Industrial Engineering and Management of European Higher Education

A critical mass of Knowledge Workers (KWs) is required to fill the gap between the ever-increasing deficit between demand and offer in the field of Industrial Engineering and Management (IE&M) in Europe. This project aims at providing answers to the highlighted problem by combining organizational methodologies for the production of goods and services and new digital technologies in the implementation of the so-called Industry 4.0 paradigm. The main objective is to design and test innovative courses (both classes and e-learning modules) in IE&M, creating new curricula for university students and industry workforce and eventually contributing to reduce the shortage of KWs in the manufacturing sector. By introducing cutting-edge learning techniques and tools, the project will support the future generation of KWs, as the participants will learn how to face the emerging challenges of the job market, developing hard skills along with an entrepreneurial mindset. The project foresees to foster a new mind-set within IE&M students based on intrapreneurship, meaning a new “employee culture” marked by higher degrees of autonomy and responsibility for the sake of the hiring firms and the entire sector. Specific project objectives are:• To identify education and training convergences and divergences between IE&M courses, along with the training needs required by companies to IE&M students and collect these results in a Body of Knowledge (BoK), conceived as both theoretical framework and technical specifications for redesigning IE&M courses in HEIs. • To align knowledge, skills and competences with contents, learning–teaching methods and assessment of the educational activities offered by the different project partners to the BoK• To develop and test a 4 pilot IE&M courses based on the findings of the BoK• To develop and test 4 e-learning modules based on the revised courses• To reshape a whole IE&M Master Program building on the experience developed in the project