textile and
clothing HEIs in introducing innovative MOOCs.
The findings of the field research will lead to the competence mapping and designing the matrices
of new skills to be acquired by the new managers that will lie at the basis of setting-up the EU
curricula for the new professional profile of the TECLOM, endowed with more advanced
entrepreneurial and managerial skills.
Also, the field research will lead to achieving a comparative research report, stressing the main
elements to be considered in the planning of the project products, giving necessary information for
establishing the strategy for the future knowledge intensive and innovative textile and clothing
SMEs.
6.2 Tools
The tools designed for performing the field research are represented by the questionnaires for 85
sectoral SMEs and HEIs in order to identify, respectively, main needs and kind of support needed by
SMEs in order to become “efficient and innovative”, and main advantages of teaching transversal
skills, especially entrepreneurship, via MOOCs.
The questionnaires are based on closed-ended questions (respondent will be able to complete
them without any help from the interviewer) and also provide the opportunity to the responder to
add additional comments /proposals/ observations. The questionnaires will be sent to and returned
by the respondent via email.
The development of the two surveys on skills needs and learning approach addressed to SMEs and
HEIs (from the project partners’ countries) makes a valuable contribution to linking the world of
employers with that of education and training.
The final form of the questionnaires was obtained after testing the drafts among the TECLO
partners.
6.3.The target groups
The survey questionnaires will be applied among European SMEs/micro enterprises and HEIs
belonging to the textile and clothing sector, in all partners’ countries (50 per country). To this
perspective, the selected respondents will belong to two different profiles:
• managers (and other persons in managerial positions) from European micro- and SMEs
belonging to the textile and clothing sector, currently working (approx. 35-40
respondents/country).
• relevant stakeholders from European HEIs belonging to the textile and clothing sector
(persons in managerial positions, teachers etc.), currently working (approx. 10-15
respondents/country).
Target group 1: Sectoral SMEs

In case of SMEs, the questionnaire is meant to be answered by the persons with the best overview
of the tasks to be performed by the managers in the company. In larger companies the
questionnaire can be addressed to all persons in managerial positions (e.g. the local human
resources manager, sales manager, R&D manager). In SMEs which do not have any human
resources department or have a human resources department with only administrative tasks (such
as payroll administration), the managing director or branch manager will normally be the most
appropriate respondent. All questions are designed so that they can normally be answered by the
described target persons. 86
Within each participating country, the sampling matrix to be used for the survey is defined by two
dimensions (see Table 1): a differentiation by sub-sector of activity (textiles and clothing
respectively) and a differentiation by size-class used in many European-wide employer surveys (1 to
9, 10 to 49, 50 to 249 and 250 or more employees). The reason for stratification into sub-sectors of
activity is to distribute the number of respondents proportionally with the share of SMEs in each
sub-sector, according to the situation in each country. Also, the reason of the stratification into
size-classes is to avoid the uneven distribution of the respondents from companies belonging to the
four size-classes in each country.
Table 1. Proposed set-up matrix

Sectors of Number of respondents according to the company profile and Total
activity the number of employees number of
1 to 9 10 to 49 50 to 249 250 or more respondents
employees employees employees employees
Textiles
Clothing
Textiles & 35 - 40
Clothing
Due to the rather limited number of respondents, the statistical analysis will not be carried out on
the subsets of dataset (i.e. replies from each country) but on the whole dataset (from all countries
involved).
The proposal for the sampling and weighting matrix set-up for the survey among European T&C
companies indicates a respondents’ distribution according to the profile and the number of
employees in the company in each country. The 8 cells represent the maximum degree of
differentiation recommended for a national net sample of 35 to 40 questionnaires (per country).
The number of respondents should be set to ensure an even distribution over the cells of the
sampling matrix correlated with the situation in each country. The total number of respondents will
be 280 to 320.
Target group 2: Sectoral HEIs

The target persons from HEIs (persons in managerial positions, teachers etc.) are knowledgeable in
innovative learning methods (including MOOCs) and have the best overview of the tasks to be
performed by the managers in the T&C companies.
The survey will be sent to min. 80 (or 120) respondents from HEIs, at an average of 10 (15) from
each country involved in the project: Italy, Belgium, France, Greece, Poland, Romania, Slovenia
and Spain.
The survey will be addressed to different HEIs that can differ by their type: Comprehensive 87
university, Technical university (as specified in the name), University of applied sciences, Open
University (an open or distance university that defines itself as such), other types.
Also, the sample includes institutions of various sizes ranging from small to very large in terms of
real student enrolment: small (under 7499 students enrolled), medium (between 7500 and
24999), large (over 25000 students)
The analysis of the results will take into account the differences between the different types and
size of the institutions.
In order to identify patterns in the response, the replies to the questions will be analyzed,
considering the country of the contributor as the background variable.
6.4 Contact phase and the motivation letter

The motivation letter is meant to inform the target person about the project and to obtain
consent from responders to participate in the survey, outlining the purpose of the survey and its
importance for the project, the benefits of the study for the respondent and the final date for a
reply.
The invitation to take part in the survey and the motivation letter will be sent by email directly to
the heads of targeted institutions in the eight partners’ countries. They will be asked to forward the
questionnaire to the colleagues at their institution whose profiles meet the aims of the survey.
The proposed content for the motivation letters addressed to SMEs and HEIs can be found in
ANNEX 7.
6.5 Structure of the questionnaires

The two questionnaires have the same structure (Introduction; Body of the questionnaire; End of
the questionnaire) but differ by the questions contained in their body (see ANNEX 7).
Basically, the questionnaires contain structured questions of closed-ended type: multiple choice,
rating, ranking, scaling. There are also a few open-ended questions included that seek a free
response from the participants when they are asked for their opinions or additional comments.
Introduction
The questionnaires introduction contains a short presentation of the project and its aims, the
survey’s purpose, the name of the organization conducting the survey, the confidentiality
information, how data collected will be used, the estimation for the time requirement and some
general instructions on how to progress through the survey.
88
Body of the questionnaire
• The questionnaire for SMEs consists of the following sections:
A. Background information (5 closed questions):The information from this section will provide a
general assessment of the company (size, type of industry, number of employees, involvement in
exports etc.) and should ensure that all company sizes in each country are represented according to
their prevalence in each market.
B. Collaboration between SMEs and HEIs/Research centres (7 closed questions and an optional
open question).This section aims to assess the collaboration between companies and HEIs such as:
if the company is requested by any university in establishing educational needs and course
contents, if the company is open to facilitate its employees to further training (what type and
content of training), if the company is open to on-line training, if the company has provided places
of practice and has hired graduates after practice.
C. Need for new skills and further training (29 closed questions). The aim is to assess the need for
training in managerial skills and their importance for the company. This section can be used to fine
tune the training material so that it offers future trainees a “headstart” covering material that
company stakeholders feel are missing from junior managers that seek to enter the job market
after their studies, with no or little working experience.
D. Respondent’s profile information (4 closed questions):This section aims to collect relevant
information about the respondent (position in the company, highest qualification, working
experience in the university, gender and age).
• The questionnaire for HEIs consists of the following sections:
A. Background information (3closed questions):A general assessment of the HEI according to their
type, size and study programmes offered.
B. Collaboration between HEIs and SMEs (9 closed questions and an optional open question):
Assessing the collaboration between HEIs and companies: If the universities involve companies in
establishing their curricula (educational needs and course contents).
C. Need for new skills and further training (a group of 29 closed questions): An assessment of the
need for training in managerial skills and their importance for the SMEs in the Textile and Clothing
sector, from the HEIs point of view. This section can be used to define the content of the training
material that will be delivered via the planned MOOC.
D. Use of MOOCs (2 independent and 2 groups of closed questions): This section aims to assess if
the textile and clothing HEIs organize on-line training, if they integrate blended learning within the
instructional process and also to identify the main barriers and incentives they met in introducing
MOOCs.
E. Respondent’s profile information (5 closed questions): Collecting info about the respondent:
position in the HEI, degree, teaching subjects, scientific title, gender and age.
89
End of the questionnaires

Before ending by thanking the respondent for participating and asking whether he would like to
receive a brief report on the results, the questionnaires include a space for comments and
proposals from the respondent.
8. CONCLUSIONS
The TECLO alliance was created in order to modernize Europe's higher education systems in the
field of textiles and clothing through a better anticipation of skill needs based on development of
sustainable partnerships between education and employment, which are highly needed.
This report includes the results of the desk research performed by the project partners involved
according to the task distribution following the aims of the TECLO project.
The short overview on the textile and clothing sector in EU gives a brief description of the
evolution, the current situations and trends concerning the textile and clothing companies, exports
and demands, innovations and new technologies, employment and cooperation with HEIs.
The database of the relevant entities which monitor sectoral skills development and anticipating
skills needs (e.g. national bodies/authorities, agencies, universities, research institutions,
professional organizations/associations, enterprises, other relevant stakeholders etc.) at different
national levels and at European level will support sharing of the good practices on education,
training and skills at European level in the T&C sector, improving knowledge and exchange of ideas
amongst European countries.
90
The literature review on the new skills needed in the future textile and clothing sector points out
the need of restructuring the processes and changing the business model of T&C companies as well
as the key drivers of new skills demands in the sector. There is great demand in the T&C industry
for employees having a blend of technical and managerial skills, completed with soft and
transversal skills, for example, communication and interpersonal skills.
The sectoral identification and anticipation of the skill needs in the T&C sector was also possible by
analyzing the main European sectoral reports pointing out the key findings on the need for skills as
well as their recommendations for further actions in the field.
The different types of university and industry collaboration that already exist and that are
presented in the report, are accompanied by an analysis of those considered most strategic to the
execution of TECLO project. Furthermore, advantages but also obstacles of such collaborations are
underlined and the barriers that prohibit a better collaboration are analyzed.
The rapid development of ICT is challenging the higher education institutions to rethink and
develop new teaching and learning methods in a creative manner in order to enable the learners to
develop their professional skills according to the labour market requirements, and, thus, increase
their competitiveness in the European or global market. ICT based continuing education can help
managers in the T&C sector to update their knowledge and to adapt to the new skills requirements.
In this context, the report brings a valuable documentation regarding the use of MOOCs and brings
strong arguments for providing the T&C sector with a MOOC for the new TECLOM, as a free and
openly licensed online course with a strong use of simulations and real-life situations.
Finally, the report includes field research methodology and the two questionnaires, for sectoral
SMEs and HEIs,that will be applied in order to identify, respectively, main needs and kind of support
needed by SMEs in order to become “efficient and innovative” and main advantages of teaching
transversal skills, especially entrepreneurship, via MOOCs.
91
ANNEX 1. INTERNATIONAL OBSERVATORIES /ASSOCIATIONS, RESEARCH CENTRES AND HEIS
European level
TYPE OF ORGANIZATION COUNTRY WEBSITE
European commission
Directorate-General (DG) for Internal Market,
Belgium http://ec.europa.eu/growth/index_en.htm
Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs
EC - European Commission Belgium http://ec.europa.eu/index_en.htm
Networks
Conseil Sectoriel Européen Textile, Mode, Cuir Belgium http://europeanskillscouncil.t-c-l.eu/
Associations/ Federations/ Confederations

ENQA - European Association for Quality
Belgium http://www.enqa.eu/
Assurance in Higher Education
ECA - Grupo Bureau Veritas Spain http://www.eca.es/
Council of Europe France http://www.coe.int/en/
UNESCO - United Nations Educational, Scientific

92
France visits@unesco.org
and Cultural Organization
ESU - European Students' Union Belgium http://www.esu-online.org/
EURYDICE Belgium http://eacea.ec.europa.eu/education/eurydice/
TEXERE - Textile Education and Research in

UK http://texere-associ.org/index.html
Europe
EUROSTAT - European Commission, Eurostat Luxembourg http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat
BUSINESS EUROPE Belgium http://www.businesseurope.eu
ACTE – EuropeanTextile CollectivitiesAssociation Spain http://www.acte.net/
European Textile Network Germany http://www.etn-net.org/etn/index.htm
ETSA - European Textile Services Association Belgium http://www.textile-services.eu/
ITMF - International Textile Manufacturers

Switzerland http://www.itmf.org/wb/
Federation
EI - Education International Belgium http://www.ei-ie.org/
EURATEX - European Apparel and Textile http://www.euratex.eu/

Belgium
Confederation
Higher Education (HE) Associations / Networks /
INQAAHE - International Network for Quality
Spain http://www.inqaahe.org/
Assurance Agencies in Higher Education
EURASHE - European Association of Institutions

Belgium http://www.eurashe.eu /
in Higher Education
EUA - European University Association Belgium http://www.eua.be/

ENIC/NARIC - European Network of Information
Centres in the European Region/National http://www.enic-naric.net/higher-education-
Spain
Academic Recognition Information Centres in the institution.aspx
European Union
EQAR - European Quality Assurance Register for
Belgium https://www.eqar.eu/
Higher Education
EAN - European Access Network UK http://www.ean-edu.org/
ACA - Academic Cooperation Association Belgium http://www.aca-secretariat.be/
EUROSTUDENT - DZHW- German Centre for

Research on Higher Education and Science Germany http://www.eurostudent.eu/
Studies
Business consulting organizations
IWTO - International Wool Textile Organization Belgium http://www.businesseurope.eu 93
National and local level

1. SPAIN
TYPE OF ORGANIZATION WEBSITE
Associations/Federations/ Confederations
INTERTEXTIL http://www.consejointertextil.es
ATEVAL http://www.ateval.com/
AEQCT - Asociación Químicos y Coloristas Textiles http://www.aeqct.org/
AIT - AGRUPACIÓ D’EMPRESES INNOVADORES TÈXTILS http://www.textils.cat/index.php?lang=en
ATIT - Asociación de Técnicos de la Industria Textil
Higher Education (HE) Institutions

Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV) http://www.upv.es/
Universidad de Salamanca http://www.usal.es/webusal/node/57
UPC http://www.upc.edu
ES DAP Llotja - Escola Superior de Disseny i Art http://www.llotja.cat/
RTOs / RESEARCH CENTRES

INTEXTER-UPC https://www.upc.edu/intexter/
CSIC SPANISH COUNCIL OF SCIETIFIC RESEARCH http://www.iqac.csic.es/
AITEX - Textile Industry Research Association http://www.aitex.es
CETEMMSA TECHNOLOGICAL CENTER http://www.cetemmsa.com/compania.php
ASINTEC - Centro Tecnológico de Confección http://www.asintec.org
COMPANIES
VINCOLOR S.A. CREVIN S.A. www.crevin.com
TEXTIL SANTANDERINA http://www.textilsantanderina.com/
AGENCIES
ANECA http://www.aneca.es/eng
AQU - The Catalan University Quality Assurance Agency http://www.aqu.cat/index_en.html
2. BELGIUM
CREAMODA www.creamoda.be
FEDUSTRIA - Federation of the Textile http://www.fedustria.be/en
UNIVERSITEIT GENT – VAKGROEP TEXTIELKUNDE
http://textiles.ugent.be
Ghent University – Department of Textiles
HOGENT - VAKGROEP MODE- TEXTIEL- EN HOUTTECHNOLOGIE
www.hogent.be
University College Ghent (HoGent)
Research Centres / RTOs
94
CENTEXBEL http://www.centexbel.be/
Vocational, Educational, Training (VET) organisations
COBOT VZW www.cobot.be
COMPANIES
Sioen Industries NV http://www.sioen.com/
UTEXBEL http://www.utexbel.com/
3.GREECE
SEPEE - Hellenic Fashion Industry Association www.greekfashion.gr
Hellenic union of Textile Engineers www.texeng.gr
SEVK - Union of Hellenic Textile Industries
PIRAEUS UNIVERSITY OF APPLIED SCIENCES
http://ikaros.teipir.gr/textile
DEPARTMENT OF TEXTILE ENGINEERING
TEI OF CENTRAL MACEDONIA DEPARTMENT OF GARMENT
moda.teicm.gr
DESING AND TECHNOLOGY
RTOs/Research Centres
Hellenic Quality Assurance and Accreditation Agency www.hqaa.gr
MIRTEC CLOTEFI
www.etakei.gr
Clothing Textile & Fibre Technology Development Company
ORGANIZATIONS
OBI - Hellenic Industrial Property Organization www.obi.gr
Hellenic Accreditation System (ESYD) www.esyd.gr
EOPPPEP - National Organisation for the Certification of
www.eoppep.gr
Qualifications & Vocational Guidance
MINISRY
General Secretary of Industry www.ggb.gr
4.ROMANIA
FEPAIUS - Employers’ Federation of Textile, Clothing and Leather
http://www.fepaius.ro/
Industry
The National Council of Small and Medium Sized Private
http://cnipmmr.ro/
Enterprises in Romania (CNIPMMR)
“Gheorghe Asachi” Technical University of Iaşi, Faculty of Textiles,
http://www.tpmi.tuiasi.ro
leather and Industrial Management
“Aurel Vlaicu” University of Arad, Faculty of Engineering http://www.uav.ro/ro/facultati/inginerie
RTOs/ Research centres
The National Research & Development Institute for Textiles and
http://www.certex.ro/ 95
Leather
Business consulting organizations
COMITEX - The Sectoral Committee in Textile and Clothing LTD
Companies
KATTY FASHION LTD http://katty-fashion.com
SOFIAMAN IMPEX LTD http://www.sofiaman.ro/en/
NGOs/ clusters
Textile Astrico Nord Est http://www.astricone.eu/en/
Romanian Textile Concept – RTxC http://www.romanian-textile.ro/
TMV“Traditions – Manufacture – Future” http://www.tmv-cluster.ro/
AGENCIES
North-East Regional Development Agency - RDA NE http://www.adrnordest.ro/
5. SLOVENIA
Textiles, Clothing and Leather Processing Association http://eng.gzs.si/slo/
Industrial Development Center of Slovenian Spinning Industry –
http://www.irspin.si/
IRSPIN
University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Natural Sciences and http://www.ntf.uni-lj.si/ot/index.php?page=
Engineering, Department of Textiles news&target=novice&item=255
University of Maribor, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Chair http://www.fs.uni-
for Textile Materials and Design mb.si/podrocje.aspx?id=290&langid=1033
Faculty of Design; Associated Member of University of Primorska http://en.fd.si/academy/
Institute of Textile and Graphic Technology and Design http://www.itgto.si/
Institute of Engineering Materials and Design http://www.fs.uni-mb.si/podrocje.aspx?id=289
COMPANIES
Litia Spinnery http://www.litija.com/
AGENCIES
Slovenian Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (SQAA) http://test.nakvis.si/en-GB/Content/Details/8
6. POLAND
PIOT – Federation of Apparel & Textiles Industry Employers www.textiles.pl
Association of Fashion Industry Entrepreneurs www.prywatni.com.pl
Lodz University of Technology, Faculty of Material Technologies
http://www.style.p.lodz.pl/
and Textile Design
http://www.eng.ath.bielsko.pl/index.php/faculti
Lodz University of Technology, Faculty of Materials and
es/faculty-of-materials-and-environmental-
Environmental Sciences
sciences1
http://www.asp.lodz.pl/index.php?option=com
Strzemiński Academy of Fine Arts Łódź, Faculty of Textile and
_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=88&I 96
Fashion
temid=41&lang=en
Higher School of Art and Design in Lodz, Faculty of Design, Chair
http://www.wssip.edu.pl
of Fabric and Clothes Design
ViaModa Fashion School http://vmi.edu.pl/contact
University of Arts in Poznań, Faculty of Interior Design and Stage
www.uap.edu.pl
Design
Textile Research Institute in Lodz www.iw.lodz.pl
The Institute of Biopolymers and Chemical Fibres www.ibwch.lodz.pl
Institute of Natural Fibres and Medicinal Plants www.iwnirz.pl
Institute of Security Technologies MORATEX www.moratex.eu
Educational Research Institute www.ibe.eud.pl
ORGANIZATIONS
Polish Accreditation Committee www.pka.edu.pl
7.ITALY
Fashion system Italy - Federation of textiles and fashion http://www.sistemamodaitalia.com/it/
Associazione Le Arti Tessili http://www.leartitessili.it/
LIUC- University Cattaneo of Castellanza http://www.mastermte.cittastudi.org/
University of Bergamo http://www.unibg.it/en_index.asp
RTOs/Research Centres
Po.in.tex - Textile Innovation Cluster http://www.pointex.eu/
Textile centre Serico Soc. cons. p.a. http://www.textilecomo.com/home.aspx
Innovhub – stazioni sperimentali per l’industria http://www.innovhub-ssi.it/
Area Science Park http://www.area.trieste.it/
Vocational, Educational, Training (VET) organisations
ISFOL - Institute for the Development of Vocational Training of
http://www.isfol.it/
Workers
Ce.S.For. www.cesfor.org
ForModena – Professional training for the territories of Modena http://www.formodena.it/
Business consulting organisations
Innovhub SSI www.innovhub-ssi.it
Textile and clothing centre S.p.A. http://www.centrocot.it/
Trerè innovation srl http://www.trereinnovation.it/
Arnaldo Caprai Textile Group Srl http://www.museocaprai.it/ita/index.php
CNA Federmoda Roma http://www.cnapmi.org/
8.FRANCE
Observatoire des métiers de la Mode, des Textiles et du Cuir http://www.observatoiremodetextilescuirs.com
97
UIT - UNION DES INDUSTRIES TEXTILES http://textile.fr
http://www.la-
F.F.I.L.C. -Fédération Française Industrie Lainière et Cotonnière
federation.com/fr/la_federation/notre_reseau/
UNIT - Union Interprofessionnelle Textile de Champagne-Ardennes http://www.textilechampagneardenne.com/
UNITEX - Union Inter-Entreprises du Textile http://www.unitex.fr/
Union des Constructeurs de Matériel Textile de France http://www.ucmtf.fr/
UFIH - Union Française des Industries de l'Habillement http://www.lamodefrancaise.org/
FENTISS - Fédération Nationale du Tissu http://www.fenntiss.com/
IUT de Troyes http://www.iut-troyes.univ-reims.fr/
Université de la Mode http://mode.univ-lyon2.fr/
CREATECH (Université Lyon 2) http://www.createch-formation.fr/
IUT A de Lille http://www.univ-lille1.fr/
Vocational, Educational, Training (VET) organizations
Ecole de la Chambre Syndicale de la Couture Parisienne www.ecole-couture-parisienne.com
IFM - Institut Français de la Mode http://www.ifm-paris.com
INFORMA http://www.informa-formation.com/
GIH http://gih-mode.com/
AFPI CENTRE VAL DE LOIRE www.afpi-centre-valdeloire.com
CIA-GAFIT - Maison des Métiers de l'Industrie http://www.cia-gafit.com/
CREATECH http://www.ardep.fr/createch
IFTH - Institut Français Textile Habillement http://www.ifth.org
AFPI AUBE http://www.metal10.org/
CEPITRA http://perso.orange.fr/cepitra/
EIR - Ecole Industrielle de Rouen http://lycees.ac-rouen.fr/ecole_industrielle
FORMINTER http://www.forminter-nord.com/
ISTA - Institut Supérieur Textile d'Alsace http://www.ista.asso.fr/
ITECH http://entreprises.itech.fr/
ACADEMIE INTERNATIONALE DE COUPE DE PARIS - AICP-ESIM http://www.aicp.fr/
ATELIER CHARDON SAVARD http://www.atelier-chardon-savard.com/
ATELIER KALEIDOSCOPE BLEU http://www.instudio4.com/kaleidoscope.bleu/
BELLECOUR SUPDEMOD http://www.bellecour.fr/
CREAPOLE http://www.creapole.fr/
Studio Mode Paris http://www.studiomode.fr/
ECAMOD - Ecole de Production Albert de Mun www.albertdemun.eu
ECOLE CONDE PARIS DESIGN http://www.ecoles-conde.com/
ENSAAMA - ECOLE NATIONALE SUPERIEURE DES ARTS APPLIQUES http://www.ensaama.net/HTTP/OdS_HTML/Index.
ET METIERS D'ART html
ENSAD - ECOLE NATIONALE SUPERIEURE DES ARTS DECORATIFS http://www.ensad.fr/
ENSAIT - ECOLE NATIONALE SUPERIEURE DES ARTS & INDUSTRIES
http://www.ensait.fr/
TEXTILES
ENSISA - ECOLE NATIONALE SUPERIEURE DES INGENIEURS SUD
http://www.ensisa.uha.fr/
ALSACE
EPESATT - ECOLE D'ENSEIGNEMENT SUPERIEUR DES ARTS http://www.epesaat.com/fr/bienvenue-sur-le-
APPLIQUES DE TOULOUSE site-de-lepesaat
ESAA - ECOLE SUPERIEURE DES ARTS APPLIQUES DUPERRE http://www.duperre.org/
ESIMODE - ECOLE SUPERIEURE DES INDUSTRIES DE LA MODE http://www.gih-mode.com/
MOD'ART INTERNATIONAL http://www.mod-art.org/
MOD'SPE INSTITUT SUPERIEUR SPECIALISE DE LA MODE http://www.modspe.com/
Business consulting organizations 98
ISM - Institut supérieur des Métiers http://ism.infometiers.org/
DGE- Direction Générale des Entreprises http://www.entreprises.gouv.fr/la-dge/missions
COMPANIES
PERFORMANCE http://www.infinity-group.com/
Nausicaa-medical http://nausicaa-medical.com/
Alina Textiles http://www.alinatextiles.com/
Bleu Océane http://www.bleu-oceane.com/
CAMFIL http://www.camfil.fr/
Porcher Industries http://www.porcher-ind.com/
CONTIFIBRE http://www.contifibre.com/
ANNEX 2. PUBLICATIONS
1. Inmaculada Martin-Tapia; J. Alberto Aragon-Correa; Antonio Rueda ManzanaresEnvironmental
strategy and exports in medium, small and micro-enterprises Journal of World Business ed. Elsevier,
Volum 106 Issue 3 (2010) 226-275 - Growing corporate internationalization and the emergence of
environmental concerns are two of the main trends in the business world. This paper analyzes whether
strategies for environmental protection can help small and medium enterprises (SMEs) as they
internationalize their activities through exports. Personal interviews were conducted with 123 general
managers of exporting SMEs from the Spanish food industry.
2. Nicole E. Coviello and Maria J. Jose. Methodological issues in international entrepreneurship
research .Journal of Business Venturing , ed. Elsevier ,Volume 19 Issue 4 (2004) 485-508 - Empirical
research in the emerging field of international entrepreneurship (IE) is assessed to provide insight as to
the ‘state of the art’ of IE methodologies. Fifty-five articles were systematically analyzed focusing on
time frame and research context, sample characteristics, data collection/analysis procedures, and
equivalence issues
3. Fakhraddin K.Innovation and efficieny; Application to catalan textile industry. Departament d'economia
de l'Empresa Universitat Autónoma de Barcelona (2004) 24 pages - As an economy opens to foreign
competitors, domestic markets structure will change. There are two main sources of this change in
competition: foreign production that arrives to the local market as imports and foreign firms that
locate their factories in the country. In the light of the textile industry’s growing foreign competition,
trade deficit and job loss, we follow in the article to offer some evidence on the productivity effects of 99
R&D using a panel of Spanish manufacturing firms for 1994,1998 & 2002. By using it, we try to obtain
the results of efficiency scores of textile companies and impact of R&D on efficiency on textile
companies in Catalonia. These results are based on real data from the “Survey of Industrial Strategic
Behavior” (Encuesta Sobre Estrategias Empreseriales (ESEE) carried out by the Public Enterprise
Foundation”.
4. D.J.Storey and B.S. Tether.New technology-based firms in the European union: an introduction
Research Policy, Ed.Elsevier, Volume 26 Issue 9 April) 933-946 (1998).
5. Idem authors than before.Research policy measures to support new technology based firms in the
European-Union. Research policy 26(9)1998 pp 1037-1057 - These paper provides a review of public
policy measures implemented in EU countries to support New Technology-Based Firms (NTBFs) during
the1980s and early 1990s. It identifies five policy areas and provides a synthesis of the policy
developments during this period and an assessment of their effectiveness. The policy areas examined
are: Science Parks; the Supply of PhDs in Science and Technology, the relationships between NTBFs and
Universities/Research Institutions; Direct Financial Support to NTBFs from National Governments: and
the Impact of Technological Advisory Services on NTBFs. Although considered independently, these
issues are clearly part of an interdependent 'system' of policies and we conclude with an overview of
the whole policy area, together with our personal recommendations for its improvement. (C) 1998
Elsevier Science B.V.
6. Helene Forsman.Innovation capacity and innovation development in small enterprises. A comparison
between the manufacturing and service sectors. Research Policy, Volme 40, Issue 5 (2011) 739-750 -
This paper explores what kinds of innovations have been developed in small manufacturing and service
enterprises and what has been the degree of innovation capacity that small enterprises possess. In
addition, it compares what differences there are across the manufacturing and service sectors. The
empirical evidence is based on quantitative data gathered through an email questionnaire which
yielded 708 qualified responses from the representatives of Finnish small enterprises with fewer than
50 employees. The analysis is based on descriptive statistics and non-parametric tests.
7. Robert e. Carpenter. and Bruce c. Petersen Is the Growth of Small Firms Constrained by Internal
Finance, UMBC, Washington University January 22 (2001) - ABSTRACT This paper examines the long-
standing theory that the growth of small firms is often constrained by the quantity of internal finance.
Under plausible assumptions, when financing constraints are binding, an additional dollar of internal
finance should generate slightly more than an additional dollar of growth in assets.
8. Josep Llach, Andrea Birkfalvi and Pilar Marques What are the Success Factors for Spanish Textile Firms?
An Exploratory Multiple-Case Study FIBRES & TEXTILES in Eastern Europe 2009, Vol. 17, No. 2 (73) - The
objective of this article is to identify differential traits of successful SMEs in comparison to average SME
firms in the textile and clothing sector. The method used is the multiple case-study of 12 firms based on
qualitative and quantitative data obtained by means of in-depth interviews.
9. Margaret Bruce, Lacy daly and Neil Towers Lean or agile A solution for supply chain management in
the textiles and clothing industry? International Journal of Operations & Production Management,
100
Vol.24 Issue: 2, pp. 151–170-http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/01443570410514867. The textiles and apparel
industry has been neglected in terms of supply chain management research. Recently, the industry has
undergone a great deal of change, particularly with global sourcing and high levels of price competition.
In addition, textiles and clothing has market characteristics, such as short product lifecycle, high
volatility, low predictability, and a high level of impulse purchase, making such issues as quick response
of paramount importance. This article discusses characteristics of the textiles and apparel industry and
identifies the perspectives of lean, agile and leagility (a combination of these) within existing supply
chain literature, which have been proffered as solutions to achieving quick response and reduced lead
times. Through case studies of textile and apparel companies, different approaches to supply chain
management are illustrated.
10. Ming-Chin Chen; Shu-Ju Cheng and Yuhchang Hwang - An empirical investigation of the relationship
between intellectual capital and firms’ market value and financial performance
http://213.155.109.122/esgp/files/articles/An%20empirical%20investigation%20of%20the%20relations
hip%20between%20intellectual%20capital%20and%20firms%E2%80%99%20market%20value%20and%
20financial%20performance_20111029185918859.pdf- The purpose of this article is to investigate
empirically the relation between the value creation efficiency and firms’ market valuation and financial
performance The results extend the understanding of the role of intellectual capital in creating
corporate value and building sustainable advantages for companies in emerging economies, where
different technological advancements may bring different implications for valuation of intellectual
capital.
11. Impact of Electronic Commerce on Textile Industry CETEMMSA (SPAIN)
http://www.oecd.org/sti/ieconomy/2543123.pdf
12. Tony Hines and Margaret Bruce ed. Fashion Marketing: Contemporary Issues Ed. Published Elsevier Ltd.,
Oxford. UK 2n edition, (2007).
13. Clare Brindley, Lynn Oxborrow. Aligning the sustainable supply chain to green marketing needs: A case
study - http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0019850113001594.- The research explores
the challenges facing organisations in aligning sustainable procurement requirements and marketing
needs and the attendant shifts in supply chain management practices. Whilst external influences are
readily understood (e.g. regulation and customer demand), less is understood about the implications
for suppliers trying to meet sustainable procurement requirements and the organisational challenges
of aligning marketing with sustainable supply chain management.
14. Martin Christopher, Robert Lowson & Helen Peck. Creating agile Suply Chains in the Fashin Industry,
International Journal of retail and Distribution Management, vol,.32, Issue 8 pp 367-376 (2004) -
Fashion markets are synonymous with rapid change and, as a result, commercial success or failure in
those markets is largely determined by the organization's flexibility and responsiveness.
Responsiveness is characterized by short time-to-market, the ability to scale up (or down) quickly and
the rapid incorporation of consumer preferences into the design process. In this paper it is argued that
conventional organizational structures and forecast-driven supply chains are not adequate to meet the
challenges of volatile and turbulent demand which typify fashion markets today. Instead, the
requirement is for the creation of an agile organization embedded within an agile supply chain.
101
15. Peter Hines and Nick Rich. The seven value stream mapping tools .International Journal of Operations
Production Management, Vol, 17, No1, pp 46-64 MCB University Press 0144-3577 (1997) - Work carried
out in the first Supply Chain Development Programme (SCDP I),together with early work in the second
programme (SCDP II), has shown that in order fully to understand the different value streams[1] in
which the sponsors operate, it is necessary to map these intercompany and intra company value
adding processes. These value-adding processes make the final product or service more valuable to the
end consumer than otherwise it would have been. At present, however, there is an ill-defined and ill-
categorized toolkit with which to understand the value stream, although several workers (e.g. [2-5])
have developed individual tools. In general these authors have viewed their creations as the answer,
rather than as a part of the jigsaw.
16. Roberto Alvarez E., Source of export success-- in small and medium-sized enterprises: the impact of
public programs, International Business review 13 , 383-400 (2004) - This paper analyzes differences in
firm exporter performance for small- and medium-sized - enterprises (SMEs). Traditionally, it is argued
that these firms face several disadvantages for competing in international markets. Few studies,
however, exploit the fact that successful exporters exist within this group. Using data for Chilean firms,
we study various explanations for differences between sporadic and permanent exporters. Our results
suggest that greater effort in international business, process innovation, and the utilization of export
promotion programs contribute positively to export performance in SMEs. In addition, we find that
some forms of intervention are better than others: trade shows and trade missions do not affect the
probability of exporting permanently, but exporter committees show a positive and significant impact.
17. Michiel R. Scheffer, Saxion Universitites. In-depth assessment of the situation of the T&C sector in the
EU and prospects. Task 7: Synthesis report for the European textile and clothing sector. Final report
ENTR/2010/16, prepared for European Commission Enterprise and Industry DG. December 2012 -
http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/sectors/textiles/documents/saxion_task7_synthesis_en.pdf - This final
report of the in-depth assessment of the situation of the textile and clothing sector in Europe draws on
the key findings of six independent reports and highlights major conclusions in order to describe the
situation of the textile and clothing industry and the way forward for the sector. The findings in the six
reports have been analyzed in connection with the developments following the recommendations
drafted by the High Level Group on textiles and clothing 1(HLG insofar). The developments are then
analyzed in terms of transferability of practices and partnerships. With this background a picture on the
situation of the textile and clothing sector is presented, with detailed analysis of the different
subsectors and of the main textile regions.
18. Evert-Jan Visser. A Comparison of clusters and Dispersed Firms in the Small-Scale Clothing Industry of
Lima, World development, vol, 27, No9, pp 1433-1570(1999) - This study provides empirical evidence
on the strength and type of clustering advantages, contrasting the performance of small clustered ®rms
with several control groups of dispersed producers in the garment industry of Lima, Peru. Repeated
measurement facilitates an evaluation of the ability of clustered ®rms to respond to pressures arising
from the swift trade liberalization carried out in Peru after 1990. The evidence suggests that clustering
advantages have been significant, particularly for the smallest firms. 102
19. Avi Fiegenbaum and Howard Thomas. Attitudes toward Risk and the Risk-Return paradox: Prospect
Theory Explanations The Academy of Management Journal Vol, 31, No1, (Mar, 1988), pp 85-106 -
http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/256499?sid=21105473632471&uid=3737952&uid=70&uid=212
9&uid=2&uid=4 - This study attempted to explain Bowmann's risk-return paradox in terms of recent
research in behavioral decisions theory and prospect theory. Using extensive COMPUSTAT based data
on US firms, we consistently found a negative risk-return association for firms having returns below
target levels and a positive association for firms with return above target.
20. Ball L, Pollard E, Stanley N. Creative Graduates Creative Futures (Jan 2010) © Published by the Creative
Graduates Creative Futures Higher Education Partnership and the Institute for Employment Studies. The
full research report can be ordered from the project website: www.creativegraduates.com - Final report
of a major longitudinal study of the early career experiences of graduates from the art, design, crafts
and media subjects who qualified in 2002, 2003 and 2004 from 26 UK HEIs.
21. W.K. Law and A.H.S. Chan Prioritizing the safety management elements A hierarchical analysis for
manufacturing enterprises - The purpose of this paper is to present a hierarchy decision model for
assessing the priority of safety management elements in manufacturing enterprises with reference to
three major industries (i.e. textile and clothing, electronics, and printing and publishing) in Hong Kong.
The identification of core decision criteria and safety management elements were addressed with
respect to the effective implementation of safety management systems (SMS) in manufacturing
enterprises.
22. Jan Erik Krusberge.- ePub.-Proceedings of the 4th European Conference on Intgellectual Capital. Mainly
pag 118, http.//academic-conferences.org/2-proceedings.htm- Organization for Economic Co-operation
and Developement Development Polices for Economic Development in the 7H Region: result of a Case
Study in Sweden Volume 5 Num 46 de OECD working papers ISSN 1022-2227- ED. Organization for
Economic Co-operation and Development, 1997: 65 pages- 29 April (2010).
23. Jodie Keane and Dirk Willem te Velde.The role of textile and clothing industries in growth and
development strategies: Final Draft. Investment and Growth Programme, Overseas Development
Institute, 2008, 72 pp. http://www.odi.org/sites/odi.org.uk/files/odi-assets/publications-opinion-
files/3361.pdf - This paper examines the role of textile and clothing (T&C) industries in growth and
developments. A literature review aiming new skills needed in the textile and clothing sector strategies
in developing countries. The potential of the textile and clothing industries to contribute to long-run
growth and development will depend not only on the attributes (desirable or otherwise) of the
investors, but also on the quality and effectiveness of government policies and institutions in
developing countries to build on this investment.
24. Hoffman. K., Parejo. M., Bessant. J., Perren. L. Small firms, R&D, technology and innovation in the UK:
a literature review. Centre for Research in Innovation Management, University of Brighton, Brighton
BN1 9PH, UK; online 11 June 1998 - The importance of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in
economic growth has made them a central element in much recent policymaking. This paper reports on
103
a literature survey of UK work over the past decade and tries to characterise the state of knowledge
about SMEs and innovation. It concludes with a discussion of gaps and weaknesses in the literature and
some requirements for future research in this field.
25. Daniele Clutier, IFM. In-depth assessment of the situation of the T&C sector in the EU and prospects.
Task 5: Assess what type of training has been provided to textile and clothing workers in 3 EU regions
and how this training has been organised and funded. Identify best practices that could be transferred
to other regions. Final report ENTR/2010/16, prepared for European Commission Enterprise and
Industry DG. May 2012.
26. Van de Vrande. V., De Jong. J. P. J., Vanhaverbeke. W., De Rochemont.M. Open innovation in SMEs:
Trends, motives and management challenges, Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development,
ISSN: 1462-6004; Online from: 1994 - This exploratory paper investigates if open innovation practices
are also applied by small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Drawing on a database collected from
605 innovative SMEs in the Netherlands, we explore the incidence of and apparent trend towards open
innovation.
27. Tim EdwardsT., Rick Delbridge R., Munday M. Understanding innovation in small and medium-sized
enterprises: a process manifest. Technovation, Volume 25, Issue 10, October 2005, p.1119–1127 - This
paper proposes new directions in researching innovation in small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs)
based on a process perspective. We proceed by (a) reviewing advances in mainstream innovation
research, (b) considering the nature of studies of innovation in SMEs, and (c) outlining new directions
that take into consideration the conceptual arguments illustrated in the previous sections.
28. Bougrain F., HaudevilleB. Innovation, collaboration and SMEs internal research capacities.Research
Policy, Volume 31, Issue 5, July 2002, p. 735–747 - The aim of this research paper is to assess how
SMEs’ internal research capacities help them to exploit external scientific and technical knowledge and
to use networks of innovators. Our empirical analysis draws upon case studies made of projects which
were partly financed by ANVAR, a French national agency responsible for the development of
innovation projects in industry.
29. Da Silveira. G.,Denis Borenstein. D., Flávio S Fogliatto. F. S. Mass customization: Literature review and
research directions. International Journal of Production Economics Volume 72, Issue 1, 30 June 2001, p.
1–13 - Mass customization relates to the ability to provide individually designed products and services
to every customer through high process flexibility and integration. Mass customization has been
identified as a competitive strategy by an increasing number of companies. This paper surveys the
literature on mass customization.
30. Kumar A., Gattoufi S., Reisman A. Mass customization research: trends, directions, diffusion intensity,
and taxonomic frameworks. International Journal of Flexible Manufacturing Systems Design, Analysis,
and Operation of Manufacturing and Assembly Systems, © Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2008.
- Mass customization (MC) as a business strategy is designed to simultaneously compete on two rival
competitive priorities—the price and customization level of a product. MC academics and experts have
gone a step further.
104
31. Hu S. J. Evolving Paradigms of Manufacturing: From Mass Production to Mass Customization and
Personalization. Procedia CIRP, Volume 7, 2013, Pages 3–8, Forty Sixth CIRP Conference on
Manufacturing Systems 2013 - This paper reviews the development of the paradigms of manufacturing,
including mass production, mass customization and the emerging paradigm of personalization. In each
paradigm, we discuss the contributions of scientific principles, manufacturing technologies and systems
operations and how they are integrated together to achieve quality, productivity and responsiveness in
manufacturing.
32. Berthon, P. R., Pitt L. F., Plangger, K., Shapiro, D. Marketing meets Web 2.0, social media, and creative
consumers: Implications for international marketing strategy. Business Horizons (2012), vol. 55, p. 261-
271. http://www.journals.elsevier.com/business-horizons/editors-choice/marketing-meets-web/- 21st
century managers need to consider the many opportunities and threats that Web 2.0, social media, and
creative consumers present and the resulting respective shifts in loci of activity, power, and value. To
help managers understand this new dispensation, we propose five axioms: (1) social media are always a
function of the technology, culture, and government of a particular country or context; (2) local events
rarely remain local; (3) global events are likely to be (re)interpreted locally; (4) creative consumers’
actions and creations are also dependent on technology, culture, and government; and (5) technology
is historically dependent. At the heart of these axioms is the managerial recommendation to
continually stay up to date on technology, customers, and social media. To implement this managerial
recommendation, marketers must truly engage customers, embrace technology, limit the power of
bureaucracy, train and invest in their employees, and inform senior management about the
opportunities of social media.
33. Kim A. J., Ko E. Do social media marketing activities enhance customer equity? An empirical study of
luxury fashion brand. Journal of Business Research (2012), vol. 65, p. 1480–1486.
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0148296311003584 - The interest in the use of
social media marketing (SMM) among luxury fashion brands is growing. Tthis was study set out to
identify attributes of SMM activities and examine the relationships among those perceived activities,
value equity, relationship equity, brand equity, customer equity, and purchase intention through a
structural equation model. Five constructs of perceived SSM activities of luxury fashion brands are
entertainment, interaction, trendiness, customization, and word of mouth. Their effects on value
equity, relationship equity, and brand equity are significantly positive. For the relationship between
customer equity drivers and customer equity, brand equity has significant negative effect on customer
equity while value equity and relationship equity show no significant effect. As for purchase intention,
value equity and relationship equity had significant positive effects, while relationship equity had no
significant influence. Finally, the relationship between purchase intention and customer equity has
significance. The findings of this study can enable luxury brands to forecast the future purchasing
behavior of their customers more accurately and provide a guide to managing their assets and
marketing activities as well.
34. Mohr I., The Impact of Social Media on the Fashion Industry. Journal of Applied Business and Economics
(2013), vol. 15 (2), p. 17-22. http://www.na-businesspress.com/JABE/MohrI_Web15_2_.pdf - The
purpose of the paper is to address social media as a marketing strategy to manage market shrinkage in 105
fashion and luxury markets. During the financial crisis of 2008, retailers faced a dilemma relating to
both the economic environment and psychographic issues: how to convince consumers of fashion and
luxury goods to purchase when even the wealthy cut back, and how to plan for spring when sales are
declining at retail stores. To understand further social media, as a marketing strategy for managing
marketing shrinkage for an upscale segment, a study was conducted on attendees of Mercedes Benz
Fashion Week in New York to examine the relationship between social media and fashion and its
relationship to fashion week. The author synthesizes extant knowledge on the subject, and provides
recommendations for future research.
35. Kim A. J., & Ko E. Impacts of Luxury Fashion Brand’s Social Media Marketing on Customer Relationship
and Purchase Intention. Journal of Global Fashion Marketing, (2010), vol. 1 (3), p.164-171.
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/20932685.2010.10593068#.VO5EMPmG_KM - The
study proves the effectiveness of luxury brands’ SMM on both customer relationships and purchase
intention, and proposes a strategy to enhance the brands’ performance by defining specific factors
influencing both. Every property found in luxury brands’ SMM positively influenced customer
relationships and purchase intention, with entertainment affecting more variables than any other
properties. Luxury brands should heavily supply an entertainment aspect of social media contents and
activities. Every activity enabled by use of the media, such as creating relationships with other users,
providing customized service and free entertainment contents, and obtaining genuine information on
personal interest should all be entertaining. By focusing on providing such features, customer
relationships and purchase intention will be enhanced. Concerning the association between customer
relationship and purchase intention, trust and purchase intention were highly related. Customers’ trust
was strengthened via interaction with other users as well as brand on social media sites. Trust gained
while enjoying entertainment and communication provided on the sites seems to contribute greatly
toward a luxury brand’s profit.
36. Salerno-Kochan, R. Consumer Approach to the Quality and Safety of Textile Products. Part I. Quality of
Textile Products from the Point of View of Consumers. FIBRES & TEXTILES in Eastern Europe (2008), vol.
16, No. 4 (69), pp. 8-12. http://www.fibtex.lodz.pl/article183.html - The article analyses the issue of
consumer perception of the quality of textile products. The results of the inquiry and analysis of
statistical descriptions showed that the aesthetic of a product, the quality of product finishing as well
as safety of use and product healthiness have great importance for consumer perception of the quality
of textile products. While for clothing products physiological comfort and convenience of use are the
most important, for house textiles it is the durability and utility properties.
37. Salerno-Kochan R. Consumer Approach to the Quality and Safety of Textile Products. Part II. Consumer
Perception of Parameters Related to the Safety of Clothing Use. FIBRES & TEXTILES in Eastern Europe,
(2008), Vol. 16, No. 5 (70), pp. 9-12. http://www.fibtex.lodz.pl/article138.html - The article presents the
problem of the safety of textile use, for example clothing products. Special attention is paid to
establishing characteristics, which, in the consumers’ opinion, are important when estimating a
product’s influence on a person's mood, health or even life. On the basis of the inquiry, the hierarchy of
these parameters and the relationship between them were examined. On the basis of the results
obtained and statistical premises, it was found that consumers equate the safety of clothing use with 106
their chemicalisation, sense impression and fibre composition.
38. Van de Vrandea V., Jongb, J. P. Vanhaverbekec, W. Rochemontd M. Open innovation in SMEs: Trends,
motives and management challenges. Technovation, vol. 29, No. 6-7, p. 423-437 - Open innovation has
so far been studied mainly in high-tech, multinational enterprises. This exploratory paper investigates if
open innovation practices are also applied by small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Drawing on
a database collected from 605 innovative SMEs in the Netherlands, we explore the incidence of and
apparent trend towards open innovation.
39. The New Microfinance Handbook. A Financial Market System Perspective, Edited by Joanna Ledgerwood
with Julie Earne and Candace Nelson, International Bank for Reconstruction and Development / The
World Bank, 2013, ISBN (paper): 978-0-8213-8927-0. - In the intervening years, the opportunities and
pressures of commercialization have driven a reassessment of what microfinance is and whom it
should serve. Today, in addition to building the capacity and ensuring the sustainability of institutions,
the larger microfinance community is taking a closer look at the diverse needs of clients, the broader
financial ecosystem, and the transformational nature of technology. This reassessment has become a
regular fixture of global conversations about poverty alleviation.
40. Forth J., Bewley H., Bryson A. Small and Medium-sized Enterprises. Findings from the 2004 Workplace
Employment Relations Survey. Department of Trade and Industry, 2006, ISBN 0836033619. - There is
little quantitative data on the employment practices of small and medium-sized firms (SMEs), despite
the fact that 94 per cent of all private sector firms in the UK have less than 250 employees. This study
uses the nationally representative 2004 Workplace Employment Relations Survey (WERS 2004) to
describe employment practices in private sector workplaces belonging to SMEs. As both managers and
employees were surveyed within workplaces, this report is able to compare employees’ views of the
employment relationship with those of their managers. It also makes comparisons between the
practices of SMEs and those of larger firms.
41. Peter E.D Love P., Iranib Z., Edwardsc D. J. Industry-centric benchmarking of information technology
benefits, costs and risks for small-to-medium sized enterprises in construction, Automation in
construction, Vol. 13, No. 4, 2004, Pages 507–524. - The evaluation of information technology (IT) is a
perennial problem for businesses as they seek to improve their performance and sustain a competitive
advantage. While businesses are increasing their expenditure on technology to keep abreast of
competitors, organisations in the construction industry have become ‘technological laggards’. Both the
Federal and State Governments in Australia have recognized the pivotal role that IT can play in
improving industry performance and consequently firms are being encouraged to embrace IT. In
obtaining performance improvements, the benefits, costs and risks of IT should be identified and
subsequently managed and controlled.
42. Cricka D., Spence M. The internationalisation of ‘high performing’ UK high-tech SMEs: a study of
planned and unplanned strategies, International Business Review, Vol. 14, No. 2, 2005, p. 167–185. -
This paper discusses the findings from an investigation into the internationalisation strategies of ‘high
performing’ UK high-tech small and medium-sized enterprises. Findings from 12 in-depth interviews
suggest that strategy formation is not as systematic as some previous studies, notably those that focus 107
on the ‘stage’ models, suggest. Management teams anticipate and react to internal and external
factors in various ways; this affects the way in which opportunity recognition and exploitation takes
place. This ranges from planned strategy formation through to opportunistic behaviour.
43. Laforet S. Organizational innovation outcomes in SMEs: Effects of age, size, and sector, Journal of
World Business, Vol. 48, No. 4, 2013, p. 490–502. - Innovation studies concentrate on factors
contributing to innovation. However, governments seek clearer understanding of innovation outcomes
in their appraisal of the costs and benefits of policies to promote innovation in small and medium-sized
enterprises (SMEs). This study examines organizational innovation (OI) outcomes in SMEs. Based on
company interviews and a mail survey, the findings reveal OI results in enhanced productivity, margin,
market leadership, and working environments.
44. Pezderka N., Sinkovics R. A conceptualization of e-risk perceptions and implications for small firm active
online internationalization, International Business Review, Vol. 20, No. 4, 2011, p. 409–422. - A sound
conceptualization of international e-risks has grown in demand, because of the increasing penetration
of the Internet, and specifically the enabling-facility of the Internet technology for small firms. Yet, to
date, there has been no study explicitly attempting to build an international business risk framework
for the online environment, nor to explain online internationalization decisions. The purpose of the
present paper is threefold, (1) to combine and complement the existing traditional international risk
constructs and the emerging views on e-business risks into a comprehensive and unified international
risk framework for the online context; (2) to develop propositions regarding SMEs’ active online
internationalization decisions by drawing on Dunning's OLI framework; and (3) to explore the online–
offline risk trade-off inherent in online internationalization decisions by integrating the e-risk
framework into the eclectic paradigm.
45. AharoniaY., Tihanyib L., Connellyc B. L. Managerial decision-making in international business: A forty-
five-year retrospective, Journal of World Business, Vol. 46, No. 2, 2011, p. 135–142 - We identify key
theoretical developments in international managerial decision-making research, synthesize how they
have been employed, and discuss contributions that may emerge as researchers devote increased
attention to bounded rationality. Since behavioral factors were first introduced into the international
business literature, there has been an increasing trend toward acknowledging the decision makers’ role
in foreign direct investment and related strategies.
46. Hoffmann W. H., Schlosser R. Success factors of strategic alliances in small and medium sized
enterprises An empirical survey. Long range planning, vol. 34, 2001, p. 357 - 381. - Strategic alliances
are increasingly gaining favour over go-it-alone strategies for organizations to achieve fast and
economic growth. This study aims to identify critical success factors in alliance-making with special
consideration given to the specific situation of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). A
comprehensive questionnaire was used to interview a random sample of key executives in 164 Austrian
SMEs. This paper reports on the results of that empirical survey, and seeks to identify the weights of
various success factors in alliance-making in SMEs.
47. Hoffman K., Parejo M., Bessant J., Perren L. Small firms, R&D, technology and innovation in the UK: a
literature review, Technovation, Vo. 18, No. 1, 1998, p. 39-55 - The importance of small and medium-
108
sized enterprises (SMEs) in economic growth has made them a central element in much recent
policymaking. Of particular interest have been policies designed to promote and facilitate the
operation of the innovation process within SMEs, and there has been substantial expansion of this kind
of effort.
48. Iliomaki M., Melanen M. Waste minimisation in small and medium-sized enterprises—do
environmental management systems help? Journal of Cleaner Production, Vol. 9, No. 3, 2001, p. 209–
217. - The main research question of our study was as follows: What opportunities for upgrading
material efficiency and waste minimisation can be found in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)?
The empirical material consisted of 41 theme interviews in Finnish industrial SMEs. In the article, the
SMEs are assigned to four different categories according to their attitudes towards environmental
protection.
49. Hunga, H. W., Changb, L. M., Linb, C. P., Hsiaob, C. H. E-readiness of website acceptance and
implementation in SMEs, Computers in Human Behavior, Vol. 40, 2014, p. 44–55. - This study aims to
make a deep exploration into e-readiness from the viewpoints of technology, management,
organization, and environment in order to understand how these dimensions affect the acceptance
intention and degree of implementation of a corporate website. A mail survey was conducted. A total
of 753 questionnaires were distributed and collected from SMEs’ senior executives, generating 163
usable replies with a total response rate of 21.65%.
50. Atkinson C., Curtis S. The impact of employment regulation on the employment relationship in SMEs,
Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development, Vol. 11 No: 4, p. 486 – 494. - Reports findings
from an empirical investigation into the nature of the employment relationship in small to
medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) and how this is affected by the Employment Relations Act (1999). A
two‐stage methodology was used, with a postal questionnaire of 69 companies and telephone
interviews with a further 33 SMEs. The informal, paternalistic approach to employee relations in many
small companies was found to be largely still intact.
51. Grundströma C., Öbergb C., Öhrwall Rönnbäcka A. Ö. Family-owned manufacturing SMEs and
innovativeness: A comparison between within-family successions and external takeovers, Journal of
Family Business Strategy, Vol. 3, No.3, 2012, p. 162–173. - The purpose of this article is to compare
within-family successions and external-party takeovers in family-owned manufacturing SMEs to
determine potential differences in how they are perceived and managed. This paper focuses on two
long-term aspects of family businesses – their succession and their ability to innovate – defining
innovativeness as an aspect of organizational culture.
52. Frosina Tasevskaa F., Damija T., Damijb N. Project planning practices based on enterprise resource
planning systems in small and medium enterprises — A case study from the Republic of Macedonia,
International Journal of Project Management, Vol. 32, No. 3, 2014, p. 529–539. - This paper examines
whether Macedonian SMEs plan for the implementation of ERP projects and studies the effect of
project planning practices on project success. Four project planning measures were taken into
consideration: business case development, scope planning, baseline plan development and risk
planning along with three measures of project success; customer satisfaction, perceived quality of the 109
project and success of the implementation process.
53. Child J., Hsieh L. H. Y. Decision mode, information and network attachment in the internationalization
of SMEs: A configurational and contingency analysis, Journal of World Business, Vol. 49, No. 4, 2014, p.
598–610. - There has been limited attention to the internationalization of SMEs as a decision, and how
the use of contrasting decision modes is associated with different information use and patterns of
network attachment. This paper offers a new and systematic analysis of the likely associations between
decision modes, information use, and network attachment among internationalizing SMEs.
54. Nduyo M., Nkondi C., Mukulu E. T., Thoruwa. Determinants of Competitive Performance of Export
Processing Zone’s Small and Medium Textile Enterprises in Kenya, Universal Journal of Management
and SocialSciences, Vol. 3, No.5; 2013, p. - Small and Medium sized entrepreneurial Enterprises (SMEs)
play an important role in economic development of many countries in the world because they have
potential of employing many people in environments where formal and full wage employment may be
scarce or unavailable. There is limited information on the factors that determine their performance.
The purpose of this research was to investigate factors that affected the competitive performance of
entrepreneurial SMEs in textile subsector in Kenya’s Export Processing Zone.
55. Ateljevic J., Orouke T., Todorovic Z. Entrepreneurship and SMEs in Bosnia and Herzegovina, The
International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation, Vol. 5, No. 4, 2004, p. 241-253. - There is a
broad consensus amongst academics, policy makers and practitioners that a fundamental cause of
difficulties experienced by the majority of economies in transition is a lack of entrepreneurialism. This
is manifested in the low rate at which new, especially smaller-scale, private businesses are created. This
is particularly evident in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) where many barriers either created by or
inherited from the old system remain in place. Such barriers inhibit entrepreneurial progress in the
country despite a number of strengths and opportunities.
56. Petts J. The regulator – regulated relationship and environmental protection: perceptions in small and
medium-sized enterprises, Government and Policy, Vol. 18, No. 2, 2000, p. 191 -206. - An emerging
point of agreement is that environmental policy efficacy and implementation efficiency are most likely
to be achieved by an appropriate balance between command-and-control and self-regulation methods.
The author uses data from a unique survey of individuals, both management and non management, in
small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in England and Wales to ascertain whether the corporate
perspective is equally supportive of such an empathetic balance.
57. Judith Petts J., Herd A., Gerrard S., Horne C. The climate and culture of environmental compliance
within SMEs, Business Strategy and the Environment Bus. Strat. Env. Vol. 8, 1999, p. 14–30. - This paper
reports some of the findings of an ESRC Global Environmental Change Programme project which
considered the attitudes of individuals (management and non-management) in small and medium-sized
enterprises (SMEs) to the environment and environmental compliance.
58. Hitchens D., Thankappan S., Trainor M., Clausen J., Marchi B. Environmental performance,
competitiveness and management of small businesses in Europe, Journal of Economic and Social
Geography, Vol. 96, No. 5, 2005, p. 541 – 557. - Is it the case that more competitive SMEs have greater
110
capacity to adopt environmental initiatives? The answer is no, according to this study which tried to
link small firm environmental performance to factors such as profitability, growth, skills and research
and development. This study focuses on three interrelated propositions that are concerned with the
impact of environmental initiatives on firm competitiveness; the relevance of management's
awareness to environment: the availability of external information and expertise to aid management,
and the competitiveness of the firm.
59. Smit Y., Watkins J. A. - The inherent characteristics of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) afford
these enterprises the potential to absorb unskilled labour and to nurture and develop entrepreneurial
A literature review of small and medium enterprises (SME) risk management practices in South Africa,
African Journal of Business Management, Vol. 6, No. 21, 2012, p. 6324-6330.skills. However, in the
South African economy, these benefits are not forth coming due to the high failure rate of SMEs. The
impediments to SME success includes numerous and varied obstacles.
60. Small Business Support: Strategic Plan 2011-2015, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development,
http://www.ebrd.com/downloads/tambas/sbs_strategic_plan.pdf. - The Enterprise Growth Programme
(EGP) and Business Advisory Services (BAS) are at a turning point in their operations. Since inception in
1993, EGP has assisted more than 1,830 enterprise CEOs in 30 countries with senior industrial advisors
to help them to “turn around” the operations and management of their companies. BAS has carried out
10,000 projects with small enterprises in 25 countries by providing them with grants to support their
engagement of local consultants for their development needs. BAS has further supported the
development of local consulting markets through more than 450 market development activities in
which consultants improve their skills and knowledge, so as to offer better services to small enterprises.
61. Alexander B., Nico K., Christian N. Performance Measurement in SMEs: Literature Review and Results
from a German Case Study; International Journal of Globalisation and Small Business, Vol. 2, No. 4,
2008, p. 411-427. - A literature review of Performance Measurement Systems (PMS) in Small- and
Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) shows that the main contributions focus on the development of
theoretical models, but not on guidelines for practical implementation. In this context, an important
neglected aspect is the general fitness or readiness of a SME to implement a PMS.
62. Vargas-Hernandez J. Government Public Policy of Mexico and Entrepreneurship: What can Mexican
Government do for Enhancing Entrepreneurship in Mexico?, Global Journal of Management and
Business Research, Vol. 12, No. 15, 2012, p. 11-18. - The literature existing on entrepreneurship
implicitly assumes that entrepreneurship and government and economic growth are positively related
with each other and there is a positive correlation among them. However, few studies, whether
theoretical or empirical, analyze such relation in an explicit manner.
111
ANNEX 3 EUROPEAN SECTORAL REPORTS
European level
1.
Name of the CIAPE: OPINION OF THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE ON “GROWTH
European sectorial DRIVER TECHNICAL TEXTILES (OWN INITIATIVE OPINION)”, EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL
report COMMITTEE, 2013
https://dm.eesc.europa.eu/eesc/2012/_layouts/WordViewer.aspx?id=/eesc/2012/10001999/1
966/ces1966-2012_00_00_tra_ac/ces1966-
2012_00_00_tra_ac_en.doc&DefaultItemOpen=1&Source=http%3A%2F%2Fdm%2Eeesc%2Eeur
opa%2Eeu%2FEESCDocumentSearch%2FPages%2Fopinionsresults%2Easpx%3Fk%3D%28rappor
teur%3ABUTAUDSTUBBS%29%28documentlanguage%3AEN%29
Key findings on - In 2011, the EU T&C industry reached a turnover of € 171.2 billion thanks to nearly 187 000
needs for skills businesses employing more than 1.8 million workers.
- The sector of technical textiles, which registers positive economic and employment trends in
the EU, is an example of "traditional sector" able to
"reinvent itself" and become smarter, more inclusive and more sustainable.
- The textile industry, thanks to its high innovation capacity, offers a potential for direct and
indirect jobs and growth.
- The textile sector can contribute to:
*Smart growth, through creativity, innovation and capacity to internationalize;
*Inclusive growth, through development of customized products (e.g. products for disabled and
old people);
*Sustainable growth, through the development of eco-friendly products.
Recommendations - The European Economic and Social Committee advices the European Commission and the
European Parliament to support all necessary efforts 112
enabling the workforce to upgrade its qualification and to adapt its skills to the growing
markets.
- EU companies need to have access to a more qualified workforce, engineers with various skills
in textiles.
- A priority should be given at national level to a shift of the more relevant skills from mature
markets to growing markets.
- Investments in skills such as innovation, creativity, product development and capacity to
internationalize are required.
2.
Name of the CIAPE: TEXTILES, WEARING APPAREL AND LEATHER PRODUCTS SECTOR - COMPREHENSIVE
European sectorial SECTORAL ANALYSIS OF EMERGING COMPETENCES ANDECONOMIC ACTIVITIES IN THE
report EUROPEAN UNION, EUROPEAN COMMISSION, 2009
http://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?langId=en&catId=782&newsId=528&furtherNews=yes
Key findings on - European TCL enterprises of today seem to be “innovative” and “R&D engaged”.
needs for skills - In many companies, production is externalized to low-wage areas, while marketing and quality
control are still implemented in the headquarter.
- Textile restructuring activities towards supply chain management and sales require more
technical and business professionals in EU high-cost areas.
- Skills developments in TCL industries are dominated by technology and application oriented
engineering in specialty textiles, the rising importance of marketing and sales, value chain
management on global TCL markets, rising importance of environmental aspects.
- “Technical” and “intelligent” textiles are growing markets; however, the sector is characterized
by widespread skills shortages due to its weak position on the labour market.
- Emerging competences in high-cost areas are: marketing, sales, engineering production and
logistic, R&D and design, management.
Recommendations In the document, three scenarios for the future are proposed. In all three scenarios, it is
recommended to invest in: ecological and R&D competences, capacity to internationalize,
innovate and sell. Depending on the long-term scenario, important skills are also: marketing
andnetworking, CSR, creativity, process engineering, management, logistic, cost control.
For Member States, it is recommended to develop the knowledge base, through clusters and
training and to promote regional policies based onnetworking and regional cooperation.
For companies, it is recommended to implement innovation strategies, through investments in
technology and link with other industries, such as the chemical one.
3.
Name of the CIAPE: COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT POLICY OPTIONS FOR THE
European sectorial COMPETITIVENESS OF THE EUROPEAN FASHION INDUSTRIES — ‘WHERE MANUFACTURING
report MEETS CREATIVITY’, EUROPEAN COMMISSION, 2012
file:///C:/Users/D%C3%A9sir%C3%A9e/Downloads/SWD_2012_284_EN_7666.pdf
Key findings on - Some EU fashion industries are trying to tackle third countries competition by finding niches
needs for skills in mature markets, developing new brands and business models, investing in creativity and
innovation. However, new opportunities can be hampered by various factors such as skills
shortages, mismatches and gaps.
- Industries are characterized by ageing workforce, difficulties in attracting young people to
some parts of fashion manufacturing, a mismatch between education systems and the
industry’s needs, low mobility of industry workers.
- Entrepreneurial and managerial skills, as well as hybrid ones, combining effective leadership
with creativity, innovation and understanding of technologies, are necessary and should go
together with technical and traditional skills and know-how, which are the core of the
European manufacturing tradition.
Recommendations EU efforts should concentrate on: 113
- safeguarding and developing further the essential knowledge and skills for the industry;
- promoting modern skills and competencies as well as entrepreneurship;
- promoting collaboration between designers, on the one hand, and materials scientists and
engineers, on the other, and fostering the creation of hybrid skills as a consequence.
- adopting new business models and new ways to organize and manage the supply chain;
- meeting consumers’ expectations;
- enhancing creativity leading to the design and development of new products;
- promoting e-skills to exploit digital markets and e-commerce possibilities;
- promoting internationalization.
4.
Name of the CIAPE: POSITION PAPER FOR COMMON STRATEGIC FRAMEWORK FOR EU RESEARCH AND
European sectorial INNOVATION FUNDING (CSFRI),
report TEXTRANET, EUROPEAN NETWORK OF TEXTILE RESEARCH ORGANISATIONS, 2011
file:///C:/Users/D%C3%A9sir%C3%A9e/Downloads/2011_Textranet%20Position%20on%20CSF
RI.pdf
Key findings on - Design and creativity, quality fashion products and technical goods of high added-value have
needs for skills been identified as major competitive advantages of the EU textile and clothing industry.
- In a framework of global competition, research and innovation are crucial elements to further
develop the knowledge base of the sector and to provide fresh impetus to a sustainable and
competitive industry.
Recommendations - There is the need to improve research, technological development and innovation activities to
face market pressures.
- The European T&C sector should invest in the development of innovative products, in
particular, by promoting technical textiles or new application fields for textile-based materials.
5.
Name of the CIAPE: OPINION OF THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE ON THE
European sectorial COMMUNICATION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION TO THE COUNCIL, THE EUROPEAN
report PARLIAMENT, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE AND THE COMMITTEE OF
THE REGIONS: THE FUTURE OF THE TEXTILES AND CLOTHING SECTOR IN THE ENLARGED
EUROPEAN UNION, 2004
https://dm.eesc.europa.eu/eesc/2004/_layouts/WordViewer.aspx?id=/eesc/2004/0999/967/ce
s967-2004_ac/ces967-
2004_ac_en.doc&DefaultItemOpen=1&Source=http%3A%2F%2Fdm%2Eeesc%2Eeuropa%2Eeu%
2FEESCDocumentSearch%2FPages%2Fopinionsresults%2Easpx%3Fk%3Dtextile%2520and%2520
clothing
Key findings on - The textile industry, thanks to the innovations in products and processes, continue to
needs for skills contribute to European wealth, with an annual turnover of over €200 billion.
- The “non-conventional” sector (high-tech technical textiles) accounts for 30% of all output.
- Europe has been able to capitalize on its assets (fashion and creative collections, fast
manufacturing and short delivery times) and to innovate thanks to the application of chemistry
to textile.
- Europe has externalized the most labour intensive operations and has focused on more skill-
intensive manufacturing processes, using also ICT.
- There is a link between textile and health.
-The development of new materials, products and processes, using “clean technologies” is an
asset;
- There is a need of: technology audit analysts, restructuring plan facilitators, people skilled in
business opportunity scouting.
Recommendations The EEESC advises the EC to: 114
- introduce a programme to support research innovation and vocational training in the sector
(capacity of small- scale employers to adjust to the new international settings and consumers’
requirements);
- increase awareness of CSR and health issues among producers;
- help SMEs and promote entrepreneurship;
- promote networking among SMEs, universities and research centres;
- enhance and develop training facilities for a new type of professional with specific technical-
operating ability.
- The EESC advises companies to add to their assets of fashion and beauty of the manufactured
product, a capacity for innovation, introducing new fabrics and fibres created with
nanotechnology research. Finally, environmental and workplace safety legislation must be made
more visible to consumers and chemical processes and new technologies should be exploited to
develop new products such as technical products.
6.
Name of the CIAPE: OPINION OF THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE ON THE
European COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE COUNCIL, EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT, THE
sectorial report ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE AND THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS: PLAN OF ACTION
TO INCREASE THE COMPETITIVENESS OF THE EUROPEAN TEXTILE AND CLOTHING INDUSTRY,
EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE, 1998
https://dm.eesc.europa.eu/eesc/1998/_layouts/WordViewer.aspx?id=/eesc/1998/0999/645/ce
s645-1998_ac/ces645-
1998_ac_en.doc&DefaultItemOpen=1&Source=http%3A%2F%2Fdm%2Eeesc%2Eeuropa%2Eeu%
2FEESCDocumentSearch%2FPages%2Fopinionsresults%2Easpx%3Fk%3Dtextile%2520and%2520c
lothing
Key findings on - The textile sector is facing important changes, due to the international competition, change in
needs for skills consumers’ tastes and the improvement of technology.
- Less skilled jobs are losing ground.
- Several companies managed to modernize and adapt to these changes, some others did not.
- The EU textile strengths can be found in the existence of a highly integrated processing chain,
creative SMEs and artisans, high-skilled labour force(especially in the field of design and
branding).
- Skilled workers are not attracted by textile activity, because the branding image is unflattering
and where the wages are below the average.
Recommendations The EEESC advises the EC to:
- introduce measures to increase R&D, especially regarding new materials and fabrics and fibres;
- introduce measures to promote technology transfer and exchange of best practices;
- promote inter-enterprise cooperation centres, joint programmes on new skills, measures on
health and safety at work;
- introduce measures to make the sector more attractive to young people;
- involve professional association and trade unions in order to align the supply of training with
the needs of the sector.
The EESC advises companies to create new structures for design, production and distribution, so
measures to increase the value of each element in the chain and to study new pricing policies, in
order to compete with large-scale retails.
7.
Name of the AEIT: Textiles, wearing apparel and leather products sector.
European Comprehensive sectorial analysis of emerging competences and economic activities in the
sectorial report European Union
Economics Research and Consulting. 2009
http://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?langId=en&catId=782&newsId=528&furtherNews=yes 115
Key findings on -Technology and application oriented engineering in specialty textiles
needs for skills -The rising importance of marketing and sales
-Value chain management on global TCL markets
-Relocation of machine operating and assembling functions
-Rising importance of environmental aspects
Recommendations -Promote R&D in regional clusters
-Support interdisciplinary approaches with material science, chemistry, physics, and business
administration
-Support research on ecological aspects of TCL production and consumption
-Promote lifelong learning
-Envisage complementary factor to training: R&D, regional policies establish and support
training structures in regional clusters
8.
Name of the CIAPE / AEIT : IN-DEPTH ASSESSMENT OF THE SITUATION OF THE T&C SECTOR IN THE EU AND
European PROSPECTS, TASK 7: SYNTHESIS REPORT FOR THE EUROPEAN TEXTILE AND CLOTHING SECTOR,
sectorial report FINAL REPORT ENTR/2010/16 PREPARED FOR EUROPEAN COMMISSION ENTERPRISE AND
INDUSTRY DG, MICHIEL R. SCHEFFER, SAXION UNIVERSITIES, 2012
http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/sectors/textiles/documents/saxion_task7_synthesis_en.pdf
Key findings on CIAPE:- The textile and clothing sector is characterized by:
needs for skills -a growing importance of innovative specialty fabrics, required sustainability of cotton supply
chain, importance of internet and ICTsolutions;
-a strong interaction between non-technological and technological innovation (e.g. design,
differentiation, fast fashion logic, new ICT retail technologies and mass customization);
-a strong link with suppliers (raw materials, chemicals and sometimes technologies) and clients,
in order to innovate products and strategies;
-an aging workforce, owning traditional skills.
- In the last years, the textile sector experienced a growth in the need for employees with high
levels of education (e.g. employers in marketing and sales, research and development in terms
of fashion, design and style) and a decrease in low-skilled workers.
- Around 10,000 students are currently enrolled in higher textile education. The total number is
not sufficient for responding to the needs of the market and it also hides a significant deficit in
technology fields.
- There is a need for: better trained, more highly skilled and flexible employees (especially
experts in textile technology (i.e. finishing), advanced materials and materials made from bio-
resources.
- In the luxury markets, Europe has still a strong potential, but the skills required in design and
branding, as well as in manufacturing are barriers.
- There is a need for higher and multi-skilled trained technicians and a growth of non-technical
professions in logistic, administration and commerce. Also graduates with design and marketing
skills are demanded.
- Current managers do not own the necessary skills to innovate and restructure the company.
The needed skills are:
*branding, marketing and distribution skills, for export oriented strategies;
*knowledge of new technological domains, application areas and project management, for
innovation oriented strategies; 116
*knowledge of eco-design methods and environmental management methods, for sustainability
strategies;
*knowledge of ICT and/or e-commerce and the ability of business to re-engineer processes, for
supply chain management.
Missing skills are also: management of costs and planning, (pro-active) understanding of
customer needs, negotiation skills.
AEIT: -Lack of shared vision and anticipation strategy
-Difficulty to bring promising youths and talents to the T&C sector, because the image of the
industry is not very attractive and lack of attractiveness of technological studies and careers
-At numerous education levels and particularly in the field of specialized higher education, a
great majority of players are still crucially lacking in critical size.
-Need for higher and multi-skilled trained technicians and a growth of non-technical professions
in logistics, administration and commerce
-The motivation for up-skilling is particularly low among workers or employers, which makes it
harder to upgrade the average qualifications of the workforce.
Recommendations CIAPE
- There is the need to:
*improve social dialogue on training and education and to strengthen sectorial training bodies;
*improve dialogue between industry and research in setting roadmaps for innovation and action
plans;
*ensure better match between qualification supply and job demand;
*establish media/information pools to make the industry better known and more attractive to
young people;
*develop high-level specialized training institutes capable of sustaining expertise in areas where
demand is only sufficient at EU level.
Considering the internal factors, the most important focus for companies appears to be
initiatives that can enhance productivity followed by investments in technology and process
development (e.g. investments in new production A33equipment). Internationalization should
be based on quality.
AEIT
-A more fluid circulation of information, more open discussions, the destruction of political
barriers between players and the implementation of collaborative decision-making processes.
-To give a clearer and more accurate picture, better transparency in positions, careers and
studies has to be brought. Youths should be able to choose universities and schools on the basis
of the competences they provide and their actual level of consideration among professionals
and business employers.
-Eliminate boundaries between disciplines in education: technical, design, commercial and social
skills.
-Display dual learning systems and funding schemes.
-Involvement of employers in the governance of schools or in the definition or validation of
curricula.
117
9.
Name of the AEIT: Trends and drivers of change in the EU textiles and leather sector: Mapping report
European sectorial European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions. 2004
report http://eurofound.europa.eu/sites/default/files/ef_files/emcc/publications/2004/ef0485en.pdf
Key findings on *Some of the competencies identified as relevant to the textiles industries of the future are:
needs for skills - basic natural sciences skills, such as physics, chemistry, mathematics;
- materials science and engineering;
- electronics and informatics;
- nanotechnology;
- just-in-time philosophy, product, and process design;
- marketing textile technology;
- fibre science and engineering.
*Softer personal and general skills include:
- personal and organizational ambition, and ongoing vision and strategy;
- inter-organizational skills;
- recognition that standard finance measures, strategy, and planning tools, are insufficient to
manage change.
*Need for retraining and lifelong learning
*Organizations need employees who can learn and be innovative. To do this, employees need
work to be organized in a way that fosters innovation, learning, and personal development.
*Need for new skills in adopting ICT and developing international relations in consumer and
environmental protection
Recommendations *Address lifelong learning through new qualifications and training courses in new forms of
partnerships and with specific sector focus.
*Improve sector image to attract more skilled workers.
*Workplace partnerships between management, trade unions, and the workforce, to develop
new modes of collaboration, dialogue, and trust between the parties.
*Knowledge management technologies and systems in order to improve organizational and
personnel knowledge and learning.
*Semi-autonomous groups and/or multi-skilled teams. This is often reflected in a reduction of
job demarcations to ensure flexibility and opportunities for learning.
10.
Name of the UGENT: European Skills Council; Annual Report
European sectorial Launch of the activities & initiatives of the European sectorial council
report textile clothing leather for employment and skills, 2012
Key findings on The purpose of this report is to provide an image of the work field of the social partners in the
needs for skills textile, clothing and leather sector.
We provide an analysis of the sectors and indicate from which view the social partners respond
to detected needs and opportunities.
The first part of this report will provide an overview of the employment and the trends in
recent years. The findings, based on Eurostat figures complemented with sector specific data
are nothing but confirming a further decline of jobs, even in the new member states.
Unfortunately, the more pessimistic scenarios seem to become reality.
Recommendations:
To implement and develop national networks, aiming at favouring an efficient system to collect and elaborate
reliable data and information
118
To support the implementation of inter-sectorial and transnational projects and working groups, linking innovation
to skills development and evolution of the labour market
To support the implementation of communication strategies toward the new generations, aiming at attracting new
skilled workers to the industry
The TCL Skills council supports measures to increase attractiveness and implementation of the concept of Life Long
Learning in our TCL sectors, in order to increase the internal and external employability of their skilled employees
CONCLUSIONS:
The ESSC considers the implementation of the high-level action plan represented by the set of these stakeholder
specific recommendations, as a very important result of its first year of functioning.
It will allow Social partners and ISPs members of the Council orientating their strategic activities in the future,
addressing the most important issues referring to employment and training with the cooperation of the different
actors that are able to support the overall objectives defined.
The concrete implementation of actions will allow the European TCL sector:
• to fully exploit the ESSC, as a fundamental tool of good governance in VCT, initial education and employment 119
• to base its strategic decisions on updated and reliable data, collected in an efficient manner
• to develop a Europe-wide strategy on skills and employment, continuously tackling the persistent problem skills
mismatch
• to attract new and young skilled workers
• to create a model of excellence in sectorial VCT
• to increase the internal and external employability of their skilled employees.
11.
Name of the UGENT: D 1 1c Environmental impact and private and public opportunities for improvement in
European sectorial Textile Industry sector
report SECTORAL STUDY: TEXTILE INDUSTRY IN EUROPEAN UNION
Key findings on Global trade has traditionally played an important role for the textile and clothing (T/C) sector.
needs for skills The T/C industry remains a significant industry World-Wide. In the last decade the European T/
C industry has undergone a fundamental restructuring process. In the same period total EU
exports have doubled. Since 2009, trade in this sector is fully quota and licence free and,
products are subject to the same rules of international trade as other industrial products.
The EU industry has increasingly re-orientated its fields of activity away from more traditional
T/C products specializing in high end products and in innovative and technical textiles and
apparel. Research and development have taken an increasingly important part in the T/C
sector’s development. Traditionally, the European industry's main market is the EU accounting
for two thirds of the consumption of EU production. However, with recent developments i.e. the
economic crisis and the insertion of the sector into global trade rules, the sector is increasingly
orientating its exports towards traditional and emerging third country markets where a growing
demand is expected.
In the same time the pollution from T/C sectors is showing constant decrease. This achievement
partly was reached by reducing number of production T/C companies in EU. Production
outsourcing or daughter company establishment in China, India, Pakistan and etc... The
remaining companies, that decided to keep their production units in EU, they had to invest
significant financial resources in new technologies to reduce the production costs. The new
technologies had dual effect: the reduce of the production costs and significant pollution
reduction from manufacturing units. All this has leaded to situation that EU T/C sector is still
very competitive in World markets and in some sectors had the dominating position.
12.
Name of the UGENT: European Sector Skills Council
European sectorial Textile Clothing Leather Footwear - annual report 2014
report
Key findings on PART 2 OF THE REPORT
needs for skills LEADING ISP: CREATIVE SKILLSET, SUPPORTED BY ONC
It analyses the impact on several representative occupations of a selection of drivers of Skills
demand. The TCLF sector has in fact seen changes to its employment and structural composition
in the recent past like no other.
Being both a skilled labour intensive industry, subject to many economic and global pressures,
as well as one whose products are constantly changing to satisfy consumer demand, this has
meant it is susceptible to many drivers that influence sector requirements and the skills needed.
Examples of the drivers identified within the and how they impact employment and skills are
illustrated in the following table.
120
The impact of these drivers of employment and skills change has changed many of the skills
needs within the sector. Occupations within the sector have had to evolve as the skills needed
to conduct these have had to either adapt to the changing needs demanded of the sector or
accentuating the emphasis on traditional craftsmanship as the quality and innovation of
European design and manufacture is globally prized.
Using example occupations from the ESCO classification system (where 107 occupations have to
date been mapped into this new taxonomy), the skills and competences required by workers
and how they evolved due to the drivers of skills demand within the TCLF sector include the
following:
Whilst these occupations are currently in demand and require very specific skills and
competences to undertake them, the sector due to the rapid and continuing evolution and
change, has also seen new occupations begin to emerge. Whilst these are in their infancy and
their future direction is still to be decided, these have been the direct result of the changing
technologies, global markets and consumer demands in which the TCLF sector competes.
In this respect, many of the new occupations identified as examples are at managerial,
professional and associate professional level where many of the drivers on the sector require
both harnessing and driving forward to the TCLF sectors advantage. However, the demands on
skilled trades and operative occupations are also high to ensure new technologies are used to a
high standard.
To ensure both current occupations and future ones which are emerging within the TCLF
sectors, this will require the development and utilization of the skills and education by industry,
providers and stakeholder alike to ensure the TCLF sector can reach its growth potential and
take advantage of the current opportunities available to the sector.
PART 3 OF THE REPORT

LEADING ISP: OPCALIA
In continuity with what has been done during the first year of activities of the TCLF ESSC, the
report aims at describing innovative tools, national and/or regional strategies, local initiatives,
methods put in place by members of the council to monitor skills needs and address the
question of skill mismatch and gaps, with particular reference to the ones identified according to 121
the 7 drivers of change described above. In two years, 51 tools and methods were analysed and
highlighted. These tools matched either business problems or macroeconomic issues at a
European level. As the ESSC has managed to describe concrete experiences, the report also
describes the conditions for successful transferability of national experiences.
Recommendations TCLF EUROPEAN SECTOR SKILLS
COUNCIL RECOMMENDATIONS
During the first year of activities,
the TCLF ESSC has issued a set of 7
recommendations, each of which
has been addressed to a main
stakeholder and to other actors,
which were asked to provide
specific support actions. The
overall objective of this action was
to provide the TCLF sector with
strategies and tools aiming at
improving the qualifications of the
sectorial labour force, and at
assisting enterprises to be more
flexible in meeting changing
competitive demands. A synthetic
analysis of the issued
recommendations is provided in
the following figure.
ESSC members took concrete
actions addressing several of these
recommendations both at national
and at EU level, some of which
have been described in the previous sections of this report. In general, the TCLF ESSC considers
that the recommendations, which were issued, are still valid, and constitute an adequate
strategic background to start from.
National level
Belgium
13.
Name of the UGENT: Future competence requirements in the Flemish textile industry
European sectorial Quantitative reporting
report Research under the authority of the social partners of the textile sector
TEMPERA, Michel Albertijn & Johan Desseyn – June 2010
Key findings on The report wants to estimate the number of job performers the sector will need in the next 10
needs for skills years. First, the report gives a history of the sector and the current employment situation. Then,
the noticed trends are extrapolated to 2020, according to 2 possible scenarios: 1. an annual
decrease of employment by 2% ; 2. an annual reduction of employment by 5%, taking into
account the employment curves presented these last years by demand-oriented and supply-
driven companies. The forecasts show that decreasing total employment does go hand in hand
with an increasing need for profiles meeting the expectations of demand-oriented companies. In
the reduction scenario of 2% per year, there still are extra jobs for certain processes. Even in the
very pessimistic scenario of 5% decrease per year, there still are considerable employment
forecasts for important strategic processes in the Flemish textile industry. The sector is shifting
from supply-driven to demand-oriented companies.
Recommendations By 2020 nearly the whole sector will be demand-oriented — This will be the case when the
evolution of an offer-oriented to a demand-oriented sector continues as in the period 2005-2008.
As there is a close link between the market orientation of companies and their competence 122
needs, this is a very important conclusion. The shift in market orientation will imply a parallel shift
of the qualification requirements.
14.
Name of the UGENT: Future competence requirements in the Flemish textile industry
European sectorial Qualitative reporting
report Research under the authority of the social partners of the textile sector
TEMPERA, Michel Albertijn & Johan Desseyn – June 2010
Key findings on CHALLENGES FOR FUTURE DEPARTMENT RESPONSIBLES
needs for skills *Test more and produce without ready-made standards: More demand-oriented production
implies that people deviate more from available standards and more tests are necessary
to produce the required order. The introduction of new production techniques and new raw
materials (as a consequence of demand-driven orientation) also leads to more testing.
*Respond to urgent requests of customers: Demand-driven production focusses on the demand
of the customer. Delivery dates and service are therefore important elements in the framework
of competitiveness.
CHALLENGES FOR FUTURE SUPERVISORS: more variation in production orders and product range,
keep up and anticipate the increasing automation and computerization.
CHALLENGES FOR FUTURE PURCHASERS: Less stable purchase market and increased use of ICT-
applications
CHALLENGES FOR FUTURE SALESPERSONS: Deal with more complex supply and serve new
markets
CHALLENGES FOR FUTURE PRODUCT AND PROCESS DEVELOPERS: work with more focus on the
customer, use fixed points of interest, co-operate with other departments/companies
LIST OF POSSIBLE TENDENCIES WITH IMPACT:

The use of other/new raw materials
Delocalization of purchase markets
Increasing automation and computerization
New production techniques
Increasing importance of environmentally friendly products and production processes
Growing standardization of company processes (under the influence of quality systems and
normalization)
Higher importance of project linked and demand-driven
Delocalization of existing markets
New applications and (linked) markets for textile products
Shortened average product life cycle
Increasing intensity of co-operation across departments (within the company and with other
companies)
Higher delocalization of the production capacity
Growing importance of service to the customer
Recommendations The use of other/new raw materials
UK
15.
Name of the CIAPE: SECTOR SKILLS ASSESSMENT FOR THE FASHION AND TEXTILE SECTOR INENGLAND, SKILLSET-
European sectorialTHE SECTOR SKILLS COUNCIL FOR CREATIVE MEDIA, 2011
report http://creativeskillset.org/assets/0000/6029/Sector_Skills_Assessment_for_the_Fashion_and_Texti
les_Sectors_in_England_2011.pdf
Key findings on - The decline of the sector in recent years has increased the demand for multi-skilled workers who
needs for skills can carry out a number of tasks within a workplace and have a wider knowledge in fields like
production environment, knowledge of materials and supply chain management skills.
- Recently, production has moved into higher value technical markets (such as the one of technical
textile); this has direct implication on the requirement of higher value-added skills (e.g. there is the
need for individuals capable of developing and commercializing new, innovative products and 123
processes).
- The sector needs to have creative design skills, supported by flexible and efficient production
practices, to respond in a better way to the continuous change in consumers’ tastes.
- The sector requires individuals that have knowledge about social and ethical matters, in order to
meet the consumers’ demand for “ethical” and “eco-friendly” products.
- Young people who enter the sector have not the full set of traditional skills required.
- Internationalization plays a key role, due to emerging markets; therefore it is important to have
specialist skills, such as an understanding of how to design and manufacture products that meet
consumers’ demand, plus an ability to effectively market and sell these products.
- There is shortage of technicians and fabric technologists.
- Skills gaps are identified in the management of textile companies; due to the fact that it is common
for individuals in the sector to progress from a textiles production background into management
without any formal training.
-Consultations identify also the lack among workers of basic and transversal skills, such as literacy,
communication and ICT.
- Consultations identify that there are insufficient production management skills and a lack of
understanding between designers and manufacturers.
-New processes are leading to a demand for a host of associated skills. Examples include digital
printing in the design sector, wet-cleaning in the laundry sub-sector and plasma treating in the
technical textiles sub-sector.
-Quality control skills are becoming more important as businesses are increasingly sourcing
materials from overseas and out-sourcing elements of the production chain.
-Traditional craft skills are going to continue to be important. Although technology is advancing,
there is still a need for individuals to have a basic understanding and practical experience of
traditional craft skills
-Fabric technology skills are increasingly in demand across the whole of the fashion and textiles
sector but particularly within the technical textiles sub-sector.
-Design and customization skills are becoming more important as England's fashion and textiles
sector is moving towards the production of higher value, niche products. In order to effectively meet
consumer demands, there is increasingly a need for creative and innovative design skills and the
ability for businesses to produce customized products.
Recommendations - Management and leadership gaps should be tackled by increasing the business content in fashion
and textiles courses.
- Competences such as marketing and brand awareness, markets analysis, export sales, customers’
analysis and e-commerce should be improved for managerial and sales staff, while technicians
should deepen their knowledge about new processes, fabric technology and quality control.
- Business partnership opportunities should be promoted, as well as the creation of clusters.
- Company’ owners should recruit and retain young people to replace workers who are nearing
retirement; job-shadowing should be promoted to transfer traditional skills to the new comers.
-Investing in labour market intelligence to ensure there is an up-to-date evidence base to inform and
support the evolution of the sector
-Marketing and raising awareness of opportunities within the sector
-Supporting practical training opportunities
-Enhancing industry and education collaboration: the industry needs to help raise awareness of the
career opportunities available within the sector and the training routes available to potential
students, the industry needs to work more closely with training providers to identify training needs
and expectations and the industry needs to work closely with research institutes to develop and
commercialize innovative products and processes.
-Encouraging and supporting succession planning. The sector needs to be encouraged and
supported to think about options for up-skilling the existing workforce or encouraging the
recruitment of individuals to address emerging skills shortages.
124
16.
Name of the AEIT / UGENT: An Assessment of Skills Needs in the Clothing, Textiles, Footwear and Leather and
European sectorial Furniture, Furnishings and Interiors Industries
report Miranda Pye, Pye Tait Limited. 2011.
http://dera.ioe.ac.uk/4697/1/SD12_%2520Clothing.pdf
Key findings on EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:
needs for skills These four sectors account for a very substantial proportion of UK manufacturing output, totalling
more than £23bn per year. They have undergone a difficult and, at times, traumatic transformation
over the past twenty or thirty years under the twin impacts of overseas competition and
technological change.
The unavoidable transition from labour to capital intensive production has been fraught with
developmental problems. Labour forces in all of the sub-sectors have declined significantly and
import-penetration into the domestic market has been severe. However, against this background,
the sectors have retrenched and changed. Although reduced in numbers, the workforce has become
more skilled. The capital ratio has increased as new technology has been introduced and a distinct
move towards higher-cost, higher quality items is now discernable.
The older markets for high-volume, low cost clothing, textiles and footwear, have been taken over
by overseas, low-cost producers. In their place, UK manufacturers have embraced newer
opportunities for technical textiles, designer-wear, branded footwear and clothing, high-quality
dyeing and finishing, and other high value niche markets. In contrast, whilst not facing the same
issues as yet as the other three industries, there are signs to suggest the same fate awaits the
furniture industry unless it becomes increasingly proactive.
This process has seen all of the sectors become more competitive but further improvements in
competitiveness are clearly required. In order to ensure that the sectors continue to pursue this
skills-led competitiveness strategy, they will need to further enhance skills - particularly
management, marketing, and technical skills.
This dialogue is designed to identify the key areas for skills development and to highlight supply and
demand issues. By recording the results of the dialogue between all interested parties, it is intended
to underpin a consensus which, in turn, will create a more competitive and prosperous future.
The report has been structured so that the clothing, textiles and footwear industries are represented
together, and separate sections on furniture, furnishings and interiors industries follow. This reflects
the recent changes with the new and emerging Sector Skills Councils which replace the former
national training organizations. The clothing, textiles and footwear industries formerly represented
by the NTOs CAPITB Trust, NTTO and FLNTO respectively are now represented by one Sector Skills
Council - Skillfast-UK.
Similarly, the furniture, furnishings and interiors industry, formerly represented by FFINTO, is now
part of the emerging Process and Manufacturing Sector Skills Council along with other
manufacturing industries.
It is important to note that, when ‘the clothing industry’ is mentioned in the report, this also
includes the ‘allied industries’. Where there are common messages across the two groups these are
highlighted in the dialogue.
Recommendations -A major issue for all of the industries is the crucial skill shortage in technical skills.
-There is a lack of management skills, which is increasingly becoming a fundamental skills need in
the industries.
-Transferable skills are an essential necessity to the industry and should be promoted as part of the
need to develop a “learning culture”.
-There is great demand for people with a combination of technical and management skills along with
‘soft skills’, for example, communication and interpersonal skills.
-Manufacturing in general is not perceived by teachers and careers officers as being sufficiently
important.
-There should be a greater willingness to fund employers directly to provide training
-There is no rationale for regional/size restrictions behind funding allocation (for example limiting to
small businesses). There should be fairness and flexibility in funding methodology and distribution 125
-Funding should focus on the scope to improve productivity - no other arbitrary factors.
-The teaching of craft skills in schools needs to be increased
17.
Name of the AEIT: Scottish Textiles Skills Strategy & Action Plan Summary (2013-2016)
European sectorial Scottish Textiles Skills Partnership
report http://www.stla.uk.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Skills-Strategy-Plan-Summary.pdf
Key findings on -The sector is not perceived as attractive by younger people and ageing of workforce.
needs for skills-Leadership is an area where the sector needs to “develop global aspirations and world class
leadership to match”.
-Mismatch between education provision and the skills required within the sector
-Lack of awareness about support services to identify skill needs
-The majority of textile companies employ less than 10 people and in small companies such as these
a myriad of skills are required to be invested in very few people.
Recommendations -To promote textile careers
-Encouraging take-up of best practice in leadership and management – at cross-sector, national,
international levels
-Improving communication & collaboration between education & industry
-Supporting the industry to explore, and adopt, innovative and/or flexible working practices
-To enhance fashion and textiles students' business awareness and practical business skills
18.
Name of the AEIT: Multi Sector Skills Study: Technical Textiles
European sectorial PERA / University of Warwick Institute for Employment Research (IER) / IFF Research Ltd. 2007
report www.peoplemattersnetwork.com
Key findings on -Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is becoming more important within the technical
needs for skills textiles industry. The skills are required to help ensure that organizations are able to build lasting
relationships with clients that help facilitate repeat orders in light of intensive competition.
-Continued development of the HR function within businesses will be important and will require
more advanced Human Resource (HR) skills.
-As the sector becomes more customer focused it is and will continue to be looking to enhance its
marketing skills such as brand awareness, marketing planning and marketing audits.
-A further area of ongoing skill development is Flexible Manufacture. Flexibility of operations will
develop to cover many areas ranging from resource utilization; working different shifts and using
different staff as and when needed.
-Material and technological R&D skills play an important role in enabling the industry to maintain a
high value competitive advantage.
Recommendations ?
Ireland
19.
Name of the AEIT: Sector Skills Assessment for the Fashion and Textiles Sector in Northern Ireland
European sectorial Alliance Sector Skills Council. 2011
report http://creativeskillset.org/assets/0000/6030/Sector_Skills_Assessment_for_the_Fashion_and_Te
xtiles_Sectors_in_Northern_Ireland_2011.pdf
Key findings on -Managerial and technical positions are forecast to proportionally make up a larger part of the
needs for skills workforce. As companies are forced to spend a greater amount of time managing processes such
as within the supply chain and customer relations, the level of technical expertise, both in terms
of processes employed and ICT needs, will ensure both of these occupations will require extra
recruitment.
-The reduction in operative level recruitment opportunities and the need for management level
skills illustrates the point that the sector will require far less employees with lower level skills
(below NVQ level 2) and more with higher level skills (NVQ level 3 and above) to enable the
sector in Northern Ireland to compete. 126
-Despite the continued modest decline in the gross number employed, the sector is forecast to
experience modest positive net employment requirements. This is due to the large proportion of
people forecast to leave the sector through retirements (linking back to the ageing workforce),
and the need to fill these emerging vacancies.
Recommendations -Encourage greater sector collaboration. There is an opportunity to promote and support greater
cross-sector collaboration and knowledge transfer partnerships among fashion and textile firms
in Northern Ireland.
-To positively promote the sector. There is no longer a specific textile or apparel trade association
within Northern Ireland to promote the sector. The sector would benefit from identifying
industry “champions” to communicate successes.
-Ensuring the supply of technical and practical skills. Research has indicated there is a need to
ensure new graduates and recruits into the sector have the appropriate specific technical and
practical skills.
-Developing management, leadership and entrepreneurial skills. Management skills gaps should
be tackled by increasing the business content in fashion and textiles courses. Within the design
sector, particularly, there is also scope to raise awareness of the opportunities afforded through
business partnerships.
-Highlight and support key growth areas and the formation of clusters.
Italy
20.
Name of the AEIT: ANALISI DELLE COMPETENZE E DEI FABBISOGNI FORMATIVI – TESSILE
European sectorial /ANALYSIS OF THE SKILLS AND LEARNING NEEDS - TEXTILE, EBAS, 2006
report http://www.ebas.sardegna.it/bancadati_fabbisogni/data/pdf/settoreprivato/Metodologie%20Co
mparti%20attivita%20economica/03%20Analisi%20delle%20competenze/Analisi%20delle%20co
mpetenze%20Tessile.pdf
Key findings on Textile companies implement several types of activities.
needs for skills In the commercial activities, recognized learning needs are: use of software, knowledge of the
financial and fiscal laws, management of the recruitment, market analysis, training to new
employees, knowledge of the different commercial forms.
In the management activities, recognized learning needs are: use of software.
In the fabrics design activities, recognized learning needs are: drafting of technical schemes,
management of the fabrics database, capacity to
understand the composition of fabrics, knowledge of the production cycle.
In the production schedule activities, recognized learning needs are: capacity to understand
technical schemes, production optimization, knowledge of the working modalities in the
production department, training to production workers.
In the production activities, recognized learning needs are: knowledge of the fabrics typology,
knowledge of cutting and repairing techniques, knowledge of technical design, machines
programming.
In the quality and instruments control activities, recognized learning needs are: machines
reparation.
In the logistic activities, recognized learning needs are: management of the inventory and stocks,
techniques for space optimization, knowledge of production cycle and management of the
orders.
Recommendations To include the missing skills in the training programmes.
21.
Name of the AEIT: PIANO NAZIONALE FORMATIVO INTEGRATO PER IL SETTORE TESSILE ABBIGLIAMENTO E
European sectorial CALZATURIERO, PROGETTO DI RICERCA PROMOSSO DAL MINISTERO DEL LAVORO E DELLE
report POLITICHE SOCIALI / NATIONAL INTEGRATED TRAINING PLAN FOR THE TEXTILE, APPAREL AND
FOOTWEAR SECTOR, ITALIAN MINISTRY OF LABOUR AND OF THE SOCIAL POLICIES, 2010
http://www.fashionground.it/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Sintesi-del-Rapporto-di-Ricerca-TAC.pdf
Key findings on - In the last years, there has been an increase of technical and managerialprofessions and a
needs for skills decrease of workers involved in production activities. 127
- Existing VET programmes are not based on the effective production cycle’sneeds.- Globalization
and internationalization require professionals able to deal withthe international markets (e.g.
subsidiaries manager).
- The new production models require professionals being able to understandthe production cycle
and with a good capacity of problem-solving.
- Transversal skills are more and more important.
- The implementation of new competitive models requires new technical andmanagerial skills,
which should be added to the traditional ones. Among them:*Innovation skills, that means that
companies should innovate periodically their products, always maintaining its utility;*Commercial
skills, that means capacity to create networks with the suppliers;*Marketing skills, that means
capacity to build the brand awareness and value;*Relation and networking skills, that means
capacity to build a relation with costumers, in order to be able to respond quickly to changes in
demand and capacity to build a relation with companies, for knowledge transfer.
New professionals are required in the following areas:*Technical and commercial area: they
should have a good knowledge of the product, they are able to support the client;*Production
cycle experts: they know the production cycle, they have good technological and managerial
skills;*Creation and engineering area: they are able to mix technical and creative skills.
Recommendations - Companies should invest in on-site training also during periods of crisis.
- Companies should be able to introduce innovation within the production cycle.
- A good labour policy should:
*permit companies to be able to invest in training and to employ professionals owning the
needed skills necessary;
*sustain matching between labour demand and offer;
*promote the qualification/requalification of the workers who are at risk of exclusion from the
labour market and of new employees;
*promote VET programmes based on the real needs of the textile and clothing companies;
*promote in-house training, based on collaboration between training centres and companies;
*promote “on the job” training, based on real projects implemented within companies;
*promote research and development;
*promote a flexible form of training which can be adapted to the specific needs of a company.
Spain
22.
Name of the AEIT: Analysis of university training needs in Spain for the textile sector and comparative study of
European sectorial textile careers in Spain and in Europe.
report Observatorio Industrial del Sector Textil y de la Confección. 2010.
http://www.industria.ccoo.es/comunes/recursos/99927/1764430-
ANALISIS_DE_LAS_NECESIDADES_DE_FORMACION_UNIVERSITARIAS_EN_ESPANA_PARA_EL_SEC
TOR_TEXTIL.pdf
Key findings on *It is considered as necessary to provide students with attitudes and aptitudes to participate in a
needs for skills global and competitive professional market.
*It is considered that, in the content of the career, besides a basic scientific training and the
technological specialization, it is needed to develop areas with common contents such as:
- Business strategy, management and logistics.
- Marketing and international commerce.
- Innovation projects. 128
- Economy, legislation and taxation system of textile companies.
- Environment and sustainability.
- Languages.
*Within textile contents, it is especially important to focus knowledge on:
- New materials
- Emerging technologies
- Design and innovation of textile products (traditional and technical)
*There is low registration of new students in textile careers.
Recommendations *The following aspects should be included in the curricula of a textile master:
1. Textile technology of advanced materials and manufacturing processes.
2. Advance design of products and textile processes.
3. Management of textile companies.
*To improve the image of the sector and the textile careers. The involvement of social agents is
necessary.
23.
Name of the AEIT: Summary of sector trends: textile industry. Innovative Fabrics (Catalonia)
European sectorial Barcelona Activa. 2011
report http://w27.bcn.cat/porta22/images/en/Barcelona_treball_summary_sector_trends_textile_indu
stry_gen2013_en_tcm43-4027.pdf
Key findings on *Right from the beginning the textile industry in Catalonia has consisted largely of family
needs for skills business. However, the modernization strategy arising from the need to adapt the industry to
changes in the sector involves an almost complete restructuring of production processes.
*Production of innovative fabrics involves rethinking organizational structure by altering aspects
such as work organization, change management, team motivation and initiative and resource
allocation.
*Production of innovative fabrics involves a change in mind-set at the various production levels in
the textile industry.
Recommendations Manufacturing innovative textiles will lead to change in professional profiles in three areas:
- Leadership and management profiles: technical training in marketing and market research.
- Production profiles: acquiring new skills and adapt existing ones to new production lines,
internally or externally, covering knowledge of new fabrics, handling new machinery and taking
part in new production processes while fostering initiative.
- New product research and development profiles: continuous professional development ensures
employment opportunities.
Sweden
24.
Name of the AEIT: Support and training needs among Swedish Fashion companies
European sectorial The Swedish School of Textiles. University of Boras. 2012
report http://www.hur.nu/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/2012-Support-and-training-needs-among-
Swedish-Fashion-companies.pdf
Key findings on *How to plan and run marketing campaigns are the most needed areas when it comes to
needs for skills training
*In training regarding supply and distribution the most urgent need concerns new online
business
*Internationalization is necessary for growth, but still, within the fashion industry it is also
assumed that the company should first be strong on the domestic market.
*How to combine work and family is of great concern.
*There is an interest to expand beyond the core products of garments or shoes and develop
services as compliments. Also how to take sustainability issues into account is considered as
necessary to get more education on
Recommendations * Include training on sales, logistics and on‐line sales.
* Some training about finance in their basic education would be fine for the purpose of
understanding economic issues.
* Preferred training would be seminars
129
ANNEX 4 BEST PRACTICES AND CASE STUDIES ON SMES AND HEIS COLLABORATION
Best Practice from Partner 3. Material Connexion Italia

1.
Name of good practice Design Plus & Co-Innovate.
Open Innovation, providing support to London based SMEs for new product and service
Type
development.
Funded by both the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the UK
Responsible / promoter
Government Higher Education Funding Council (Hefce).
Partners (if any) Brunel University
Co-Innovate provides design-led innovation, advice and guidance to SMEs, utilizing an
open innovation approach. Services include providing direct support to SMEs, access to
laboratory facilities, testing and prototyping.
Objectives (up to 10 lines)
The initiative aims to accelerate the transfer of knowledge and research expertise from
Higher Education to SMEs in London by introducing a range of activities to support new
product and service development.
Funding sources European Funding
Contact (address, email) contact@co-innovatebrunel.org.uk
Country England
Responsible person
Web site www.co-innovatebrunel.org.uk
Co-Innovate is situated in Brunel’s School of Engineering and Design and seeks to
achieve business growth for the participating companies and economic and
130
employment benefits for the region through a focus on design and open, collaborative
Relevant information for
innovation.
TECLO project
Support is offered through five areas: Innovation workshops led by the Co-innovate
team, academic consultancy, access to specialist facilities, funding, and support through
student placements and sponsored projects.
2.
Name of good practice Creative Works London (CWL)
Primarily operating as a consultancy service the consortium seeks to facilitate, develop
Type
and promote world leading creativity and innovation for the city of London.
Central administration is based at the Queen Mary, University of London. The
Knowledge Exchange team is based at Somerset House, London. Two additional
Responsible / promoter
research leads are based at City University, London, and Guildhall School of Music &
Drama, London.
Partners (if any) 14 universities and 29 small, medium and large creative enterprises.
CWL operates five work packages comprised of: Knowledge Exchange Activities,
Research Clusters, and Hub Management. The knowledge exchange programme offers
three main services: ‘Creative Vouchers’, an academic consultancy initiative for
Objectives (up to 10 lines) business to gain academic input from arts and humanities experts; ‘Researchers in
Residence’, work placements for early career researchers in London-based creative
businesses; and ‘Entrepreneur in Residence’, research residencies for London-based
creative entrepreneurs.
Public funding by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), with additional
Funding sources
public funding from the European Research and Development
Contact (address, email) j.riedel@qmul.ac.uk,
T: 020 7882 8542
Country UK
Responsible person Jana Riedel, CWL Hub Manager
Web site http://www.creativeworkslondon.org.uk/
The aim for the hub is to function as a catalyst for creativity and innovation to achieve
competitive advantage in the marketplace. Encouraging practitioners to rethink their
TECLO project
practice and respond to changing expectations
3.
Name of good practice Dundee based ‘Design in Action’ (DIA) is led Duncan of Jordanstone College of
Art & Design at the University of Dundee
The DIA hub seeks to create opportunities for the design community to diversify their
Type
engagement with economies that are not traditionally associated with design.
Responsible / promoter University of Dundee
The University of Abertay
The Glasgow School of Art
Partners (if any) Gray’s College of Art at the Robert Gordon University
Edinburgh College of Art at the University of Edinburgh
St Andrews University
Design in Action is a business focused innovation hub that specifically targets market
Objectives
research, business development, product prototyping and expansion strategies.
Funding sources Funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, Creative Scotland and business.
Contact (address, email) g.l.p.follett@dundee.ac.uk
Country Scotland
Responsible person Georgina Follett
131
Web site http://www.designinaction.com/
The hub has adopted the biological concept of ‘Chiasma’ - the transfer of information
between two chromosomes, as a metaphor for collaborative design innovation - ideas
meeting at the point of creation. Sectors specifically targeted by this initiative are:
TECLO project
agriculture, textile, sport, health, wellbeing and ICT. The aim is to promote diversity in
innovation and to demonstrate how design can benefit business.
4.
Name of good practice Material Connexion Italia
Material Connexion is a global materials consultancy with the world’s largest library of
Type innovative materials and processes. They aim to help companies leverage material
innovation to create better products and experiences.
Responsible / promoter Material Connexion USA
Material Connexion now has 10 centres globally, offering consulting services and
materials libraries in New York (1997), Milan (2002), Cologne (2005), Bangkok (2005),
Partners (if any) Daegu (2008), Istanbul (July,2011), Beijing (October,
2011), Seoul (November, 2011), Shanghai (January, 2012), and Skövde (November,
2012).
Material ConneXion offers three main services: consulting, materials library and new
material solutions. The materials library houses over 6,500 advanced and sustainable
Objectives (up to 10 lines) materials representing eight categories: polymers, glass, ceramics, carbon-based
materials, cement-based materials, metals, natural materials and natural material
derivatives. Members also have access to a comprehensive online database.
Funding sources Private sources (SME’s Associations contribution)
Viale Sarca 336/F
Contact (address, email)
c.tubito@materialconnexion.com
Country Italy
Responsible person Christian Tubito
Web site http://it.materialconnexion.com/
Material Connexion offer expertise and access to resources on a contract/subscription
basis to help companies leverage material innovation to create better products and
Relevant information for experiences. The company offer: knowledge of materials and cross-industry expertise;
TECLO project consulting services—from innovative new product development to sustainability
strategy, materials sourcing, manufacturing support; and training workshops on
consumer experience.
5.
Name of good practice OpenIDEO
Type Open Innovation. Web-platform supporting mass collaboration
Responsible / promoter Design Challenge Hosts

Partners (if any)
OpenIDEO had a global community of 58,000 designers, thinkers and entrepreneurs
who contributed their own ideas, time and resources to the community. The initiative
Objectives
seeks to achieve change for social good and underwrite the costs of managing and
facilitating the challenge through an online web resource.
Funding sources Design Challenge Hosts
Contact (address, email) https://openideo.com
132
Country Web-platform.
Responsible person https://openideo.com
Web site https://openideo.com
Open and sharing innovation on several fields of expertise.
TECLO project
Best Practice from Partner 4. Associació Agrupació d’Empreses Innovadores Tèxtils

1.
Collaboration agreement between textile trade associations and Terrassa
Name of good practice
School of Engineering
Type SME’s support to textile higher education
Responsible / promoter Terrassa School of Engineering - Polytechnic University of Catalonia

Fundació Insitut Industrial i Comercial; Col·legid’Art Major de la Seda; Fundació Gremi
Partners (if any)
de Fabricants de Sabadell; Federación Textil Sedera and Fundación Textil Algodonera
To carry out joint actions to promote the Bachelor's degree in Textile Technology and
Design (in Terrassa), which includes, at least, the organization of a scholarship program
Objectives
for students.
Collaboration started on 2011 and is still in force today.
Funding sources Private sources (SME’s Associations contribution)
Escola d’Enginyeria de Terrassa
C/Colom, 1 · E-08222 Terrassa (Spain)
sots-entorn@eet.upc.edu
Country Spain
Responsible person Núria Garrido
Web site http://www.eet.upc.edu/
EET is the only school in Spain where the Bachelor's degree in Textile Technology and
Design is given. As consequence of the agreement, number of students has increased
over the years.
TECLO project
Cooperation between HEIs and SMEs (directly or represented by trade associations)
motivates students.
2.
Name of good practice Scottish Textiles Skills Partnership
Type Organization bringing together textile HEIs and SMEs.
Responsible / promoter Glasgow Clyde College
Scottish Textiles Academic Group, Scottish Textile and Leather Association, Scottish
Partners (if any) Founding Council, Scottish Enterprise, Highlands and Islands Enterprise and Skills
Development Scotland.
Bring together partners from education, industry and the public sector to address skills
needs in the textiles, leather & fashion sectors. The Partnership's activities are based
Objectives on the Scottish Textiles Skills Strategy & Action Plan 2014-17. Partners offer different 133
kinds of training programs: schools programme, transition to work, Modern
Apprenticeships, Further & Higher Education and support for industry.
Funding sources -
Business Incubator Unit, Room 2.6
Contact (address, email) Cardonald Campus, Glasgow Clyde College, G52 3AY
stsp@glasgowclyde.ac.uk
Country UK
Fiona Kennedy, Industry Co-ordinator
Responsible person
peter@stla.uk.com
Web site http://www.textileskills.com/
Best example of long term initiative on cooperation between HEIs and SMEs concerning
Relevant information for development of skills in the textile industry. Advantage is that it is not linked to a co-
TECLO project financed project, it is a permanent organization which develops different projects
(example on the good practice below).
3.
Developing employability skills through partnership working with the textile
Name of good practice
industry
Type Project on employability skills development
Responsible / promoter Glasgow Clyde College
Partners (if any) -
College staff and industry partners worked together to draw up a project brief. The
brief required learners to design, produce, cost and merchandise a new product (a
cushion) within three weeks for the textile manufacturer to produce and sell wholesale
Objectives
to a large retailer. The project incorporated deadlines in line with industry practice and
a partnership agreement between the college and the manufacturer identified
timescales, roles and responsibilities
Funding sources Scottish Textiles Academic Group
Contact (address, email) Cardonald Campus690 Mosspark Drive, Glasgow G52 3AY
Country UK
Responsible person -
Web site http://www.glasgowclyde.ac.uk/
The initiative has received support from an organization which comprises 17 HEIs across
Scotland who delivers training and skills development for the textiles industry.
Some countries have this kind of organizations including universities but also research
TECLO project
institutes, etc.
Important to count on them on TECLO project.
4.
ADVOTTEX: Investigating Strategic Needs for Advanced
Name of good practice Vocational Training in the European Textile and Clothing
(T&C) Industry
Type Project on developing skills within SMEs
134
Responsible / promoter European Apparel and Textile Organisation (EURATEX)
AITEX (Spain), Universiteit Gent – VakgroepTextielkunde (Secretariat AUTEX) (Belgium),
Partners (if any) European Trade Union Federation: Textile/Clothing/Leather (ETUF:TCL) (Belgium) and
ITALINK snc (Italy).
The project network presents a new support structure with the objective to develop
both adaptability and entrepreneurship in the European Textile and Clothing sector and
Objectives both stimulate an effective ICT training dynamic among the different types of actors
and identify all or any further actions to be undertaken in order to improve ICT skills
and competences in the sector.
Funding sources Leonardo da Vinci (V Framework Programme)
Rue Montoyer 24, B-1000 Bruxelles
stephanie.le.berre@euratex.org
Country Belgium
Responsible person Stéphanie Le Berre
Web site http://eacea.ec.europa.eu/static/Bots/docbots/LEONARDO/T2/group2.pdf
An active interface between the European textile and clothing industry and HEIs was
created in order to establish an inventory of the information and communication
technology (ICT) training needs and opportunities of the sector.
Main European Textile Associations have collaborated with a research institute and a
TECLO project
university.
It has enabled the sector to ensure a better match between the specific ICT training
needs of companies and the vocational courses on offer.
5.
Name of good practice UP-SKILLS: Up-Grading Graduate Strategic Skills
Type Project on developing skills within SMEs
Responsible / promoter Universidade do Minho
Nottingham Trent University (UK), Technical University of Liberec (Czech Republic),
Partners (if any) Fundació CETEMMSA (Spain) and Associação de AntigosEstudantes da Universidade do
Minho
This project aims to identify the current and desired profile of senior staff of SMEs, in
order to enable them to take on responsibilities at strategic management level,
providing new skills which will reduce the gap between technical and strategic levels of
management.
Objectives
A group of researchers from each partner organisation has been engaged in the specific
aspects of the research methodology, designing instruments and tools that have been
applied to the project’s target groups: managers/owners of SMEs, vocational training
policy makers, decision makers.
Funding sources Leonardo da Vinci (V Framework Programme)
Reitoria – Largo do Paço, P-4710 Braga
jaimefs@eng.uminho.pt
Country Portugal
Responsible person Jaime Ferreira da Silva
Web site ihttp://eacea.ec.europa.eu/static/Bots/docbots/LEONARDO/T2/group2.pdf
i d il
Project results are the definition of the ideal senior staff profile; definition of new
professional skills for senior staff; publication of a book and an evaluation report.
Relevant information for Participant HEIs in the project had worked with SMEs in their countries to collect their 135
TECLO project inputs in terms of current managers training level and training needs. It has been
shown that the areas in which training is needed are: Marketing and sales,
management skills, languages, new technologies, production and risk prevention.
Best Practice from Partner 7. A Fotopoulou GLP

1.
Name of Good Practice The Edinburgh Technology Transfer Centre(ETTC)
Type Support Center
Responsible/ Promoter University of Edinburgh
Partners City Council of Edinburgh
Objectives •By providing for and encouraging rational and realistic creativity and innovation, the
Edinburgh Technology Transfer Centre acts as a propellant for incubates to take
calculated risks in order that they might reap the rewards
•ETTC’s remit is to nurture nascent spin-out companies with a package of high-input
hand-in-hand business development services
•Respecting incubates’ increasing self-reliance it seeks to establish strong links
between incubates and the University with a view to ensuring a continued channeling
of the very knowledge and technologies around which the incubate companies were
formed.
Funding Sources University of Edinburgh
Contact info@ettc.co.uk
Country UK
Responsible Person -
Website http://www.ettc.co.uk/
Relevant information for •Boosts the companies creativity and innovation
TECLO project •Creation of strong links between company and university
•Channeling knowledge and technologies to the companies that they might now
already have
2.
Name of Good Practice Liaison Offices
Type Counseling
Responsible/ Promoter Τ.Ε.Ι. of Piraeus
Partners -
Objectives Support the members of the University community and the creation of appropriate
partnerships for further development of innovative research results
Funding Sources Greek State
Contact -
Country Greece
Responsible Person Evgenia Moulou
Website http://gdias.teipir.gr/portal/index.php?option=ozo_content&perform=view&id=1423&Itemid=3&lang
=EN
Relevant information for •Contact with local businesses who are interested in cooperation with the University
TECLO project •Counseling in signing the agreements on intellectual property and cooperation
agreements in the context of equity -funded programs
•Providing legal advice and assistance for the registration of a research and
cooperation agreements: Copyright, Trademark, Draft , Patents
•Organization of information days for local entrepreneurs
136
3.
Name of Good Practice Practical Training Offices
Type Universities Students Practical Training
Responsible/ Promoter T.E.I of Piraeus (Most HEI in Greece)
Partners Companies
Objectives •achieve bidirectional communication between the Higher Education and the Labour
Market, Industry
•The actual application of knowledge in labor market can be reached in the
development of entrepreneur-graduates and creating new jobs.
Contact praktiki3@teipir.gr
Country Greece
Website http://www.teipir.gr/praktiki/
Relevant information for •The Practice aims to achieve two-way feedback between Higher Education and the
TECLO project workplace. The intervention sought the essential connection between education and
production to such an extent that the practical training is not only a request from
Institutions to Labour Market but also from Labour Market to the institutions.
•University Students have the chance to apply the knowledge gained from their
university and also become familiar with the labour market.
4.
Name of Good Practice Innovation & Entrepreneurship Units
Type The type may differ in each unit
Responsible/ Promoter Τ.Ε.Ι. of Central Macedonia (Serres)
Partners -
Objectives •To promote innovation and entrepreneurship not only to university students but to
local businesses as well
Contact garyf@teiser.gr
Country Greece
Responsible Person Fragidis Garifalos
Website http://www.teicm.gr/index.php?lang=en&cat_id=92
Relevant information for the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Unit:
TECLO project •Encourages and supports entrepreneurship.
•Develops the skills of students and graduates on establishing and managing a
business.
•Strengthens the cooperation between the educational community and the business
world.
•Organizes seminars and publicity events concerning innovation and entrepreneurship.
5.
Name of Good Practice «Εκπαίδευση και ΔιάΒίουΜάθηση» (Education and Lifelong Learning)
Type Lifelong learning
Responsible/ Promoter Ministry of Education of Greece
Partners European Union
Objectives This program purpose is by giving certain incentives to:
•Expand the notion of lifelong learning and make people more familiar with it 137
Funding Sources Greek State and European Union
Contact edulll@epeaek.gr
Country Greece
Website http://www.edulll.gr/
Relevant information for •Lifelong learning promoted through universities and specific centers
TECLO project •People interested in lifelong learning are usually in the labour force
•By providing more knowledge to the labour force through universities the skill cap of
the labour force will increase
•Creation of a strong interconnection between labour force and universities
ANNEX 5 MOOCS
Section A. Instructional quality database
Table 1. List of MOOCs included in the study
Course title Course website Type Platform
Modern & Contemporary
www.coursera.org/course/modernpoetry xMOOC Coursera
American Poetry
Introduction to Programming
www.coursera.org/course/chuck101/ xMOOC Coursera
for Musicians and Digital Artists
Genetics and Society: A course
www.coursera.org/course/amnhgenetics/ xMOOC Coursera
for Educators
The Nordic Diet: from
www.coursera.org/course/newnordicdiet/ xMOOC Coursera
Gastronomy to Health
Foundation of Business Strategy www.coursera.org/course/strategy101/ xMOOC Coursera
Design: Creation of Artifacts in
https://class.coursera.org/design-003/class xMOOC Coursera
Society
Introduction to systematic
www.coursera.org/course/programdesign/ xMOOC Coursera
Program Design
Securing Digital Democracy www.coursera.org/course/digitaldemocracy/ xMOOC Coursera
Automata www.coursera.org/course/automata/ xMOOC Coursera
The Power of Microeconomics:
Economic Principles in the Real www.coursera.com/course/ucimicroeconomics xMOOC Coursera
World
Foundations of Virtual
https://www.coursera.org/instructor/cindyc xMOOC Coursera
Instruction
The dynamic Earth: a Course for 138
https://www.coursera.org/course/amnhearth xMOOC Coursera
Educators
Blended Learning: Personalizing
https://www.coursera.org/course/blendedlearning xMOOC Coursera
Education for Students
Training and Learning Programs
https://www.coursera.org/course/commhealthworker
for Volunteer Community xMOOC Coursera
s
Health worker
Effective Classroom
Interactions: Supporting Young https://www.coursera.org/course/earlychildhood xMOOC Coursera
Children's Development
Health for All through Primary
https://www.coursera.org/course/healthforall xMOOC Coursera
Healthcare
Mathematical Biostatistics
https://www.coursera.org/course/biostats2 xMOOC Coursera
Bootcamp 2
Diabetes: Diagnosis, Treatment,
https://www.coursera.org/course/ucsfdiabetes xMOOC Coursera
and Opportunities
Conditions of war and peace https://www.coursera.org/course/warandpeace xMOOC Coursera
https://class.coursera.org/improvisation-
Jazz Improvisation xMOOC Coursera
003/class/index
Law and the entrepreneur https://www.coursera.org/course/law xMOOC Coursera
Analysis of a complex kind https://www.coursera.org/course/complexanalysis xMOOC Coursera
https://class.coursera.org/vaccines-
Vaccines xMOOC Coursera
002/wiki/view?page=FrequentlyAskedQuestions
Exploring quantum physics https://www.coursera.org/course/eqp xMOOC Coursera
9/11 and its aftermath - Part 1 https://www.coursera.org/course/911aftermath xMOOC Coursera
Scientific Computing https://www.coursera.org/instructor/~618 xMOOC Coursera
24.00x: Introduction to
https://www.edx.org/course/mit/24-00x/introduction-
Philosophy: God, Knowledge xMOOC EdX
philosophy-god/888
and Consciousness
HSPH-HMS214x: Fundamentals https://www.edx.org/course/harvard-university/hsph-
xMOOC EdX
of Clinical Trials hms214x/fundamentals-clinical-trials/941
CS-184.1x: Foundations of https://www.edx.org/course/uc-berkeley/cs-184-
xMOOC EdX
Computer Graphics 1x/foundations-computer-graphics/1003
https://www.edx.org/course/caltechx/cs1156x/learnin
CS1156x: Learning From Data xMOOC EdX
g-data/1120
https://www.edx.org/course/utaustin/ut-3-01x/age-
UT.3.01x: Age of Globalization xMOOC EdX
globalization/665
Introduction to computer
https://www.udacity.com/course/cs101 xMOOC Udacity
Science
Differential equations in action https://www.udacity.com/course/cs222 xMOOC Udacity
Introduction to physics https://www.udacity.com/course/ph100 xMOOC Udacity
How to Build a Startup https://www.udacity.com/course/ep245 xMOOC Udacity
PHP http://www.codecademy.com/tracks/php xMOOC Codeacademy
Web projects http://www.codecademy.com/tracks/projects xMOOC Codeacademy
Hybrid Courses: Best of Both
https://www.canvas.net/courses/hybrid-courses-best- Canvas
Worlds, Renton Technical xMOOC
of-both-worlds-1 Network
College
Grant Writing Bootcamp, https://www.canvas.net/courses/grant-writing- Canvas
xMOOC
Dalhousie University bootcamp Network
Today’s Online Teacher, https://www.canvas.net/courses/today-s-online- Canvas
xMOOC
Blended Schools Network teacher Network
Use Mapping to position your Canvas
https://learn.canvas.net/courses/157 xMOOC 139
brand Network
Build a Business Case for
https://www.canvas.net/courses/build-a-business- Canvas
Allowing Employees to Work xMOOC
case-for-allowing-employees-to-work-remotely Network
Remotely, eCornell
Stunt Writing for Personal https://www.canvas.net/courses/stunt-writing-for- Canvas
xMOOC
Growth, MemoirClass.com personal-growth-1 Network
International Health Systems:
Incorporating Sustainability https://www.canvas.net/courses/international-health- Canvas
xMOOC
Strategies, University of Central systems-incorporating-sustainability-strategies Network
Florida
Enhancing Patient Safety
through Interprofessional
https://www.canvas.net/courses/enhancing-patient- Canvas
Collaborative Practice, The xMOOC
safety-through-interprofessional-collaborative-practice Network
University of Texas at Arlington
College of Nursing
Introduction to Psychology https://www.udacity.com/course/ps001 xMOOC Udacity
Fairness and Nature: When https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/when-worlds-
xMOOC FutureLearn
Worlds Collide collide/todo/77
Google
Advanced Power Searching with
http://www.powersearchingwithgoogle.com/ xMOOC Search
Google
Education
Power Searching with Google http://www.powersearchingwithgoogle.com/ xMOOC Web
Open Learning Design Studio
www.olds.ac.uk/home cMOOC Web
MOOC
MechanicalMOOC (A gentle http://mechanicalmooc.org/ cMOOC Wordpress
introduction to Python)
DiffiMOOC (Differentiating the
classroom environment through http://www.diffimooc.com/ cMOOC Web
technology)
Digital storytelling http://ds106.us/ cMOOC Web
OCTEL (Open course in
http://octel.alt.ac.uk/ cMOOC Web
technology enhanced learning)
Canvas
https://learn.canvas.net/courses/27/ network +
MOOCMOOC cMOOC
http://www.moocmooc.com/ separate
website
Canvas
https://canvas.instructure.com/courses/792703/wiki/f network +
MOOCification cMOOC
ront-page www.moocmooc.com separate
website
Entrepreneurship in education http://101.edstartup.net/ cMOOC Wordpress
OpenHPI
In-Memory Data Management https://openhpi.de/courses/8/wiki/welcome?module_i
xMOOC (Hasso Plattner
2013 tem_id=836
Institut)
Exploring Personal Learning http://mslocopen.wordpress.com/2013/08/02/explori
cMOOC Web
Networks ng-pln-overview/
CCK11 Connectivism and
http://cck11.mooc.ca/ cMOOC Web
connective knowledge 2011
LAK11 (Measuring activity and
http://lak12.mooc.ca/ cMOOC Web
success)
MOBIMOOC (Supporting the https://mobimooc.wikispaces.com/a+MobiMOOC+hell
mobile web) o%21
cMOOC Wikispaces 140
EDUMOOC (Online Learning
https://sites.google.com/site/edumooc/ cMOOC Web
today and tomorrow)
Open Online Experience http://www.ooe13.org/ cMOOC Web
Rethoric and composition: The
persuasive power of https://canvas.instructure.com/courses/782878 cMOOC Web
videogames as paratext
Change11 – Defining the Field http://change.mooc.ca/ cMOOC Web
https://sites.google.com/site/epcoplearnspace/home/
EpCoP MOOC 11 cMOOC Web
mooc
OT12: An Open Translation http://labspace.open.ac.uk/course/view.php?name=O
cMOOC Web
MOOC (15/10/12 – 18/12/12) T12
Virtual Schooling MOOC http://virtualschoolmooc.wikispaces.com/Home cMOOC Wikispaces
Game based learning MOOC http://gamesmooc.shivtr.com/ cMOOC Web
Pedagogy First MOOC https://sites.google.com/site/potcertclass13/home cMOOC Google sites
First Steps into Learning and
http://openbrookes.net/firststeps12/ cMOOC Web
Teaching in Higher Education
Engaging Technology and
http://facultyecommons.org/engaging-technology-
Online Pedagogy eTOP12 micro cMOOC Wikispaces
and-online-pedagogy-etop12-micro-mooc/
MOOC
CMC11 Creativity and
http://www.cdlprojects.com/cmc11blog/ cMOOC Web
Multicultural Communication
VizMath: A cMOOC http://www.cdlprojects.com/math/ cMOOC Web
LOER MicroMooc https://loer12.wikispaces.com/Welcome! cMOOC Wikispaces
Table 2. Overall results for Principles of Instruction, organization and presentation (n=76, scale 0-3)
xMOOCs (n=50) cMOOCs (n=26)
Principles of Instruction and related components Valid cases Mean(SD) Valid Mean(SD)
cases
Problem-centered
To what extent are the course objectives relevant to real-world problems? 28/50 0.96(0.999) 17/26 0.88(0.86)
To what extent are the problems in the course typical of those learners will 4/50 2.50(1.00) 4/26 2.25(0.96)
encounter in the real world?
To what extent do the activities in the course relate to the participants’ real 50/50 0.32(0.62) 26/26 0.81(0.89)
workplace problems?
To what extent are the problems ill-structured – ie have more than one correct 4/50 1.50(1.73) 4/26 2.75(0.50)
solution?
To what extent are the problems divergent from one another? 4/50 1.75(0.96) 4/26 1.25(0.50)
To what extent do the activities build upon each other? 50/50 0.18(0.63) 25/26 0.44(0.82)
Activation
To what extent do the activities attempt to activate learners’ relevant prior 50/50 0.04(0.28) 25/26 0.32(0.69)
knowledge or experience?
Demonstration
If there are examples of solutions, to what extent do these solutions represent a 3/50 0.00(0.00) 1/25 1.00(-)
range of quality from excellent examples to poor examples?
Application
To what extent do the activities require learners to apply their newly acquired 50/50 0.50(0.86) 26/26 0.92(0.98)
knowledge or skill?
Integration
To what extent do the activities require learners to integrate the new knowledge 50/50 0.02(0.14) 25/26 0.20(0.50)
or skill into their everyday work?
Collective knowledge
To what extent do the activities require participants to learn from each other? 50/50 0.70(0.89) 26/26 2.42(0.81)
To what extent do the activities require participants to contribute to the 50/50 0.16(0.55) 25/26 0.68(0.94)
collective knowledge, rather than merely consume knowledge?
To what extent do the activities require learners to build on other participants’ 50/50 0.00(0.00) 26/26 0.04(0.20) 141
submissions?
Collaboration
To what extent do the activities require participants to collaborate with other 50/50 0.02(0.14) 26/26 0.35(0.63)
course participants?
To what extent do the activities require participants to collaborate with others 50/50 0.04(0.20) 26/26 0.00(0.00)
outside the course?
To what extent do the activities require that the peer-interaction groups be 1/50 0.00(-) 5/26 0.00(0.00)
comprised of individuals with different backgrounds, opinions, and skills?
To what extent can the individual contribution of each learner in the group be 1/50 0.00(-) 5/26 0.00(0.00)
clearly identified?
Differentiation
To what extent are there activity options for participants with various learning 50/50 0.06(0.24) 26/26 0.77(0.59)
needs?
Authentic resources
To what extent are the resources reused from real-world settings? 50/50 0.38(0.78) 25/26 0.72(0.84)
Feedback
Is there feedback on activities by the instructor(s) in this course? 45/50 Yes: 0(0%) 25/26 Yes: 0(0%)
No: 45(100%) No: 25(100%)
If there is feedback, is the way feedback will be provided clearly explained to the 0/50 - 0/26 -
participants?
Objectives and Organization
To what extent are the course objectives measurable? 28/50 0.21(0.69) 17/26 0.29(0.59)
To what extent are the course materials well organized? 50/50 2.68(0.77) 25/26 2.08(1.15)
Does the course specify the change that needs to be promoted in the skill set of 50/50 Yes: 10 (20%) 26/26 Yes: 5(19%)
the learner population? No: 40 (80%) No: 21(81%)
Are the course requirements outlined clearly? 50/50 Yes: 38 (76%) 26/26 Yes: 17(65%)
No: 12 (24%) No: 9(35%)
Is the course description clear? 50/50 Yes: 46 (92%) 26/26 Yes: 19(73%)
No: 4(8%) No: 7(27%)
Section B. MOOCs and online courses about textiles
Table 3. List of MOOCs and online courses about textile

Institution URL Course(s) title(s) Type
The Marist College https://thefold.marist.edu Textile Fundamentals MOOC
Udemy https://www.udemy.com/ Pattern Design for Textiles, Surfaces, & Graphics MOOC
MIT http://ocw.mit.edu/ New Textiles MOOC
OpenCourseWare
The National http://nptel.ac.in/ Theory of Yarn Structures MOOC
Programme on Natural Dyes
Technology
Enhanced Learning
College of Textiles http://www.tx.ncsu.edu/ Principles of Retailing and Supply Chain Management Online
of the North in Textiles course
Carolina State Intermediate Textile Brand Management and
University Marketing
Major Fashion Designers
Advanced Textile Brand Management and Marketing
Impact of Industry on the Environment and Society
Introduction to the College of Textiles
Introduction to Textiles
Introduction to Fiber Science
Yarn Production and Properties I
Introduction to Nonwoven Products and Processes
Textured Yarn Production and Properties
Textured Yarn Production and Properties 142
Product Costing in the Textile and Apparel Industry
Strategic Planning and Decision Making in the Textile
and Fashion Industries
Introduction to the College of Textiles
Formation and Structure of Textile Fabrics
University of http://www.manchester.ac. Textile Technology Online
Manchester uk course
University of http://www.bolton.ac.uk/ Engineering, Product Design and Textiles Specialisms Online
Bolton course
Fashion Institute of http://www.fitnyc.edu/ Fundamentals of Textiles Online
Technology (State Sustainable Design Technology course
University of New Product Development with Product Lifecycle
York) Management (PLM)
The Complete Guide to Global Sourcing
Design and Product Development Technology Made
Easy
Advertising and Promotion
Fashion Art and Design
Introduction to the Fashion Industry
Introduction to Home Products
Central St Martins http://www.arts.ac.uk/csm/ Cool Hunting Fashion Online
College of Arts & Draping Womenswear Design course
Design (University Fashion Design For Beginners
of the Arts London) Fashion Marketing
Fashion T-Shirt Design
School of Stitched http://www.sofst.org/ SST Beginners Courses Online
Textiles (SST) City & Guilds Level 1 course
City & Guilds Level 2
City & Guilds Level 3
City & Guilds Diploma
SST Master Practitioner
Cotton University http://cottonuniversity.org The Art of Knitting Online
(America's Cotton The Science of Dying and Finishing course
Producers and The Art of Weaving
Importers) The Basics of Yarn Manufacturing
The Art of Printing
The Art of Sweater Manufacturing
The Art of Shrinkage Control
The Art of Denim Manufacturing
The Art of Garment Manufacturing
The Art of Denim Garment Finishing
The Art of Sock Manufacturing
The Art of Quality Testing
Open College of http://www.oca.ac.uk Foundations Textiles Online
the Arts A Creative Approach to Textiles course
Exploring Ideas
Textiles 1: A Textiles Vocabulary
Textiles 1: Mixed Media For Textiles
Contemporary Practice
Developing Creative Textiles
Advanced Textiles
Your Own Portfolio 143
Distant Stitch http://www.distantstitch.co. Embroidery Online
uk Machine Embroidery course
Patchwork and Quilting
Creative Sketchbooks
The International http://ici.net.au/ Fashion Design Online
Career Institute Fashion Styling and Image course
Creative Stitch http://www.creativestitchsu Patchwork and Quilting Online
Suffolk ffolk.co.uk/ Machine Embroidery course
ArtyBirdCarnforth http://www.artybirdcarnfor Feltmaking Online
School for Art and th.co.uk/ course
Textiles
Academy of http://academyofquilting.co Quilting Online
Quilting m/ course
Section C. MOOCs for teaching transversal skills
Institution University of Maryland, USA

Type Synchronous
website https://www.coursera.org/course/innovative
Course name Innovation for Entrepreneurs: From Idea to Marketplace
Objective Develop insights on navigating the innovation process from idea generation to
commercialization. Build knowledge on how to create strategies to bring innovations to
market.
Duration 4 weeks, 3-4 hours/week
Language English
Recognition Verified Certificate
Price Free (or 49$ with certificate)
Syllabus (content) Week 1: The Innovation Landscape
Week 2: Indicators of Innovation Opportunity & Steps in the Process of Innovation
Week 3: Innovation Strategies for Competitive Advantage
Week 4: Creating Winning Business Models
Course format Video lectures,
Institution University of Michigan, USA

Type Self-paced online course
website https://www.coursera.org/learn/negotiation-skills
Course name Successful Negotiation: Essential Strategies and Skills
Objective This course provides learners with a practical, holistic introduction to the strategies and skills
that can lead to successful negotiations in the learner personal life and in business
transactions.
Duration 8.5 hours
Language English 144
Syllabus (content) The course covers the four key stages of negotiation:
1. Prepare: Plan Your Negotiation Strategy
2. Negotiate: Use Key Tactics for Success
3. Close: Create a Contract
4. Perform and Evaluate: The End Game
5. Practice Your Negotiation Skills
6. Final Examination
Course format Video lectures,
Institution University of Maryland, USA

Type Synchronous
website https://www.coursera.org/course/innovative
Course name Developing Innovative Ideas for New Companies: The First Step in Entrepreneurship
Objective Explore how to identify and develop great ideas into great companies. Learn how to identify
opportunities based on real customer needs. Take the first steps to creating a successful
company.
Language English (Portugese and Spanish subtitles)
Syllabus (content) Week 1: Entrepreneurial Perspective
Week 2: Entrepreneurial Mindset, Motivations and Behaviors
Week 3: Industry Understanding
Week 4: Customer Understanding and Business Models
Course format Video lectures
Institution University of Virginia, Darden School of Business, USA
Type of MOOC Synchronous
website https://www.coursera.org/course/designbiz
Course name Design Thinking for Business Innovation
Objective This course provides an overview of the Design Thinking process and tools used for business
innovation.
Language English
Syllabus (content) Week 1: What is Design Thinking?
Week 2: How can we prepare ourselves to be leaders of innovation?
Week 3: How can you use Design Thinking to generate ideas?
Week 4: How can you use Design Thinking to test ideas?
Course format This course will consist of video lectures, discussion opportunities, and an optional
assignment for those interested in earning a Statement of Accomplishment.
Institution Università Bocconi, School of Management, Italy

Type Synchronous
website https://www.coursera.org/course/intorb
Course name International Leadership and Organizational Behavior
Objective Develop intercultural competences for successfully leading in international environments,
and working with diverse international teams
Language English
145
Syllabus (content) Week 1: Leadership Acumen. International perspective on leadership, common traps &
challenges, and opportunities of intercultural leadership.
Week 2: Navigating Culture. Impact of cultural differences on organizations, decoding
culture, culture classifications and stereotyping, developing intercultural intelligence.
Week 3: Communication. Communication and its impact on leadership identity and
relationships, managing communication to improve decision making, steps for developing
your intercultural communication skills.
Week 4: Motivation. Views on individual motivation, cultural differences in motivation,
developing motivation and commitment in teams.
Week 5: Networking. Patterns of interpersonal relationships in/across organizations,
strategically developing social networks and social capital, norms for networking across
cultures.
Week 6: Conflict. Effective / defective conflict management approaches, dealing with ethical
dilemmas.
Course format lecture videos (about 10-15 minutes ), plus slides and reading, quizzes and optional
assignments
Institution State University of New York, USA

Type Synchronous
website https://www.coursera.org/course/creative
Course name Ignite Your Everyday Creativity
Objective Creativity is an essential skill for the 21st Century that is innate in all people and can be
nurtured. We constantly need new and better ideas for almost every aspect of our
professional and personal lives. The goal of this course is to help you recognize, develop and
act upon the creativity that you already possess.
Duration 6 weeks, 3- 4 hours/week
Language English
Syllabus (content) Module 1: What is Creativity?; Module 2: Creative Person; Module 3: Creative Process;
Module 4: Creative Press; Module 5: Creative Product ; Module 6: Conclusion
Course format lecture videos (about 10-15 minutes ), weekly discussion forums, project base assignments
Institution University of California, Irvine, USA

Type Asynchronous
website https://www.coursera.org/course/thinkact
Course name Essentials of Entrepreneurship: Thinking & Action
Objective This interactive course provides potential entrepreneurs with the knowledge of succeeding
in an entrepreneurial opportunity. Topics include: how creativity, opportunity and feasibility
are best evaluated; business strategies for new businesses; importance of a business plan;
achieving success in a new business. At the end of the course students will have the skills
and confidence to evaluate starting a business, in addition to becoming more enterprising in
how they approach their roles should they decide to work in organizations.
Duration 4 weeks, 2- 3 hours/week
Language English
Price Free
Syllabus (content) Learn about the many faces of and contexts for entrepreneurship
Learn about the entrepreneurial process and how to manage it
Learn about what it takes to be an entrepreneur and your own potential to be one
Learn to recognize opportunities to generate and assess your own business idea 146
Explain the business planning process
Apply entrepreneurial approaches, concepts and methods to your own business idea
Learn about the operational issues in developing new business ventures
Course format The course is available on demand. It consists of short weekly lecture videos, (8 and 12
minutes). Weekly quizzes.
Institution Catalyst
Type Asynchronous, self paced
website https://www.edx.org/course/inclusive-leadership-training-becoming-catalystx-
ilx1#.VOoWHSzHat8
Course name Inclusive Leadership Training: Becoming a Successful Leader
Objective Learn 21st-century leadership skills, apply concepts to real-world situations and start your
journey to the next level of leadership
Duration 4 weeks, 1 hour/week
Language English
Recognition Verified Certificate (on purchase)
Price Free
Syllabus (content) What separates a successful leader from a mediocre one? In this course, you will learn what
successful 21st-century leaders look like and how you can adopt their inclusive leadership
style. Using research and best practices, as well as stories from great leaders and everyday
people, you will practice empowerment, accountability, courage, and humility—key
leadership skills linked to inclusive, successful teams. With short quizzes and compelling case
studies, you will refine your skills each week. Most importantly, you will apply your new
leadership skills through exciting real-life exercises. At the end, you will create a Personal
Leadership Plan that will help you continue to develop your skills, knowledge, and
awareness in your quest to become a successful leader.
Course format lecture videos, quizzes.
Institution Technische Universität München, Germany
Type Asynchronous , Self paced
website https://www.edx.org/course/quality-engineering-management-tumx-qemx#.VOoYkizHat8
Course name Quality Engineering & Management
Objective Cover the fundamentals for quality engineering and management, applied to the DMAIC
(Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control) process-improvement cycle
Language English
Recognition Verified Certificate (on purchase)
Price Free
Content Since the introduction of mass production, the concept of “quality” has evolved from simple
assembly line inspections to a broad approach to production and management involving an
entire corporation. Quality has become a critical driver for long-term success through
continuous process improvement and customer satisfaction. Quality Management today
concerns the entire value chain, encompassing multi-tiered supplier networks and customer
service and returns.
This course balances the quantitative elements of quality engineering with a managerial
approach to using quality in an organization to effect change. We cover the statistical basics
needed for each of the well-known process-improvement cycle: Define, Measure, Analyze,
Improve, and Control, covering the most important quality methods and techniques
including sampling, statistical process control, process capability, regression analysis, and
design of experiments. Quality assurance is examined, from the viewpoint of quality
incorporated into product design, measuring and controlling quality in production and
improving quality using quantitative problem-solving and interactive, guided exercises.
Course format lecture videos, quizzes. 147
ANNEX 6 QUESTIONNAIRES
6.1 Questionnaire for SMEs
Proposal for a motivation letter addressed to SMEs

[Subject: Survey on managerial skills needs in T&C SMEs]
Dear [position in the company, name and surname],
In December 2014, a consortium of fourteen partners from eight European countries joined the project entitled “Textile
and Clothing Knowledge Alliance. Future textile and clothing managers for export, marketing, innovation,
sustainability and entrepreneurship oriented companies (TECLO)”- a two years Knowledge Alliance, co-founded by the
European Commission under the Erasmus+ programme.
The TECLO alliance was created in order to answer the new skills needs of the textile and clothing European industry
and the main outcomes are going to be:
• the development of sectorial methods for anticipation of skills needs;
• the set-up of the EU curricula of the new professional profile of the Textile and Clothing Managers (TECLOM),
endowed with more advanced social, entrepreneurial and management skills;
• the development and pilot of a MOOC(Massive Open Online Course) for the new TECLOM.
The TECLO team kindly requests your participation in a survey that aims at identifying main problems and challenges
faced by T&C micro- and SMEs in the new global context that requires new skills for increased quality of management
focusing on: export oriented management, non-technological and marketing innovation, re-engineering processes
according to sustainability, CSR and quality, pursuing change and efficiency through innovative entrepreneurship skills.
To this end, it is essential for the project to have information about relevant skill requirements at an early stage.
Therefore your answers will be of great help for setting-up a new T&C curriculum for the managers meeting the new
148
demands of the future textile and clothing SMEs.
The questionnaire is meant to be addressed to the persons who have the best overview of working tasks and skill
requirements of the managers from SMEs in the textile and clothing sector. They might be the managing director or
other persons in managerial positions in your company (HRM, sales, R&D).
Participation in the survey is voluntary. All responses will be treated with the strictest confidence and no individual will
be identifiable in the published report.
However, we would be extremely grateful for your valuable implication and input, if you agree to participate.
What will be your benefit?
Participating in the survey promises longer-term benefits as the findings will be fed into education and training
schemes to improve the future skills of the SMEs managers from the T&C sector.
If you have further questions please contact [name and telephone number or email of the responsible person of the
project partner].
We would be very pleased if you could send us the completed questionnaire no later than [date].
To find out more about TECLO and its work please visit the project website: http://teclo.eu/
Thank you in advance for your cooperation.
Yours faithfully,
[Position in the project, name and surname,
Partner institution]
QUESTIONNAIRE for SMEs
Introduction
The TECLO project is co-funded by the European Commission under the Erasmus+ programme. Its general
objective is the modernization of Europe's higher education systems in the field of textiles and clothing
through a better anticipation of skills needs based on the development of sustainable partnerships
between education and employment.
The survey focuses on identifying main problems and challenges faced by T&C micro- and SMEs in the new
global context that requires new skills for increased quality of management focusing on: export oriented
management, non-technological and marketing innovation, re-engineering processes according to
sustainability, CSR and quality, pursuing change and efficiency through innovative entrepreneurship skills.
Therefore, could you please provide us with input by filling in the following questionnaire, which will enable
us to set-up a new Textile and Clothing curriculum for the managers meeting the new demands of the
future Textile and Clothing SMEs.
It should take no more than 15 minutes to complete the questionnaire. Most of the questions can be
answered by clicking boxes that have the best correspondence with your expectations.
All responses will be treated with the strictest confidence and no responder will be identifiable in the
published report.
Please return your completed questionnaire by e-mail or fax no later than [deadline].
Contact details: 149
Email:
Fax:
QUESTIONNAIRE
A. Background information
1. In which sub-sector does your Company operate?(Please tick multiple if appropriate)
1Clothing/ fashion 2Technical textiles 3Yarn/ fiber producer 4Textiles & fabrics
5Services 6Trade/ commerce 7Other (please specify) ____________________
2. How would you classify your company according to the number of employees?
11 to 9 210 to 49 350 to 249 4more than 249
3. Does your company export some of its products?

1No 2Less than 24% of sales 325% to 49% of sales
450% to 75% of sales 5more than 75%
4. Please let us know whether your organization has a department for(Please tick multiple if
appropriate)
1Marketing 2Research & development 3Design/ New product development
4Manufacturing 5Quality control 6Export
7Other (please specify) _____________________
5. Does your company have key persons with multiple responsibilities? (Please tick multiple if
appropriate)
Person 1 Person 2 Person 3 Person 4 Person 5
 Marketing  Marketing  Marketing  Marketing  Marketing
 R&D  R&D  R&D  R&D  R&D
 Design/ New prod  Design/ New prod  Design/ New prod  Design/ New prod  Design/ New prod
 Manufacturing  Manufacturing  Manufacturing  Manufacturing  Manufacturing
 Quality control  Quality control  Quality control  Quality control  Quality control
 Export  Export  Export  Export  Export
 Other (specify) __  Other (specify) __  Other (specify) __  Other (specify) __  Other (specify) __
Please comment Please comment Please comment Please comment Please comment
______________ ______________ ______________ ______________ _____________
______________ ______________ ______________ ______________ _____________
B. Collaboration between SMEs and HEIs/Research centres

6. Does your Company cooperate in research projects with a University and/or Research Center?
1Yes 2No
7. If yes, please indicate who is financing the project(s) (please tick multiple if required)
1Self-financed projects 2Regionally funded projects 3Nationally funded projects
4EU funded 5 Other (please specify)___________________________
8. If you do joint research, are you satisfied with the cooperation? 150
1Yes 2No
9. If “NO”, please provide the key reasons that deter you from cooperating with a University/
Research Center
10. Has your company been involved in the past three years in any activities of HEIs for the definition
or validation of curricula (to address skills requirements)?
1Yes 2No
11. Has your company provided places for students’ practice in the past three years? (If “No”, go to
the question no. 13)
1Yes 2 No
12. Has your company hired graduates after practice?

1Yes 2No
13. Has your company cooperated, in the past three years, with any university for supporting
students’ graduation theses?
1Yes 2No
C. Need for new skills and further training
14. Do you consider that your staff needs further training?
1Yes 2No
15. This project will design and develop several courses in online format. Is your company interested
in online training?
1Yes 2No
16. Please state your perceived need for training in the following skills and the importance of that
knowledge/skill for you.
Importance Need for training
of the skill for you for this SKILL
NOT important at all
Extremely important
Very little training

Little important
A LOT of training
Very Important
Some training
Little training
NO training
Important
1 1 2 3 4 5 Establish proper distribution policies 1 2 3 4 5

2 1 2 3 4 5 Manage and protect Intellectual property rights (IPR) 1 2 3 4 5
Access to export credit and financial instruments enabling to industrialize and
3 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5
commercialize the fruits of innovation
4 1 2 3 4 5 Overall interest to implement export oriented strategies 1 2 3 4 5
151
5 1 2 3 4 5 Handle with mass customization trends 1 2 3 4 5
6 1 2 3 4 5 Implement new organizational methods 1 2 3 4 5
7 1 2 3 4 5 Manage relations with research centers 1 2 3 4 5
8 1 2 3 4 5 Overall interest to implement non-technological innovation 1 2 3 4 5
9 1 2 3 4 5 Establish the proper product placement 1 2 3 4 5
10 1 2 3 4 5 Promote products through new ICTs and social media 1 2 3 4 5
11 1 2 3 4 5 Pro-actively understand customers’ needs 1 2 3 4 5
12 1 2 3 4 5 Overall interest to implement marketing innovation 1 2 3 4 5
13 1 2 3 4 5 Implement environmental management methods 1 2 3 4 5
14 1 2 3 4 5 Manage supply chain with a focus on sustainability 1 2 3 4 5
15 1 2 3 4 5 Implement small-scale and specialized production 1 2 3 4 5
Overall interest to re-engineer processes according to sustainability, CSR and
16 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5
Quality
17 1 2 3 4 5 External orientation and network 1 2 3 4 5
18 1 2 3 4 5 Realistic vision accepting constraints 1 2 3 4 5
Perseverance in the execution of strategy and patience in reaping its financial
19 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5
fruits
20 1 2 3 4 5 Motivational skills towards workers 1 2 3 4 5
21 1 2 3 4 5 Overall interest to improve your leadership skills (You to act as a leader) 1 2 3 4 5
22 1 2 3 4 5 Sense of initiative 1 2 3 4 5
23 1 2 3 4 5 Decisions taken based on a balanced assessment of risk and information analysis 1 2 3 4 5
24 1 2 3 4 5 Turning ideas into action 1 2 3 4 5
25 1 2 3 4 5 Overall interest to take better risks 1 2 3 4 5
26 1 2 3 4 5 Change-orientated approach 1 2 3 4 5
27 1 2 3 4 5 Identification of market developments and trends 1 2 3 4 5
28 1 2 3 4 5 Recognition and implementation of opportunities for business growth 1 2 3 4 5
29 1 2 3 4 5 Overall interest to act more creatively 1 2 3 4 5
30 1 2 3 4 5 OTHER skill (please specify)______________________________________ 1 2 3 4 5
31 1 2 3 4 5 OTHER skill (please specify)______________________________________ 1 2 3 4 5
D. Respondent’s profile information

17. Please provide some information about yourself:
a) Your position in the Company:
1Owner/ CEO 2Head of Marketing 3Head of R&D 4Head of Manufacturing
5Head of Q. control 6Head of Export 7Other (please specify) _________________
b) Your highest qualification 1Bachelor 2Master (MBA) 3PhD. 4Other ____________
c) Gender 1M 2F
d) Age 1under 25 225-29 330-39 440-49 550-59 660+
E. End of the questionnaire

18. Please state other comments/ observations/ proposals
152
Thank you for your time and support in completing this questionnaire.
If you would like to receive a brief report of the survey results, please let us know your e-mail address:
_________________________________
6.2. Questionnaire for HEIs
Proposal for a motivation letter addressed to HEIs
[Subject: Survey on managerial skills needs in T&C SMEs]
Dear [position in the company, name and surname],
In December 2014, a consortium of fourteen partners from eight European countries joined the project entitled “Textile
and Clothing Knowledge Alliance. Future textile and clothing managers for export, marketing, innovation,
sustainability and entrepreneurship oriented companies (TECLO)”- a two years Knowledge Alliance, co-founded by the
European Commission under the Erasmus+ programme.
The TECLO alliance was created in order to answer thenew skills needsof the textile and clothing European industry and
the main outcomes are going to be:
• the development of sectorial methods for anticipation of skills needs;
• the set-up of the EU curricula of the new professional profile of the Textile and Clothing Managers (TECLOM),
endowed with more advanced social, entrepreneurial and management skills;
• the development and pilot of a MOOC for the new TECLOM.
The TECLO team kindly requests your participation in a survey focused on the new skills to be acquired by the
managers from T&C SMEs and on a new innovative learning approach and delivery method for teaching transversal
skills, the strongest interest being given to the Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs).
To this end, your answers will be of great help for setting-up a new EU curriculum for the future Textile and clothing
managers as well as for providing the sector with an innovative MOOC.
Participation in the survey is voluntary. All responses will be treated with the strictest confidence and no individual will
be identifiable in the published report.
However, we would be extremely grateful for your valuable implication and input, if you agree to participate. 153
What will be your benefit?
Participating in the survey promises longer-term benefits as the findings will be fed into education and training
schemes to improve the future skills of the SMEs’ managers from the European T&C industry.
If you have further questions please contact [name and telephone number or email of the responsible person of the
project partner].
We would be very pleased if you could send us the completed questionnaire no later than [date].
To find out more about TECLO and its work please visit the project website: http://teclo.eu/.
Thank you in advance for your cooperation.
Yours faithfully,
[Position in the project, name and surname,

Partner institution]
QUESTIONNAIRE for HEIs
Introduction
The TECLO project is co-funded by the European Commission under the Erasmus+ programme. Its general
objective is the modernization of Europe's higher education systems in the field of textiles and clothing
through a better anticipation of skills needs based on the development of sustainable partnerships
between education and employment.
The survey focuses on identifying new skills for increased quality of solving management main problems
and challenges faced by T&C micro- and SMEs in the new global context that requires focusing on: export
oriented management, non-technological and marketing innovation, re-engineering processes according to
sustainability, CSR and quality, pursuing change and efficiency through innovative entrepreneurship skills.
Therefore, could you please provide us with input by filling in the following questionnaire, which will enable
us to set-up new T&C curricula for the managers meeting the new demands of the future textile and
clothing SMEs?
It should take no more than 15 minutes to complete the questionnaire – most of the questions can be
answered by clicking boxes that have the best correspondence with your expectations.
All responses will be treated with the strictest confidence and no responder will be identifiable in the
published report.
Please return your completed questionnaire and the data collection form through e-mail or fax no later
than [deadline].
Contact details: 154
Email:
Fax:
QUESTIONNAIRE
A. Background information
1. Please select the type of your institution:
1Comprehensive university 2Technical university (as specified in the name)
3University of applied sciences 4Open (or distance) university
5Other type (please specify) ____________________
2. How would you classify your institution according to the number of students?
1 small (under 7499) 2 medium (between 7500 and 24999) 3large (over 25000)
3. Please let us know whether your organization offers BSc and MSc courses in the following fields:
(Please tick multiple if appropriate)
1Textiles and clothing (or related) 2Management 3Marketing
4Design/ Product development 5Quality
6Other (please specify) ____________________________________________
B. Cooperation between HEIs and SMEs/ Research centres
4. Does your University/ faculty/ department cooperate in research projects with a textile & clothing
SME and/or Research Center?
1Yes 2No
5. If yes, please indicate who is financing the project(s) (please tick multiple if required)
1Self-financed projects 2Regionally funded projects 3Nationally funded projects
4EU funded 5 Other (please specify)___________________________
6. If you do joint research, are you satisfied with the cooperation?

1Yes 2No
7. If “NO”, please provide the key reasons that deter you from cooperating with SMEs/ Research
Centers
8. Has your university/ faculty/ department cooperated, in the past three years, with SMEs for the
definition or validation of curricula (to address competences and skills requirements)?
1Yes 2No
9. Has your university/ faculty/ department received internship offers from T&C companies in the
past three years? (If “No”, go to the question no. 11) 155
1Yes 2 No
10. Have the companies, which supported students’ internships, hired students after
graduation?
1Yes 2No 3 Some
11. Has your university/ faculty/ department cooperated, in the past three years, with SMEs for
supporting students’ graduation theses?
1Yes 2 No
12. Has your university/ faculty/ department organized, in the past three years, further training for
employees from T&C companies?
1Yes 2No
13. Is your university/ faculty a member in professional/sectorial organizations along with SMEs?
(associations, clusters etc)
1Yes 2No
C. Need for new skills and further training

14. Please state your perception regarding the actual needs of the managers in textile SMEs for the
following skills (considering the importance of the skill and the need for training):
Importance of Need for training for
the skill for SMEs this SKILL
NOT important at all
Extremely important
Don’t know /Not sure

Very little training
Little important
A LOT of training
Very Important
Some training
Little training
NO training
Important
1 1 2 3 4 5 Establish proper distribution policies 1 2 3 4 5 6

2 1 2 3 4 5 Manage and protect Intellectual property rights (IPR) 1 2 3 4 5 6
Access to export credit and financial instruments enabling to
3 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 6
industrialize and commercialize the fruits of innovation
4 1 2 3 4 5 Overall interest to implement export oriented strategies 1 2 3 4 5 6
5 1 2 3 4 5 Handle with mass customization trends 1 2 3 4 5 6
6 1 2 3 4 5 Implement new organizational methods 1 2 3 4 5 6
7 1 2 3 4 5 Manage relations with research centers 1 2 3 4 5 6
8 1 2 3 4 5 Overall interest to implement non-technological innovation 1 2 3 4 5 6
9 1 2 3 4 5 Establish the proper product placement 1 2 3 4 5 6
10 1 2 3 4 5 Promote products through new ICTs and social media 1 2 3 4 5 6
11 1 2 3 4 5 Pro-actively understand customers’ needs 1 2 3 4 5 6
12 1 2 3 4 5 Overall interest to implement marketing innovation 1 2 3 4 5 6
13 1 2 3 4 5 Implement environmental management methods 1 2 3 4 5 6 156
14 1 2 3 4 5 Manage supply chain with a focus on sustainability 1 2 3 4 5 6
15 1 2 3 4 5 Implement small-scale and specialized production 1 2 3 4 5 6
Overall interest to re-engineer processes according to sustainability,
16 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 6
CSR and Quality
17 1 2 3 4 5 External orientation and network 1 2 3 4 5 6
18 1 2 3 4 5 Realistic vision accepting constraints 1 2 3 4 5 6
Perseverance in the execution of strategy and patience in reaping its
19 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 6
financial fruits
20 1 2 3 4 5 Motivational skills towards workers 1 2 3 4 5 6
Overall interest to improve your leadership skills (You to act as a
21 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 6
leader)
22 1 2 3 4 5 Sense of initiative 1 2 3 4 5 6
Decisions taken based on a balanced assessment of risk and
23 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 6
information analysis
24 1 2 3 4 5 Turning ideas into action 1 2 3 4 5 6
25 1 2 3 4 5 Overall interest to take better risks 1 2 3 4 5 6
26 1 2 3 4 5 Change-orientated approach 1 2 3 4 5 6
27 1 2 3 4 5 Identification of market developments and trends 1 2 3 4 5 6
Recognition and implementation of opportunities for business
28 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 6
growth
29 1 2 3 4 5 Overall interest to act more creatively 1 2 3 4 5 6
30 1 2 3 4 5 OTHER skill (please specify)__________________________________ 1 2 3 4 5 6
31 1 2 3 4 5 OTHER skill (please specify)__________________________________ 1 2 3 4 5 6
D. The use of MOOCs
15. Has your university/ faculty/ department organized online training in the last three years?
1Yes 2 No
16. Does any of the teaching staff in your faculty/department integrate blended learning into
conventional teaching?
1Yes 2 No
17. Please state your opinion whether the following represent barriers in introducing MOOCs in your
institution/ faculty/ department [rate on a scale of 1-5, where 1=Totally disagree, 3=Neither agree
nor disagree, 5=Strongly agree]
Barriers in introducing MOOCs in your institution
1 Need for staff with significant working knowledge on online pedagogy 1 2 3 4 5
2 New requirements for new pedagogy when using MOOC 1 2 3 4 5
3 Need to rethink the curriculum delivery models and courses 1 2 3 4 5
4 Necessity of existence of proper e-infrastructure 1 2 3 4 5
5 The risk of infringement of the intellectual property rights 1 2 3 4 5
6 Low level of experience in using MOOC 1 2 3 4 5
7 Low level of knowledge about MOOC 1 2 3 4 5
8 Fear for the decreasing of the central role of the instructors 1 2 3 4 5
Please specify other barriers you consider significant
9 1 2 3 4 5
10 1 2 3 4 5
18. Please state your opinion whether the following represent incentives in introducing MOOCs in 157
your institution/ faculty/ department[rate on a scale of 1-5, where 1=Totally disagree, 3=Neither
agree nor disagree, 5=Strongly agree]
Incentives in introducing MOOCs in your institution
Supporting teachers for developing instructional materials using MOOCs (or other forms of e-
1 1 2 3 4 5
learning)
Rewarding the efforts of teachers in using MOOCs (or other forms of e-learning) for
2 1 2 3 4 5
instructional activities
3 Increasing the institutions’ reputation at national and international level 1 2 3 4 5
4 Increasing the institutions’ visibility 1 2 3 4 5
5 Reducing costs of teaching and learning 1 2 3 4 5
6 Atractiveness that can be reflected in a positive influence on students’ motivation to learn 1 2 3 4 5
7 Opportunities for teachers to gain knowledge and experience in the online pedagogical models 1 2 3 4 5
8 Opportunities for learners to access free courses 1 2 3 4 5
9 Opportunities for HEIs to gain a competitive advantage in the education market 1 2 3 4 5
10 Opportunities for conventional HEIs to develop study programmes in the new provision means 1 2 3 4 5
11 Opportunities for HEIs to reach international students 1 2 3 4 5
12 Opportunities for HEIs to increase collaboration with other institutions 1 2 3 4 5
13 Increased learners’ access to a variety of non-traditional courses and materials 1 2 3 4 5
14 Better response to the demands for continuing education from the labour market 1 2 3 4 5
Please specify other incentives you consider significant
15 1 2 3 4 5
16 1 2 3 4 5
E. Respondent’s profile information
19. Please provide some information about yourself:
a) Your position in the university (please tick from both groups if required):
- Managerial positions:
1 vice-rector 2Dean 3vice-Dean 4Head of department 5Other ____________
- Teaching degree:
1Professor 2Associate professor 3Lecturer 4Other ____________
b) Your teaching subjects
1Textiles & clothing and other related subjects 2Management and/or marketing related subjects
3Other subjects (please specify) _________________
c) Your scientific title 1PhD. 2Other ____________
d) Gender 1M 2F
e) Age 1under 25 225-29 330-39 440-49 550-59 660+
F. End of the questionnaire

20. Please state other comments/ observations/ proposals
Thank you for your time and support in completing this questionnaire.
If you would like to receive a brief report of the survey results, please let us know your e-mail address:
_________________________________
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Anticipating Skills in The Textile and Clothing Industry

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Anticipating Skills in The Textile and Clothing Industry

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ANTICIPATING SKILLS IN THE TEXTILE AND CLOTHING INDUSTRY

Report based on the results of the desk research conducted in

Deliverable: Anticipating Skills in the Textile and Clothing

Responsible partner: P9 RO - TUIASI

Executive Summary ........................................................................................................................... 7

IN THE TEXTILE AND CLOTHING INDUSTRY

• A short overview of the Textile and Clothing sector in Europe;

Number Organization name

1.2 Methodological aspects

2.1 Short overview of the Textile and Clothing Sector in Europe

2.1.2 Exports and demands

2.1.3 Innovations and New Technologies

2.1.4 Regulations and Branding 19

2.1.6 Cooperation with HEI

Consolidating - maintaining a position in a shrinking market by taking over competitors and

Key drivers of skills demand

Liberalisation of Markets and Globalisation– global competition

Environmental change - EU environmental legislation

Overcapacity - Changing consumer behavior

New and improved fibres, textiles and composite materials

Information and communication technologies

Innovation in processing technology

4.2 Advantages of partnership between companies, HEIs and research centres

(1) Collaboration in R&D

Benefits for HEIs:

Benefits for SMEs:

(2) Mobility of students (Internships):

Benefits for HEI students:

Benefits for SMEs:

(3) Lifelong Learning

4.3 Barriers and incentives

More specific barriers for SMEs:

Motivation for HEIs:

Motivation for SMEs:

AHRC, Knowledge Exchange Hubs for the Creative Economy.http://www.ahrc.ac.uk/What-We-

5.1 Aims and methodology

5.2 Literature review on MOOCs

The Early Days - cMOOCs

From cMOOCS to xMOOC

MOOCs go mainstream – xMOOCs

The state of the art

Figure 1. MOOC platforms providers’ distribution

Figure 2. MOOCs distribution according to the category

5.2.2 MOOC’s taxonomies 56

5.2.3 MOOC’s platforms

5.2.4 Learner’s perspectives in MOOCs

Figure 3. Distribution of MOOC learner types across course duration

Figure 4. Numbers of video views per week

Figure 5. MOOC learner aspirations

5.3. Case studies on using MOOCs

Connectivism and Connected Knowledge, University of Manitoba, 2008

Introduction to Circuit Analysis, San José State University, 2012

Pre-Algebra, Cuyahoga Community College, 2013

American Museum of Natural History MOOC Initiative, 2013

Some indicators of success in achieving this goal include the following: 66

Cima’s goals for the re-design project were:

Edinburgh University MOOC Initiative, 2013

The points which emerged clearly include:

Figure 6: MOOC course activity record

Table 1. Conversion trends between enrolment and course participant activity

Table 3. Course participant assessment submissions

Table 4. Statements of accomplishment (SoAs) as a percentage of active learners

Instructional quality Database