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This paper aims to propose an explorative metamodel of the key organizational competences management and presents a Web-based tool (Co.S.M.O.^© Competences Software Management for Organizations) for all-around assessment of the identified competences.

Building on the Great Eight Competencies Model- GEC, the European Qualifications Framework-EQF and focus group feedback, an online questionnaire was developed to manage the key organizational competences and to adapt the competence metamodel to the Italian context.

The competence metamodel described in this study and its newly designed tool (software with online questionnaire) could be used at the organizational level to improve productivity and efficiency by allowing an easy identification of key organizational competences and facilitating their acquisition and sharing.

Currently, the metamodel is mainly theoretical and the software sustained only a partial validation.

The developed tool is a dynamic, easy to use and interactive Web-based software useful for managing the competences in both for-profit and not-for-profit organizations.

European official documents invite companies and institutions to work together and share human capital: the European Qualifications Framework-EQF, at the base of this model, facilitates a common organizational language for human resources management.

Managerial competence literature indicates that a comprehensive model capturing a link between the EQF and a managerial competence model has not yet been considered in the literature.

Vocational Education and Training (VET) prepares citizens to participate in the labour market, but requires continuous development to adapt to the impacts of global trends, to become more attractive and relevant, to support lifelong learning, to encourage creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship, and to become more inclusive. European legislation and structural funds improved VET for people with SEN and/or disabilities, for example in the case of the European qualifications framework (EQF) and the national qualifications frameworks (NQFs). NQFs often lead to the development of a national qualifications catalogue, specifying training standards for all, including people with SEN/disabilities, yet with the challenge to achieve the right balance between the flexibility and the standardisation requirements of programmes and procedures. A recent European Agency project investigated the key aspects of VET programmes for learners with SEN and/or disabilities in 26 European countries and identified success factors that contributed to auspicious VET and transition to employment for learners with SEN and/or disabilities. These factors will finalise this chapter showing, in an inclusive design perspective, that they benefit all learners.

Relying on a design science paradigm, the purpose of this paper is to describe the development and evaluation of items for an ICT artefact that supports the assessment of transversal professional competences within the validation of prior learning (VPL). To do so, the authors build a conceptual bridge between the Occupational Information Network (O*NET) and the European Qualifications Framework (EQF).

Design science research paradigm, in particular the participatory development of candidate items and their evaluation in a multi-stakeholder approach.

The authors find that a self-assessment of professional competences should be comprised of 160 items in order to cover the breadth and depth of the O*NET in the hierarchical taxonomy. Such quantity of items sufficiently builds a conceptual bridge between the O*NET and the; EQF.

When designing procedures for the VPL, it is imperative to bear in mind the purpose of the validation procedure, in order to determine relevant stakeholders and their needs in advance as well as the; required language proficiency of the assessment instrument.

The innovative value of this approach lies in the combination of an underlying hierarchical taxonomy with assessment items that are developed based on the qualification standards of different Austrian professions. Together with specific verbs that were adapted for each particular item, an innovative self-assessment is proposed. Thereby the authors aim to account for some of the mentioned shortcomings of the EQF.

This paper applies a design science paradigm to develop an ICT artefact that should support the VPL. By reflecting on the design process, the authors introduce a theoretical bridge between the O*NET and the EQF. Thereby the authors aim to account for some of the mentioned shortcomings of the EQF.

The purpose of this paper is to find a framework for the assessment of the learning outcomes of entrepreneurship education as a cross-curricular subject. The problem is twofold: the first difficulty is the relationship to the general issues regarding competence and its assessment; the second difficulty is the assessment of competencies in cross-curricular education in diverse contexts such as school and work.

The European key competence for lifelong learning of the sense of initiative and entrepreneurship and the European qualification framework (EQF) are convenient to benchmark the outcomes of enterprise education. In order to assess and develop competence in vocational students, educators should design real life problem solving situations, which are new for the students and closely related to their vocations.

The study describes an assessment process of the learning outcomes in terms of knowledge, skills and competence. While the authors tested knowledge by giving the students open-ended questions, the authors assessed the skills and competence with a practical problem concerning the students’ vocational discipline to be solved in groups.

The paper calls for a better alignment between work experience, teaching for competence and assessment of key competences – such as the sense of initiative and entrepreneurship – taught as a cross curricular subject.

The assessment makes use of a theoretically grounded definition of competence, and considers varied forms of evaluation of entrepreneurship education. Educators can use it across Europe as it refers to a common background, the European key competences and the EQF, and it promotes the students’ transitions to work and mobility. It is rigorous, and, at the same time, adaptable to the context. It is meaningful for the various stakeholders at various levels: students, employers, schools, workplaces and institutions.

The paper's aim is to present a critical review of the current European process of co‐operation in VET with a special view to the European Qualification Framework and its competence orientation.

The approach reviews the official documentation and the consultation process and a contrastive analysis of the state of the art of research and developments in VET.

In order to make European VET a direct contribution to the revised Lisbon agenda, a more concise shared vision with regard to the processes and structures of vocational education might be needed.

It does not seem possible logically and pragmatically to fully abstract from the processes in which competence is acquired and in which it is going to be used.

Research and development activities in the European Union should be integrated towards an agenda that covers structures, conditions and processes of learning for the world of work.

Apart from a few other contributions, critical accounts of current policies and its implications for research and practice are scarce.

The purpose of this paper is to question the appropriateness of a proposal for a new European Qualifications Framework. The framework has three perspectives: historical; analytical; and national.

The approaches are diverse since the first insists on the institutional and decision‐making processes at European level questioning the impact that could have on the recently formalised Open Method of Coordination. The second goes into more detailed analyses of the instrument itself and of its shortcomings both in conceptual terms and on its pragmatic ones. The last approach is a comparative one by which the French system is “benchmarked” against EQF guidelines.

The main conclusion is that there is obviously a political will to question the role and the structure of qualifications in view of an economy and a society of knowledge and that research has much to contribute – on very different levels – like the three chosen for this article.

Choosing to mix three quite different approaches in one short text is an attempt to be valued since it shows the different aspects under which a so‐called “neutral” instrument needs to be regarded.

Practically, this speaks for the further involvement of research in the present, very institutional and organisational discussions on European qualifications.

In terms of research, it is seldom that these various levels are considered together. The article proves that there is a case to do so.

The purpose of the research paper is to provide the humanitarian logistics community with an overall picture about competencies and skills in humanitarian logistics and if there is a lack of professionalization of the logistics function in humanitarian context from an international perspective. Further this research elaborates practical approaches how the skills and competencies can be enhanced and developed for international education programs.

An empirical survey as approach was used. Hereby a descriptive analysis provides in a comprehensive way education, skills and competencies in humanitarian logistics. The respondents are from different countries and continents as well as from different humanitarian sector, e.g. humanitarian organizations (HOs), logistics service providers, military services and researchers.

In general, the findings of the research paper present valuable insights of mandatory contents of education in humanitarian logistics as well as competencies and skills on different levels based on European Qualification Framework (EQF). This research paper explores these and offers suggestions to improve and promote market and professional competencies and skills for the humanitarian logistics sector and to minimize their impacts.

The field survey was due to access and motivation restriction mainly answered by academics in the field of humanitarian logistics or by leadership personnel with very high academic merits (MA/PhD). Further the objective of this research paper was purposefully limited to describing the education requirements, not gap analysis with existing education offers or development of new curricula content – this should be a task for further research setups.

Specific requirements regarding negotiation and legal competences are named in the survey as well as the objective of specific, country-related adaptions and the time schedule form of education trainings in humanitarian logistics (during a professional career with as much time absent for learning as feasible).

The paper highlights the increasing demand and still existing gap regarding education and training in humanitarian logistics in the field. All included institutions and persons have to re-evaluate their prioritization and budgeting in order to support further education and training for personnel in humanitarian logistics according to the results of the survey and addressing the need of logisticians in the humlog management and operations.

This paper adds to the knowledge about the implications of education and training and measurement of skills and competencies based on EQF for theory and practice. Further the humanitarian logistics community requires rudimentary humanitarian logistics education to enhance the logistics operation in case of disaster toward the affected people.

The purpose of this article is to provide research findings on learning and the structuring of qualifications in the IT‐sector in Germany and relate this to the international discussion on the structuring of qualifications for the IT‐industry.

The article is based on desk research as regards the international discussion. The empirical findings stem from a standardised survey and case studies on learning in the IT sector within Germany and analysis of supplementary studies.

Two general approaches can be distinguished: one based on coherent occupational profiles and one based on market‐driven smaller unit certificates. The German system can be interpreted as a hybrid. It includes elements of both, thus allowing for a direct comparison of the two approaches. The empirical findings illustrate an acceptance problem. The study also suggests that work process‐oriented learning is not always sufficient to generate the necessary competences required for new tasks, that profiles do not correspond to the more comprehensive profiles in small and medium‐sized enterprises and that they do not match career aspirations of employees.

The research presented here is based only on empirical research in the IT sector in Germany. It is hoped that this can be extended to other contexts in the future.

From the performance of the German case and the empirical findings it can be concluded that the model of comprehensive profiles is more promising in terms of mobility and transfer of qualifications. This is interesting for stakeholders and decision makers.

Empirical evidence on the topic is scarce. This article aims at contributing to filling this gap.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the potential of already existing skills and competence ontologies to benefit European transparency tools and especially the implementation of the European Qualification Framework. Furthermore, it asks whether any of them could serve as a starting point to develop an International Standard Classification of Skills and Competences to supplement ISCED and ISCO.

This contribution contains a comparative analyses of three systems providing ontologies of skills and competences – DISCO, O*NET and Taxonomy_DB – under terminological and pragmatic aspects.

The analysis identifies O*NET as the most promising candidate to serve European transparency instruments and the EQF. Furthermore, it demonstrates that the development of an International Standard Classification of Skills and Competences, that is suitable for statistical purposes as well as appropriate for practical applications in human resource management and in the area of education, would have to integrate very diverging demands, which so far are being best met by O*NET and DISCO.

The depth of the analysis is not sufficient to serve as an exhaustive guideline to design an International Standard Classification of Skills and Competences.

The paper shows the potential of a future International Standard Classification of Skills and Competences for the EQF, for European transparency tools, and for statistical purposes.

This article brings a new topic, namely ontologies for skills and competences, into the European debate about competences and their visibility and validation.