Ingenjör4.0 – A National Upskilling Programme to Bridge Industry's Skill Gap

Abstract

Manufacturing industry needs major transformation to meet disruptive environmental, social, and economic challenges, thus requiring a highly skilled workforce. This paper presents key functionalities, results, and best-practices for the launch and operation of a national upskilling platform. The Swedish upskilling programme Ingenjör4.0’s operations have been constantly user-monitored through participant surveys measuring appreciation for training content from the participants and identifying areas with potential for improvement. Thematic analysis of 137 survey responses identified dimensions relevant for an upskilling programme's success. Results show that success factors and hurdles typically lie within the following dimensions: relevance, organization and structure, working life competencies, support from teachers, and collaboration with other learners.The paper concludes that national programmes like Ingenjör4.0 can, in a short time, have deep impact on skill levels for manufacturing industries in areas such as industrial digitalization. Highlighted success factors are: participant appreciation of highly relevant content, collaboration with other participants, highly competent teachers, and the collaboration between universities. Obstacles for the learners are feelings of mismatch in challenges and prior knowledge, lack of feedback and applicable working life examples in the teaching, and the need for increased collaboration with other participants.