Procurement: Digital Tools and Sustainable Goals: e-learning modules

Digital course on sustainable procurement - microcredentials framework for digital skills in Procurement

The context for this project is determined by the changes in the Education sector where “traditional” universities are challenged by new players, namely digital universities but also digital education platforms. These new players are offering learning opportunities that are wider and more flexible than “traditional degrees”. The challenge is not only related to the creation of digital contents but also centered on how to recognise and certify the skills that learners are acquiring in terms of microcredentials/open badges referring to specific skills. Even more the challenge is related to the continuous updating of the state-of-the-art skills required by the job market.

TRAINING GAP

ProcToGo proposal focuses on the area of Procurement. In many universities, Procurement, being a practice-oriented discipline, has a limited relevance and it is included as a core subject in just a few courses/programmes, mainly related to Operations or Supply Chain Management. Even more in most programmes, Procurement is taught in a very “disciplinary” way: looking either at its managerial implications, or at its engineering requirements or, eventually in courses of administrative law, at the legal constraints in Public Procurement. However, there is a strong need for high quality training given that procurement activities: 1) cover a significant share of the budget of most organisations (both in the private and in the public sector); 2) are going to be strongly affected by the new digital technologies; and 3)can be a strong leverage for achieving sustainable goals. Such a training gap is even more relevant considering that new digital technologies are reshaping the procurement processes and that companies are asking for procurement professionals with new digital skills.

OBJECTIVES

The project is twofold:

design two short digital courses on digital sustainable procurement practices based on micro-credential outcomes, certifying through a digital badge the acquired skills (Digital3);
develop a micro-credential framework based on which learners (including life-long learners) can build up progressively new digital skills as required by their professional career in the area of procurement.
In line with the “To Go” perspective, each digital course will provide a set of skills that can be immediately and effectively deployed in the job market.

Materials are available under the licence Creative Commons BY-NC-SA.