SEnDIng is a 3-year Sector Skills Alliance Erasmus+ project run during the period November 2017 – January 2021 under the coordination of University of Patras. The project consortium consists of 12 partners coming from 4 European countries (Greece, Cyprus, Bulgaria and Ireland): two Higher Education Institutions, two Vocational Education and Training providers, five IT SMEs, two Associations of IT companies and professionals and one Certification Body.

The SEnDIng project addresses the skills gap at the Data Science and IoT domains, by providing IT professionals with technical knowledge and skills together with transversal skills and competences that are relevant to the needs of the labor market, are transferable and are recognized among European countries.

The main project objectives achieved are the following:

• Design 2 VET programs for Data Science and IoT that are based on multi-disciplinary and learning-outcomes oriented curricula and combine technical knowledge and skills with transversal skills and competences.
• Design 2 reference models of knowledge, skills and competences for Data Scientists and IoT professionals in accordance with well-known European frameworks, such as the e-Competence Framework (and the European Skills, Competences, Qualifications and Occupations.
• Develop 12 Data Science and IoT online courses and 1 online course for transversal skills development that are available at http://mooc.sending-project.eu/.
• Develop more than 250 Open Educational Resources that are available for downloading here: Data Science, IoT, Transversal skills.
• Pilot the VET programs in three phases (online Data Science/IoT training, online transversal skills training and work-based learning) and certify the learning outcomes obtained.
• Disseminate the project results to target groups and engage them with the project to maximize its potential impact.
• Take actions towards the sustainability of project outputs and their exploitation by relevant stakeholders.

For more information about the project, its activities and outputs please visit the project website.

You can also access the project final report, as well as all public deliverables.

Data Science (DS) and Internet of Things (IoT) have been recognized as the technologies among the key drivers of change regarding the skills and competences required by IT professionals. The forecasted skills’ gap together with the rapid and continuous evolution of DS and IoT technologies and their broad application at many economy’s sectors make the skills required by the related occupational profiles increasingly sophisticated, and the need to be constantly updated imperative.

The Sector Skills Alliance for the design and delivery of innovative VET programmes to Data Science and Internet of Things professionals (SEnDIng) project aims to address the skills’ gap of Data Scientists and Internet of Things professionals and provide them with knowledge, skills and competences that meet the labor market needs. To achieve this goal, SEnDIng will develop and deliver to the two aforementioned occupational profiles two learning outcome-oriented modular VET programmes using innovative teaching and training delivery methodologies. Each VET program will be provided according to the blended learning model incorporating a strong work based learning component. Furthermore, a common reference scheme of competences, skills, knowledge and proficiency levels needed by DS and IoT professionals will be designed in accordance with European frameworks (European eCompetence Framework and ESCO), together with a certification scheme following the ECVET framework, to ensure that the produced results will be transferable and recognized among European countries.

The SEnDIng alliance brings together twelve partners coming from Greece (University of Patras, Greek Computer Society, Olympic Training and Consulting, Yodiwo, Mixanografiki, Unicert), Bulgaria (Bulgarian Association of Software Companies, European Software Institute - Center Eastern Europe, Code Runners, Nemetschek), Cyprus (University of Cyprus) and Ireland (Universal Learning Systems) with different profile, expertise and culture (higher education institutes, VET providers, IT associations, SMEs and a certification body) that share a common vision: to provide the European labor market with high qualified Data Science and Internet of Things professionals.

During the project’s kick-off meeting which took place in Patras, Greece, on 31^st January and 1^st February 2018 the project was presented to the partners and many fruitful discussions took place for the smooth start of the project and its implementation according to the defined timetable.

SEnDIng is a 3 year project coordinated by University of Patras, Greece and co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union. It started on 1^st December 2017 and will end on 30^th November 2020.