Forward Looking Projects Adult Learning Topic 5 Improving career guidance to support adults’ participation in training
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Pact for Skills
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Forward Looking Projects Adult Learning Topic 5 Improving career guidance to support adults’ participation in training

Topic 5 focuses on improving adult guidance and counselling services, especially for small and micro-enterprises, by enhancing skills assessment, career management, digital tools, employer support, and counsellor training for scalable impact.

Details

Status
Open
Publication date
27 January 2025
Opening date
Deadline model
Single-stage
Deadline date
27 May 2025, 17:00 (CEST)
Funding programme
Industrial Ecosystem
  • Cross-sectoral
Level of funding
  • EU level

Description

Overview

Objectives

Projects under this priority will identify and test methods and mechanisms to improve guidance and counselling services to adults, with a particular focus on reaching out to and supporting workers in small and micro-enterprises, at all levels, including management. Ideally projects should devise approaches that have the potential of becoming mainstreamed.

Activities/actions supported

Main activities under this Topic could involve (non-exhaustive list): 

  • provision of coordinated services (in person or online) open to all adults and organisations (in particular SMEs and micro-enterprises) through ‘one-stop-shops', offering skills assessment, directing individuals (and groups of individuals) to tailor-made learning options, with validation of the acquired skills; 
  • improvement of the career management skills of individuals, to help them navigate smoothly through different learning and work opportunities,;
  • support to employers, especially small and micro-enterprises, to identify which skills their enterprises will need and how they can support their employees to assess and acquire these skills; 
  • reinforcement of career guidance counsellors’ training and skills development so that they can support individuals to unlock their full potential; 
  • making use of skills intelligence and digital tools, including artificial intelligence, in career guidance to capitalise on new efficiencies and scale; 
  • or testing of such tools in combination with in-person guidance and counselling methods, on a sample of users.

Anticipated outcomes

Expected impacts include: 

  • higher participation rate of adults in lifelong learning; 
  • strategies on ways to improve career guidance and counselling to support adults to make informed choices about up- and reskilling opportunities and to improve their career management skills; action plans for career guidance and counselling solutions; 
  • models for enhanced career guidance, counselling and mentoring for the up- and reskilling of adults, especially for people without a functional level of basic skills and for workers in small and micro-enterprises; improved reflections on the specific up- and reskilling needs of SMEs and microenterprises; 
  • and availability of tried and tested tools that can be upscaled, to link automatised and in-person career guidance services. 

Projects should result in effective structural collaboration frameworks where all actors involved share the responsibility for adult skills development.

Institution providing the funding

EACEA

Size of funding

EUR 4 000 000.

Conditions

Overview of eligibility criteria

Applicants (beneficiaries and affiliated entities) must be legal entities (public or private bodies) active in the fields of education and training, research and innovation or in the world of work; and be established in one of the eligible countries (i.e.: Erasmus+ Programme Countries, EU Member States, or listed EEA countries and countries associated to the Erasmus+ Programme).

Higher education institutions (HEIs) established in Erasmus+ Programme Countries (see above) must be holders of the ECHE certificate (Erasmus Charter for Higher Education).

Organisations from third countries not associated to the Programme can only be involved as associated partners (not as beneficiaries and affiliated entities).

Overview of award criteria

Award criteria include: relevance (maximum 30 points); quality (maximum 40) points; and impact (maximum 30 points).

Procedures

Application procedures

Proposals must be submitted electronically via the Funding & Tenders Portal Electronic Submission System (accessible via the funding opportunity pages in the Calls for proposals section).

Application support available

FAQs on the Funding & Tender Opportunities Portal

Useful links

Link to funding opportunity

Link to programme for more info