The European Crane Operator License: one European standard for craft proficiency for crane operators, established by the industry, the benefit the industry. It will enable every crane operator in Europe to demonstrate that he meets the minimum European requirements of the industry and enhances safe deployment of personnel in Europe, possibly in the rest of the world.The European Association of abnormal road transport and mobile cranes (ESTA) is the unique European arm for trade associations, representing mobile cranes and access platform, rental companies and abnormal road transport companies. In this organization seventeen European countries are represented through 23 national associations or private companies. ESTA’s primary objective is the ‘European harmonisation of rules and regulations for crane companies and hauliers, to represent our job activities in Europe and build our future’.Currently each Member State has its own rules in the field of professional competence and certification of crane operators. These rules differ from country to country and range from compulsory to optional and even to no rules at all. These differences can lead to confusion which has a negative impact on safety. Another negative impact of these differences in rules between countries is that it prevents the mobility of drivers in Europe. For this reason ESTA has committed itself to developing a system for optimum distribution of safe and qualified crane operators within Europe in the near future:one European Crane Operator License (ECOL).Establishing the ECOL-license means establishing a system that organises and administers the process of issuing certificates. ECOL-system ensures that crane operators in Europe meet the common requirements of the industry, enabling the industry to have safe and qualified crane operating capacity all over Europe. The ECOL-license will be the instrument to differentiate between qualified and un-qualified personnel. The main challenge is recognizing and acknowledging current personnel that already measure up to the common requirements of the industry, as well as train and educate those who don’t, together with new operators coming into the industry.ESTA, an association, will not take part in performing training and examination. A supervisory roll does fit an association. Therefor a foundation (ECOL-foundation) will be established that supervises and monitors the system of education, examination and maintenance. This means that ESTA as an association for the industry will set the criteria for being a licenced crane operator and what the key performance indicators are for staying a licenced crane operator. The ECOL-foundation sets the criteria for becoming an ECOL-educator and for becoming an ECOL-examination institution in this field. Only when you are ‘ECOL-approved you can train and test operators for the ECOL-license and have use of the ECOL-logo. Other tasks that will be assigned to the ECOL foundation are issuing certificates, recognizing diploma’s, managing the register and organizing continuing education and provide the knowledge bank of new high level content.Stakeholders and target groupThe ECOL-system has basically three actors: the industry, ESTA and the field of education. The industry: all the companies that employ crane operators, their clients and crane and lifting materials suppliers. Together they determine the job requirements of a crane operator and within which boundaries a crane operator receives the ECOL-licence.ESTA will be the keeper of these job requirements and boundaries by formulating the professional standard for crane operators with criteria and key performance indicators based on the European Qualification Framework (EQF). Within the ECOL-foundation the conditions for education, validation and examination are established. In order to monitor the population of licensed crane operators and to what extent they maintain their skills and knowledge a register is built. The field of education: the organisations that take care of education, examination and validation. Based on the professional standard for crane operators and the conditions for good education and good examination, they can qualify the crane operators. When the crane operator passes his exams, he receives his ECOL and will be included in the register of the ECOL-system. The target group of this project and ECOL are the crane operators. During the project approximately 150 crane operators will be involved. Ultimately all crane operators of mobile cranes (in Europe approximately 222.000 crane operators) are involved since they will eventually obtain the ECOL-license.Project TeamThe project team is represented by the national association of the major European countries (UK, Germany, France) and some smaller countries (Finland, Belgium, The Netherlands, Norway). The project team is completed with an educator, a crane operator’s representative and a manufacturer’s representative.

Aquaculture is forecasted to grow in the years to come (FAO 2014) and be a central part of the ever increasing need for food. A more effecient way of farming in the aquaculture industry is essential if we are to achieve the goals set by the European Union (EU) for water based food production. Aquaculture students and teachers therefore need updated knowledge about RAS (Recirculating Aquaculture Systems), so this can become a more integrated part at both Vocational Education and Training (VET) and higher education levels in the schools/universities.There is a need to further develop partnerships between education and industry to ensure that the students are updated about the possibilities for and challenges related to industrial growth based on a sustainable use of available water resources. This will, among other things, mean to create arenas for the exchange of knowledge and a renewal of some of the teaching methods. RAS is foreseen to be a central part of the aquaculture industry in the coming years. There is therefore a demand for a competence building in the educational institutes across Europe on RAS technology. This project will focus on RAS as a technology for the aquaculture industry, for present aquaculture species as well as possible new species. The partner countries have different traditions of how to use RAS, and we believe we have something to learn from each other. The introduction of ‘new’ species for farming and how this is managed is an exciting subject, as this varies in the regions represented in the project.The target groups for the project will be:1) teachers and instructors that perform teaching and training in subjects covered by the project;2) staff in businesses working with RAS;3) students in partner schools (indirectly as they will benefit from the project results and not directly be involved in the project activities).The Partnership is composed of universities, aquaculture organisations, upper secondary schools and businesses. The businesses will play a key role in making the content of the project more relevant and concrete. The Partnership is based on the idea of an increased cooperation between education and the aquaculture business world. At the same time we want to create links between VET and higher education institutes. The aim is to increase the awareness of, and knowledge about, aquaculture as a basis for a sustainable way of food production among students and teachers/instructors as a red thread through life-long learning. The upper secondary schools offers aquaculture as subjects for their students, and the university partners are involved with several aquaculture research projects, and at the same time they educate students at higher education level. The industry partners are experts in the field of RAS and have broad national and international networks. Some partners offer courses for students as well as the public, and innovate and develop digital tools and methods for personal follow-up and development.The project activities will focus on different subjects. The objective of LTT-activties is to increase knowledge about RAS, and how this knowledge can be transferred to students. By connecting industrial partners to education institutes we will make sure this is in accordance with the industry demands. The Intellectual Outputs in the project are the development of different kinds of teaching material and a E-learning platform aimed at different educational levels. This is directly linked to the aim of an increased knowledge among young people about RAS as an effective and sustainable way of aquaculture. The Multiplier Events connected to the Intellectual Outputs are open to stakeholders, and the aim is to increase the knowledge about the different aspects of RAS in accordance with national aims for increased aquaculture production and consumption of seafood.The most important result and impact of the project will be an increased knowledge among teachers and instructors about RAS. The development of updated teaching material will be very welcome among both schools and businesses, as this will benefit the further development of the RAS farming. The established partnership and the planned activities and deliverables will create a good foundation for future cooperation between education institutes and the aquaculture industry.At a local/regional level the desired impact will be increased knowledge among the participants about the opportunities in their own region when it comes to RAS. This will benefit municipalities in their management of their areas and resources, especially since young people will obtain this knowledge and experience through education institute. The project will hopefully be a positive marketing feature for the aquaculture industry as a central part of a forward-looking and sustainable part of the bioeconomy.