Energy(k) education

Energy(k) Education is a cross-border project that will recruit, train, retrain, and further train young people and adults for professions to enable the energy transition. For the next three years, Avans University of Applied Sciences will be the lead partner for the Energy(k) Education project, which is being implemented under the Interreg VI Flanders-Netherlands program with a subsidy from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). Eighteen educational institutions, government bodies, a regional career fund, a regional intermediary, and a business organization from the South of the Netherlands and Flanders are collaborating on the project. The project has a budget of €4.200.000.

A sustainable Europe

To limit global warming, Europe is working hard to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions and bring them to zero by 2050. To achieve this, sustainability skills are essential. Over the past 10 years, the energy transition has largely focused on developing and testing innovative energy technologies. This is a necessary, but certainly not the only, prerequisite for the success of this major societal challenge.

Energy transition requires skilled personnel

A larger and more skilled workforce (including energy technicians) at all educational levels has become a growing bottleneck. The type of personnel needed will also change significantly in the coming years. There's a need to broaden skills and acquire digital competencies. It's encouraging that this is receiving increasing attention from all sides, and the Energy Education project is contributing to this.

The road to success

The Energy Education project is doing everything it can to prevent the energy transition from stalling due to staff shortages in the energy sector. The project achieves this by:

Collaboration across borders

The challenges we face on both sides of the border are similar. By collaborating across borders, we can respond more quickly and efficiently to needs and prevent mutual competition. The educational institutions involved represent the majority of secondary and higher vocational education in the relevant sectors. And the business organizations involved have a good understanding of the field in the Netherlands and Flanders. Together, the project partners also want to ensure that the corresponding skill levels are recognized across the border. Therefore, these 18 project partners in the South of the Netherlands and Flanders will be collaborating intensively in the coming years. Because only through cross-border collaboration will we achieve a smarter and greener Europe!

In the Energy Education project, the following partners from Flanders and the Netherlands are working intensively together:

Avans University of Applied Sciences, Zuyd University of Applied Sciences, Zeeland University of Applied Sciences, Thomas More University of Applied Sciences, Vives University of Applied Sciences, Curio, ROC Da Vinci College, Koning Willem 1 College, ROC ter AA, ROC Tilburg, Scalda, Summa, Catholic Education Flanders, Mtech+, Province of Antwerp, RTC East Flanders, Flemish Energy and Climate Agency (VEKA) and Wij-Techniek (also on behalf of Techniek Nederland).

Would you like more information about this project? Then send an email to energiekonderwijs@avans.nl.