National STEM platform

"STEAM+Albania" is a comprehensive national system of functionalities of "Barleti" University which aims to strengthen and develop the creativity of pupils, students and professionals through encouragement, incentive and motivation, to integrate the component sciences of STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics), in the realization of various applied and scientific projects in function of inventions, innovation, high scholastic and professional achievements. All while also providing solutions to the most frequent problems of daily life and comprehensive global developments.

STEAM+Albania is based in 3 important key components: 1. STEAM+ALBANIA Program – Curriculum, training, implemented practical models, capacity building for all STEAM target groups, realization of lessons based on STEAM, contests, competitions, promotional campaigns, etc. 2. National STEAM Center (Steam Fab Lab+ Maker Space) physical environment for support for all categories and target groups of STEAM such as pupils, students, teachers, schools, parents, community, professionals. 3. STEAM+ ALBANIA platform as a 360° information resource center for STEAM. VISION.

Our vision is to shape STEAM education policies and practices that foster economic growth, opportunity, and well-being for all. We work to promote modern and new ways of teaching and learning based on STEAM. We want to encourage thinking differently and nurture learning with a comprehensive system of functionalities in an environment that fosters the opportunity for success. Our mission is to provide them with whatever knowledge and skills they will need in their careers to become independent thinkers and communicators who apply critical theory and creative design to collaboratively solve important issues through integration of Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts/Humanities and Mathematics.

The European Institute for Technologies, Education and Digitalisation (EITED) was founded on August 2, 2019, in Bulgaria. EITED’s Objectives are:

• Encourage and promote the implementation and dissemination of modern educational programs and projects in accordance with the best practices, standards and technologies.

• Encourage and promote the active participation of groups and communities in activities related to the modernization of education.

•  Organize and promote initiatives in the field of innovations in education, technologies and digitalisation in the domain of Industry, Business and the Public Sector.

•  Design and conduct training and do scientific research and innovation activity.

•  Support the creation of active and transparent partnerships and networks of organizations working in the fields of technologies, education and digitization.

•   Initiate, develop and participate in activities and projects towards creating, transforming, data mining and sharing knowledge.

•   Participate and encourage the involvement of civil society in the creation of innovations and interdisciplinary projects related to technologies, education, digitalisation, science, culture, art and sports.

EITED organize the National conference “SMART STEM education and innovations”. In 2021, the participants were more than 30, and the authors were nearly 50. The reports and presentations from the conference in 2022 were more than 50. The conference proceeding 2021 volume was 244 pages, and the 2022 volume was 379 pages. These volumes included research papers and presentations by speakers, teachers, and participants from educational organizations, as well as student STEAM works and STEM poems. During SMART STEM 2023, more than 250 participants joined the event onsite and online. The conference keynote speakers came from the USA, India, Norway, the Netherlands, Australia, and Germany. EITED is a Publisher, since 2019, of the STEM scientific journal "STEM Education, Innovations and Knowledge" ISSN 2815-2883. The journal is the first scientific periodical in the field of STEM in Bulgaria. Up till now, 17 issues have been published including 1057 pages, 194 authors, and 141 scientific, scientific, and practical publications. We, EITED, plan to work on novelty STEM projects in the EU to foster STEM advancement at each educational level. We plan to collaborate in networking events focused on STEM knowledge sharing, knowledge building, and project demonstrations among schools and universities. One of our priority areas is STEM School museum development and digital performance, as well as STEMS, where S stands for Sport, due to the fact that sports impact academic advancements.

For the last several years, Bulgaria has had an enormous advancement in STEM. There is a high potential for STEM practices in Bulgaria based on the intensive development during the last years of IT academies, robotics clubs, and open spaces for collaboration. Moreover, the growing number of events focused on STEM skills development is adding value to the positive trends. These events are hackathons, codethons, technology contests, and others, that stimulate on the one hand generation of new “fresh” ideas and on the other hand boost collaboration among the STEM community. The National STEM contest in High Schools, named “Who is SUPER STEM in your school?”, was held for the first time in 2017, and in 2022 the contest gathered more than 1300 participants – teachers, students, and parents. The Ministry of Education Youth and Science (MEYS) has many activities, stimulating STEM development in Bulgaria. For example, during the 2023/2024 school year, the high school students in professional classes are expected to be 39,319, and those in profiled classes – 25,664. A total of 1,477 STEM classes are planned for the academic year 2023/2024. Of these, 953 will be professional, and 524 will be profiled. There are many STEM trainings organized for teachers, that are certified by MEYS. The National STEM Center at the Ministry of Education and Science is a major provider of professional development for teachers in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. The center coordinates supports, and consults the construction and development of a STEM environment in every Bulgarian school, creating a model for learning, qualification, and working with research methods and tools. The activities of the Center aim to bring Bulgarian education into the international rankings for education and achievements in STEM and to give all young people the opportunity for motivation and career development in the field.

MINTvernetzt is a nationwide umbrella organisation for German STEM education that caters to the STEM-educator community in Germany as a service and contact point. MINTvernetzt is part of the 'MINT Actionsplan' (STEM Action Plan) of the Federal Ministry of Education in Germany. 

The main objectives of MINTvernetzt is to support STEM educators by providing:

• networking spaces,
• knowledge transfer activities 
• inspiration and incentive for innovation topics 
• addressing broader and more diverse target groups in the process with a focus on girls and young women

In response to the diverse and heterogeneous landscape of learning sites, initiatives, actors and networks for STEM education, the MINTvernetzt-initiative aims to:

• Create a digital STEM platform to create direct access to and among all stakeholders concentrated on a digital platform
• Build an autonomous STEM community for networking, knowledge sharing, and strengthening purposes
• Help to amplify the impact as well as the degree of self-professionalization among our stakeholders
• Showcase best practice projects
• Improve the integration of in-school and extracurricular STEM education
• Promote the transfer of expertise from educational research to practitioners.
• To support stakeholders in disadvantaged regions to foster an equitable geographical distribution of STEM education opportunities
• Increase the number of STEM professionals and increase the proportion of women in these professions

Teknikcollege is Sweden’s largest collaborative platform for the supply of expertise in the industrial sector. By encouraging companies, municipalities, and educational institutions to collaborate, it creates a match between education and the job market, with a common goal: The growth of tech industry through a highly qualified labor force.

Education via Teknikcollege is quality assured, based on eight criteria. The companies in a certified Teknikcollege region play a key role in shaping the structure of the courses as well as designing their actual content. In each Teknikcollege region there is a regional steering group, as well as local steering groups. Most members in these steering groups come from the technology industry. By basing it’s courses on the criteria of the companies themselves, providers of education ensure the quality of technical training at upper secondary and post-secondary levels.

At the national level, there are several organizations that work with STEM, of which Teknikcollege is the largest with 3000 companies, 180 municipalities, 150 education providers and 20 000 students.

University College London (UCL) is one of the premier universities in the UK, with a strong emphasis on research covering all areas including Science, Engineering and Medicine. UCL has been consistently ranked as one of the top universities in the world. UCL has 30 Nobel laureates, 11 academic faculties, over 45,000 students and over 14,000 employees. The first university in England to admit women on equal terms with men in 1878; the first to admit students regardless of race, class or religion; and to offer systematic teaching of Medicine, Law and Engineering. Today, UCL holds a Silver Athena SWAN Award (framework to transform gender equality in higher education) and a Race Equality Charter Bronze Award. UCL Engineering is proudly international with 6756 staff and students from over 120 nations.

UCL consistently pushes the boundaries of pedagogy, through its award-winning teaching, research and education engagement. UCL has the 1st Laboratory devoted to Engineering Education, is 2nd in research power in the Research Excellence Framework and have been awarded with the Higher Education Academy Collaborative Award for Teaching Excellence. UCL Engineering has developed a strong reputation for schools engagement. Gender equality and inclusion is one of the faculty’s strategic priorities. UCL's award-winning 50.50 Engineering Engagement Initiative has created a step change in the representation of girls, women and ethnic minorities in STEM programmes. Its activities are free and open to all and we insist on 50% participation of girls in all our programmes.

UCL Engineering has developed a strong reputation for schools engagement. For 2022-2023 some of the major initiatives and programmes that we are planning are:

• STEM Literacy programme in primary schools with Royal Society and STEM Learning (national scale)
• STEM Learning & UCL Engineering ENTHUSE Programme for secondary schools (London)
• UCL Engineering Mentoring Programme for 11-17 year olds (regional and national scale)
• Virtual Work Experience for 15-17 year olds with Institution of Mechanical Engineers (national scale)
• Research Placements in UCL Engineering Labs for 15-17 year olds with In2Science (national scale)
• STEM Action Research Project with teachers on social mobility in STEM with Royal Academy of Engineering (national scale)
• Green Engineering Careers with Tomorrow’s Engineers & NEON (national scale)
• Teacher CPD and teacher placements with STEM Learning (London)

Areas of UCL's expertise include:

• Inclusion and Gender Equality. Advising policymakers and different stakeholders on inclusion and gender equality in STEM. Developing strategies and designing interventions in partnership with government and STEM education organisations (national & international).
• Connected Curriculum. Working with STEM organisations, government and industry in designing and delivering curriculum based STEM resources and activities linked to real-world engineering.
• Teacher Professional Development. Working with STEM organisations and industry to upskill and train teachers and STEM Ambassadors, through training programmes and teacher placements.
• STEM Career Pathways. Developing and delivering materials, resources and programmes that raise awareness in young people of the exciting and wide-ranging careers and degrees “in” and “from” STEM. Offering skills bootcamps, speed-networking events and work experience placements to help them develop employability, entrepreneurial and digital skills.

Flanders Innovation & Entrepreneurship (Agentschap Innoveren en Ondernemen - VLAIO) is an agency of the Government of Flanders, Belgium. VLAIO is the contact point for entrepreneurs in Flanders. VLAIO encourages and supports innovation and entrepreneurship, and contributes to a favourable business climate. VLAIO does this in close collaboration with local actors and supported by our international commitments in EUREKA, E.E.N. and H2020. VLAIO focuses on:

• Stimulating growth and innovation
  VLAIO supports businesses through grants so they continue to grow, transform and innovate. Examples include the SME growth subsidy, SME innovation- and R&D-projects. 
• Promoting entrepreneurship
  VLAIO works together with strong partners that assist SMEs through start, growth and takeover. It also encourages networking focused on growth companies. 
• Supporting clusters
  VLAIO supports organisations that catalyse cooperation and dynamics within a group of enterprises and knowledge institutions. 
• Improving environmental factors
  We facilitate the development of industrial areas.

VLAIO has also been tasked with the coordination of the regional STEM strategy (STEM Actieplan 2012-2020) in Flanders.

Originally conceived in 1987, Valnalon is an agency of the regional government of Asturias (Spain) in Asturias (pop. 1 million), a former industrial region with an economy largely based in coal and steel. Valnalon is strategically located in Langreo occupying the premises of an old steel factory. Far from coincidental, this location conveys a clear message about Valnalon mission, to act as a catalyst, to facilitate a somewhat difficult transition into a new economic model based in entrepreneurship and innovation that requires a whole different mindset.  Thus, Valnalon team (which employs 24 people) has the mandate to put into practice the ideas exposed in the Asturias Regional Action Plan for Entrepreneurship in two key areas: Entrepreneurship Education and  Business start-up support

Valnalon has earned an excellent reputation due to its pioneering role in the the promotion of entrepreneurship and innovation in the education system. Here the focus is on the development of  the “sense of initiative and entrepreneurship” key competence, a set of knowledge, skills and attitudes among young people.  Valnalon plays a brokering role bringing together decision-makers, practitioners, and other social agents such as employers and third sector organizations to design and implement a coherent portfolio of enterprise education projects in primary, secondary and VET.  By way of example, more than 150 schools and 12000 pupils and students took part in our projects last year (2017-2018).  We would also like to highlight, Valnalon has gone at great lengths to connect its two core areas of work by involving more than 200 regional entrepreneurs and employers in the delivery of our enterprise education programmes last year alone.  

In 2019, the regional Department for Innovation asked us to coordinate the efforts to shape the budding regional STEM strategy (ASTURIAS4STE(A)M). Ever since its inception Valnalon has also provided business start-up advice, training and support to budding entrepreneurs helping them to create hundreds of new companies. Last year our business advisors worked alongside 404 users in the development of 208 projects leading to the creation of 43 new companies (59 new jobs). Start-ups have also the opportunity to rent office space in our premises (24 companies, at present) and we offer specific training courses touching upon different aspects of business management (last year, 18 trainings).

The regional STEM strategy co-implemented by VALNALÓN called 'ASTURIAS 4 STEAM' is one of the actions envisaged to fulfill strategic goal #1 of the 5-year Regional Plan for Science, Technology and Innovation (“Improve human capital in RDI”). The programme focuses on Primary, Secondary and VET education and seeks to generate interest in STEM, equip younger people with a set of useful competences for their personal and professional life and   raise aspirations to pursue professional careers in STEM. In the first year of operations (2019) the region has:

• Set up an advisory board (incl. policymakers, university, RDI sector representatives (research institutions, employers, professionals)
• Undertaken a baseline study of  STEM in our region drawing on existing quantitative data (education and employment stats)  in order to determine :
  • Interest in STEM disciplines/careers
  • STEM competence/skills development of our young people)
  • STEM labour market (occupations/jobs/quality of employment/skills gaps/skills shortages)
• Mapped existing initiatives (led by schools and/or external providers)
• Drafted a communication plan and create website and social media profiles (in progress)

The baseline study debunks with evidence some of the taken-for-granted assumptions and negative messages directed at our education system. Asturias' performance in international assessments (TIMSS and PISA) is slightly above both the national and EU-average. And the same applies for interest in science (based in PISA latest data). Having said this, there’s ample room for improvement, i.e redressing not only the gender but also the socio-economic imbalances in STEM participation, tackling the high early leaving in Engineering careers but the starting point  is not as bleak as initially suggested.

On the employment side, our analysis of regional labour market data for STEM occupations brought to surface the need to provide a more nuanced version of  the “employability of STEM graduates”. Not all STEM qualifications secure a job, skills shortages are concentrated in very specific STEM sectors but more importantly most urgent  imbalances are not on the supply but on  the demand side. And they have to do with the structure (job polaristaoin) and size of our regional labour market (as compared to other regions) and the quality of employment (short-term contracts, low wages, precariousness)  

Valnalon holds  ISO 9001:2015 certification
 

Department for Science, Innovation and Higher Education (Consejería de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidad) is a ministry of the government of the Principality of Asturias (Spain). In a nutshell the department has three Directorates-General dedicated to specific fields of expertise. 

1. General secretariat
2. DG University
3. DG Innovation, Research & Digital Transformation

Each DG is headed by a director-general, who reports to the regional minister in charge of the corresponding policy area. The structure is completed  with the Asturian Council for Science, Technology and Innovation, an advisory body that provides independent advice and support to aid management and directors in the design and evaluation of RDI strategies and policies. Members comprise key actors of the regional RDI ecosystem including University, Research Centres, Businesses and Trade Unions.

The department has a 5-year Regional Plan for Science, Technology and Innovation (Plan de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación del Principado de Asturias 2018-2022) (PCTI). The PCTI targets a range of actors in the triple helix: Research, Business, Education and expands the scope of the previous regional plan (2013-2017). Five strategic goals have been identified:

1. Improve human capital in RDI 
2. Enhance production of scientific knowledge in the region
3. Increase the competitiveness and innovative capacity of our companies.
4. Promote innovation in our public system
5. Generate a new territorial model based in networks and consolidate technological strengths focused on specific social challenges affecting our region. 

A set of perfomance indicators have been defined for each strategic goals.  Indicators will be tracked on a yearly basis. The PCTI total budget for the period 2018-2022 is 447.5 million euro.

The regional STEM strategy (ASTURIAS 4 STEAM) is one of the actions envisaged to fulfill strategic goal #1 (“Improve human capital in RDI”). The programme focuses on Primary, Secondary and VET education and seeks to generate interest in STEM, equip younger people with a set of useful competences for their personal and professional life and   raise aspirations to pursue professional careers in STEM. In the first year of operations (2019) the region has:

• Set up an advisory board (incl. policymakers, university, RDI sector representatives (research institutions, employers, professionals)
• Undertaken a baseline study of  STEM in our region drawing on existing quantitative data (education and employment stats)  in order to determine :
  
  • Interest in STEM disciplines/careers
  • STEM competence/skills development of our young people)
  • STEM labour market (occupations/jobs/quality of employment/skills gaps/skills shortages)
• Mapped existing initiatives (led by schools and/or external providers)
• Drafted a communication plan and create website and social media profiles (in progress)

The baseline study debunks with evidence some of the taken-for-granted assumptions and negative messages directed at our education system. Asturias' performance in international assessments (TIMSS and PISA) is slightly above both the national and EU-average. And the same applies for interest in science (based in PISA latest data). Having said this, there’s ample room for improvement, i.e redressing not only the gender but also the socio-economic imbalances in STEM participation, tackling the high early leaving in Engineering careers but the starting point  is not as bleak as initially suggested.

On the employment side, our analysis of regional labour market data for STEM occupations brought to surface the need to provide a more nuanced version of  the “employability of STEM graduates”. Not all STEM qualifications secure a job, skills shortages are concentrated in very specific STEM sectors but more importantly most urgent  imbalances are not on the supply but on  the demand side. And they have to do with the structure (job polaristaoin) and size of our regional labour market (as compared to other regions) and the quality of employment (short-term contracts, low wages, precariousness)  

Zukunft durch Innovation (ZDI) is the regional STEM platform in the North Rhine-Westfalia, a state in the west of Germany with a total population of 18 million people that shares a direct border with the Netherlands. ZDI is backed at regional level by three ministries (Science, Education, Economic Affairs), with the Ministry of Science holding overall responsibility. The ZDI Central Office is a source of advice and assistance for the networks and school laboratories and coordinates the allocation of funding. The objectives are:

• To inspire more young people to undertake a university course or vocational training in a STEM discipline
• To ensure the sufficient availability of STEM professionals at regional level
• To introduce young people to socially relevant topics at an early stage, such as conservation of resources, climate change, energy supply and the fight against poverty

These objectives are implemented through ZDI networks. A ZDI Network – also referred to as a ZDI Centre – is a regional bundling of players from politics, schools, universities, enterprises and other partners involved in education who wish to foster young people’s skills in STEM fields. Each ZDI Network is different. Some are run by school administrators, others by economic development bodies, universities, associations or foundations. But they all have one thing in common: They focus on the concrete requirements of their own specific region.

The regional ZDI Networks function as central contact points: they are the first port of call for teachers who want to give their STEM lessons a more practical focus and seek contacts to universities and enterprises. They also coordinate the involvement of firms and businesses and streamline higher education and career guidance measures in cooperation with enterprises, universities and employment agencies. Through broad-based practical work in the partner companies, young people can establish initial contacts to local firms and get to know different tasks and job profiles in the framework of projects and courses.

Turkish STEM Alliance, founded in 2015, is an independent body of network for promoting  public engagement with Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). It unites STEM practitioners, researchers, policy makers and public to enhance the quality of STEM education and broaden participation in STEM. Turkish STEM Alliance consists of several different  members from science centers, science museums, PD centers, NGOs, STEM centers, companies, research centers and public organizations.