Abstract:
Over the past few years, there has been a growing number of consumers interested in food made from plant-based raw materials. Therefore, the number of consumers aiming to reduce their meat consumption is increasing globally. This, in turn, has led to a rapid rise in demand for vegan and vegetarian products.
The key to success for food producers lies in leveraging innovative technologies while enhancing their professional qualifications. To address these challenges, The EQVEGAN project (European Qualifications & Competences for the Vegan Food Industry) has been funded by the European Commission through the Sector Skills Alliance Programme (SSA), as part of the Key Action 2 projects. Sector Skills Alliances aims at tackling skills gaps, by identifying sector specific labour market needs and demand for new skills with regard to one or more occupational profiles, or by enhancing the responsiveness of initial and continuing VET systems, at any level, to sector–specific labour market needs. The project consortium involved 15 institutions from 11 countries (including: governmental agencies, education & training, industry & representatives, multipliers). The project’s goal was to support the rapidly changing plant processing sector by improving staff qualifications and enhancing the mobility of specialists within Europe. As part of the project, a vocational skills portal was created for those working in vegan food production, along with a European certification system for their qualifications (see: eqvegan.eu).
One of the consortium partner was the Pozna? University of Life Sciences that conducted professional trainings in line with EU quality standards and reference tools at two levels: EQF6 and EQF7. The trainings consisted of both theory and practice (lectures and practical sessions) across four modules: Plant-based processing (PBP), Green Skills (GS), Digitalisation and Automation (DA), and Soft Skills (SS), delivered in a hybrid mode (on line, on site). At the end of the trainings, both students and teachers were asked to evaluate the overall quality of trainings via an online questionnaire. The concise results of the teachers’ evaluation are presented, as follows:
- Majority of teachers (91%) agreed that the modules’ content was relevant and up-to-date
- All the learning outcomes (for each module) were considered fully achieved
- Almost 60% of teachers strongly agreed that sufficient resources have been employed to implement the courses, while few suggested some minor improvements or additional references, or more teaching hours (i.e. nutrition, new product commercialization) would be recommended in the future
- Almost all teachers were fully satisfied with the overall quality of trainings delivered
In summary, the survey results reflect a clear and positive evaluation of the courses by the teachers, indicating that the courses were well-prepared and effectively delivered.
