Building Integrated Photovoltaics (BIPV) are PV elements used to replace conventional building materials in parts of the building envelope, increasingly being incorporated into the construction of new buildings as a source of electrical power. The advantage of integrated PV over common non-integrated systems is that the initial cost can be offset by reducing the amount spent on building materials and labour that would normally be used. These advantages make BIPV one of the fastest growing segments of the PV industry. BIPV is considered to be the optimal method of installing renewable energy systems in urban, built-up areas where undeveloped land is scarce and expensive. Their widespread use is expected to become the backbone of the zero energy building European target for 2020. Despite technical promise, social barriers to widespread use have been identified (conservative culture of the building industry & integration with high-density urban design) and there is a disparity between the technological progress made and the professionals’ knowledge and skills (architects, engineers) being responsible for the integration of BIPV. PV can be included in buildings only if the professionals involved have sufficient knowledge of the technology and appropriate design tools. High level of technical knowledge and skills is required for BIPV planning. The project aims at developing an innovative and multidisciplinary, high quality course for BIPV in order to provide the necessary skills for the future BIPV professionals. This will be implemented at the postgraduate level and will be part of several Master programmes in Sustainable Energy. Innovation (through the utilization of ICT, VLE, remote labs), sustainability (partnership between academia, industry and other stakeholders) as well as significant impact for academic institutions, industry and other stakeholders will be the main outcomes. Project activities: 1. Identification of framework and requirements. 2. Development of high-quality didactic content on BIPV for higher education. 3. Development of virtual learning environment and course adaptation. 4. Deployment of remote labs. 5. Pilot testing of the course and refinement. 6. Awareness raising of the job prospects offered within the renewable energy sector in the field of BIPV. 7. Increase of awareness, sensitivity, and promotion of BIPV technologies among key target groups within the local economy. The consortium consists of: • A higher education institution in the Netherlands with extensive experience in the field of PV and BIPV. • A higher education institution in Cyprus with extensive experience in the field of PV and BIPV. • A higher education institution in Austria with extensive experience in the field of PV and BIPV. • A large enterprise in Cyprus with a worldwide presence and expertise in project & quality management, advisory services in the field of renewables, human capital development and training. • An expert company in Germany with high level experience in engineering, research, training capacity and dissemination projects in the renewable energy sector. Tangible & intangible outcomes: 1. Development of appropriate and up to date educational material for BIPV. 2. The creation of a Virtual Learning Platform & Remote Labs for BIPV education and training. 3. Accreditation (in parallel but beyond the scope of the project) The impact of the project is anticipated to be large and multi-dimensional. Higher education institutions will be able to incorporate the newly developed course component in their existing Master’s Programmes in Sustainable Energy thus enriching and improving the existing curriculum. They will be able to attract more students as they will be given new learning opportunities & experiences. They will satisfy the needs of the relevant industry, establish closer links with the relevant stakeholders, provide opportunities for closer interaction and satisfy the needs for quality education and learning. Moreover, they will receive worldwide recognition by academia and the industry as institutions with a focus on BIPV. They will be in a better position to develop and adopt a full Master’s Programme on BIPV as the market develops with the further uptake of the technology. On the longer term, improved visibility and recognition for these institutions offering such a high quality, innovative course and through open access of the material such excellence is expected to improve university ranking. Improvement, innovation and modernization of education in the countries involved and beyond the partnership is ensured, since the deliverables will be openly available to any HE institution interested in incorporating it into their Master’s Programmes. Stronger relations will be formed with economic actors in the PV and the wider business world and PV enterprises will be able to recruit well-educated and trained professionals (engineers, planners, architects, designers).

"The project ""MOST"" (Master educatiOn Smart Technology) focuses on developing advanced master's education based on Smart Grid technology using innovative digital methods and best practices to facilitate the emergence of a highly specialised and flexible skilled workforce. The MOST project changed the didactical offer in Cyprus, Greece, and Italy. Indeed, three partner institutions (UNICA, UOWM, and UCY) validated MOST master's program following the national laws and legislations and approved to start the master's course from the academic year 2022/23 as a joint master's degree recognised by the three countries. Thus, the main project objective at the time of application has been fully accomplished. Furthermore, it was worth mentioning that UCY, UNICA, and UOWM, with WIP, MINES, and DELOITTE as associated partners, applied to the Erasmus Mundus EMJM call 2022 to guarantee long term sustainability to the master and allow students to benefit from international mobility.The new master's degree MOST has been completely developed. The master (90 ECTS) has three semesters and three curricula for different specialisations. Semester 1 at the University of Western Macedonia (UOWM) gives a common cultural foreground to students who will be selected intentionally with diverse backgrounds to exalt Smart Grid multidisciplinarity. Semester 2 offers three different specialisations that students can choose from:- Smart grid Development at the University of Cagliari (UNICA).- Operation and control of Smart Grids and local energy networks at UOWM.- Customer's Market Opportunities, at the University of Cyprus (UCY).Finally, Semester 3 is for the stage in a company (mandatory, 300 hours minimum) and the Thesis preparation and dissertation. Semester 3 is crucial to maintaining a strong relationship with industries and increasing job opportunities. The lectures are compulsory or elective. Elective modules weigh 10 ECTS on 60 ECTS of didactic activities to not jeopardise the logic behind each curriculum. The didactic material has been prepared by an international team of experienced instructors with a solid academic and research background enriched by experience in Smart Grid projects in partnership with industrial partners. All material is on the Moodle e-learning platform developed by the lead partner UNICA. Three pilot courses were followed by UNICA, UCY and UOWM students that obtained the relevant ECTS fully recognised by the academic institutions.The Living Labs are an essential part of the MOST's didactical offer to increase the students' hands-on experience. MOST prepared the environment where students' hands-on experience can be achieved in the Campus Living Labs of partner institutions. A complete list of activities that students can perform has been prepared and published in the relevant deliverable. Two new Living Labs were built in UNICA and the University of Ulm during the pandemic crisis and the project.The Virtual Smart Grid Labs, the virtualisation of tests and experiments based on field data, are a MOST distinctive feature. The VGSLabs developed by all partners use digital twins of existing infrastructures or specific digital models to increase the virtual experience on Smart Grid and allow students to familiarise themselves with typical problems related to techno-economic analysis, distribution planning and system design. UCY coordinated the activities and edited a booklet of VSGLabs that is one of MOST deliverables together with the VSGLabs. Students can use VSGLabs with the UCY dedicated server.MOST main results are: I) complete a master's degree on Smart Grid ready to be offered; II) plan the use of Living Labs for increasing the students' hands-on experience with a list of experiments; III) offer VSGLabs to study the Smart Grid more innovatively.The internal quality process assures the production of high-quality material and can continuously check the validity of contents concerning the state-of-the-art.The Pandemic heavily affected the dissemination activity, and the work plan was adapted accordingly. Since 2020 virtual events have substituted physical events and meetings. A video telling MOST in a simplified manner but attractive has been realised by a professional team coordinated by WIP. The video, a new output of the master, is now on social media and uploaded in the Erasmus+ Project Results platform. Furthermore, the project website and the Moodle platform have been enriched with new material and one animation. All partners faced the criticalities caused by the pandemic crisis by allocating more human resources to IOs. UNICA approved the budget reallocation allowed by the amendment to the contract. In charge of the new social media activities and video productions, WIP used a significant part of budget reallocation to cover the related costs."

The overarching aim of the EURYDICE project is to increase students' employability in the field of renewable energies, on the basis of closer collaboration between university and industry. Industry often complains that practical experience of the graduates is missing. This lack can be found on all the layers of the education system in South Africa: vocational training, diploma studies, bachelor and master degrees as well as doctoral studies.Within this project we focus on renewable energies with the overall goal to enhance employability. The energy generation landscape in South Africa is undergoing a fundamental transition, as the vision of the energy strategy is to contribute to an affordable energy for all. Closing the gap between TVET (Technical and Vocational Education and Training Colleges) studies and diploma study by the definition of industrial experience requirements for University of Technology (UoT) diploma students. This leads to an increased preparedness and “studyability” of UoT diploma students. Industrial stakeholders will be integrated into the process. The project will develop an “Industrial Portal” as working tool. Increasing industrial experience in UoT bachelor education by the integration of practical experience into the curriculum. Within the project offered Fast-Track Acceleration program for graduates, enables students for a fast employment or starting a new enterprise in the field. To increase industry cooperation in post graduate education “OpenLabs” and “MobileLabs” are developed within the project. It is intended that industry brings industrial problems into the “Labs”, which will then be solved by the students.Workshops and summer schools guarantee that best-practices in defining and implementing the measures are being used, that input of all relevant stakeholders (i.e. South African students) is been taken into account.

"The EPBE project has created many Open Educational Resources (OER) with the aim of helping students to build their own personal brand and look for a job, using technological tools 4.0 and favouring access to the labour market on the Internet, as well as the acquisition of digital skills in a training and work context. The main objective of the project is training and raising awareness among students and vocational training and higher education teachers of the acquisition of digital skills in a training and work context (creation of a personal brand, job search and training aimed at teachers that can be replicated in any other educational centre). This project favours the use of innovative techniques by means of the use of the results created: Quality Guidelines for the preparation of Massive Open Online Courses (hereinafter, MOOCs) ""Personal Branding"" and ""Job Hunting 4.0"", and a Handbook on methodological and pedagogical approaches on distance education with ICTs to create a personal brand and look for a job on the Internet. 8 members from 5 European countries have participated in this project:P1. Universidad a Distancia de Madrid (UDIMA) (Spain): Project Coordinator. Private 100% distance learning university specialised in the use of ICTs applied to education, innovation and research.P2. Fundació Prat (Spain): Foundation associated to the Centro de Estudios Prat that offers training for different levels through innovative teaching techniques.P3. STePS (Italy): Pioneering company in formal and informal approaches to favour a sustainable change within organisations and territories.P4. Learning Plans for All (LPfA) (Greece): Company specialised in lifelong learning and in providing continuous learning opportunities. Experience in the field of vocational training.P5. Marconi University (Italy): First distance learning university of Italy. Devoted to research, development and testing of innovative pedagogical methods using the latest technologies.P6. Marak Digital (Spain): Advertising agency specialised in promotion, marketing and emerging technologies.P7. Deloitte (Cyprus): Service consulting company. P8. Radio Leinehertz 106.5 (Germany): Non-profit company working in the field of the media and in education for young people and adults.The main activities (Intellectual Outputs -O-) developed were the creation of a Quality Guidelines (O1), the curricular design of two MOOCs (O2 and O3), the preparation of said MOOCs (“Personal Branding” -O4- and “Job Hunting 4.0” -O5-), the creation of a Handbook to facilitate the creation of MOOCs and on-line courses in general (O6) and, lastly, the creation of a Toolkit (O7) composed of a repository containing all information and tools developed in this project, available for free download for all teachers, educational centres or companies wishing to use them.From the beginning of the project and in parallel to the work made, we have worked in an online marketing campaign for the promotion of same, including the creation of a web site (epbe.eu) where you can find all information and results created subject to be freely used. In addition, a Promotion Plan, a Quality Management Plan and a Results Use Plan has been created, as well as a training activity applying the B-learning methodology for teachers from all educational sectors with the aim of multiplying and transferring the results and know-how created.Finally, for the presentation and dissemination of the results of the project, an International Workshop was celebrated on 1 June 2017 in Barcelona, in front of an audience composed of professionals of the sector, students, teachers, stakeholders and general public. Said event was streamed with the aim of ensuring the widest circulation possible, and it can be watched on-demand from the project's web site. The project tries to have an influence on the improvement of the accessibility to the labour market of European young people through the enhancement of their personal brand on the Internet. MOOCs and a specific methodology previously mentioned have been developed to this aim. Thus, students and teachers can acquire the necessary knowledge to improve their employability, teaching activity and digital skills. On the other hand, the presence of a free and permanently open repository of results on the project's web site containing many audiovisual educational resources ensures the project's sustainability and applicability in all educational contexts and its use for all potential users and interested parties."

Our aim is to revolutionise the combat against food fraud and enhance transparency in our food supply chains. How? By establishing and mobilising The European Food Fraud Community of Practice (EFF-CoP), a sustainable Research and Innovation eco-system of food fraud researchers and end-users based on solid sociological principles. We have gathered a diverse group of stakeholders in our consortium, scientists, regulators, large and small-sized industry, the organic sector, existing networks with >4200 members, and more to lay the groundwork. They are catalysers to reach out rapidly to a large number of prospective EFF-CoP members. That is only the beginning. We will set out to understand the needs of the various stakeholder groups and the network structure to prioritise content and enhance information flows, and we set up the EFF-Hub as our virtual headquarters, an interactive collaborative space. From there, series of activities will be rolled out – sharing existing research and innovation resources and educational materials, developing new ones – Good Practice Recommendations, factsheets, and case study materials, and we will host engaging virtual and live events to facilitate interactive collaboration. These events involve food fraud festivals, gamification-based training courses, living labs, ‘authentic appetites’ podcast series, the EFF-CoP on Tour program, webinars, virtual cafes, a food fraud incident preparedness workshop, and dedicated events for the future generation. Our goal is to cultivate a vibrant community of over 5000 members at the end of the project, all dedicated to combating food fraud and learning from each other. To ensure our EFF-CoP stands the test of time, we are not only implementing the proven concept of ‘CoP design for evolution’ but also a comprehensive exploitation strategy and business plan. Together we will work towards a future with enhanced authenticity, traceability and transparency within our food supply chains.