Beginning of JUST project

According to the EU Commission report on “State of University-Business Cooperation in EU” 2018, such limited (or lack of) collaboration dramatically reduces:

• labour market relevance of study programmes
• employability of graduates
• ability of universities to produce impactful research.

While lack of resources is often referred to as a barrier to cooperation, academics name bureaucracy and lack time as inhibitors while business identify cultural differences, different management styles and diverging motivations as obstacles.

In such a context, JUST (Joint University/SME Training) will develop innovative tools to broker sustainable and fruitful collaboration between HEIs and SMEs to:

1. develop & deliver labour market-relevant curricula
2. define joint Work Based Learning (WBL) arrangements
3. increase collaboration in career guidance / placement

The main goal of the JUST project is to develop innovative tools to broker sustainable and fruitful collaboration between HEIs and SMEs for the development and delivery of labour market-relevant curricula; definition of joint Work Based Learning (WBL) arrangements; increased collaboration in career guidance and placement.

JUST is tailored to the specific needs of selected target groups:

1. HEIs institution, which will need to identify innovative means/tools to engage SMEs
2. Students, who will be able to access to more relevant training, also in form of microcredentials, on how to land a first job in a SME and grow professionally
3. Small & Medium Enterprises, which will have tools to collaborate with HEIs to express their skill needs, requirements and preferences

The Project has 4 main project results:

1. JUST OER Platform & Networking space
2. JUST Model for University/SME collaboration
3. JUST Training development and Test & Validation with 300 targets
4. JUST Implementation Suite

Project Partners:

• Faculty of Media, Slovenia (coordinator)
• Regional Development Agency of Northern Primorska Ltd Nova Gorica, Slovenia
• University of Malaga, Spain
• Internet Web Solutions, Spain
• D’Annunzio University of Chieti-Pescara, Italy
• Italian Development Partners, Italy
• Comenius University in Bratislava Faculty of management, Slovakia
• Slovak Business Agency, Slovakia
• Institut de Haute Formation aux Politiques Communautaires IHF, Belgium

The JUST Project has started on the 1^st of January 2022 and its end is on 30^th June 2024.

Contact:

Follow all activities and news of the JUST project on the webpage: www.just-training.eu.

This project is funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union. The European Commission support for preparing and publishing this press release does not constitute 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.