EUKN - European Urban Knowledge Network - Better Concept: free academic education for SME employees

Better Concept: free academic education for SME employees

Introduction

Three universities and fourteen local learning centres in the Swedish Västra Götaland region developed a programme through which free academic education is offered to the employees of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). In the programme, named ‘Better Concept’, the focus is on the demands of local SMEs. It encourages SMEs and employees to invest time in developing competences and analytical skills. The results of the programme are promising, for the universities, for the local companies and for the participating employees alike.

Problem

By achieving a common knowledge base and language for the participants, dynamism should be created for the development of the SMEs. The longer-term objective is to encourage SME employees to study and further develop themselves.

A second aim was to build confidence between university colleges and SMEs in the Västra Götaland region in order to improve cooperation.

Description

Better Concept is developed by three Swedish universities in cooperation with fourteen local learning centres. In Sweden, local learning centres promote various types of learning and deliver training courses. The municipalities run the learning centres. An important function of the centres is to stimulate growth in companies.

Better Concept reaches a group of SME employees that does not have higher education qualifications. It encourages them to study a familiar subject at university level, improving their own competences and their companies’ results.

The most innovative aspect of the project is the focus on the needs of the SMEs, in both the content and the organisation of the courses. The courses were developed based upon a needs analysis. The delivery of the courses took into account those needs.

To accommodate the needs of the SMEs, the programme adopted the following characteristics:

The course programme is highly flexible in terms of contents and delivery.
Examination is based on project work.
Students meet weekly in local learning centres in stead of on the university campuses.
Students only meet in person once a week – most of the learning takes places by means of distant learning through the internet.

Approach

In the 2004-2005 period five courses were developed and carried out eight times in three university colleges and fourteen learning centres. Each course lasted fifteen weeks and was for the biggest part delivered by means of distance learning.

The five courses that were offered are:

better automation
better economics
better logistics
better product development
better total production management

Employees participate free of charge. Employers pay for the course literature and travel costs of their participating employees. They also have to provide study time to their employees.

Results

The main objectives of the programme in the 2004-2005 period were partially achieved:

Five courses were developed and delivered as planned in the fourteen local learning centres.
There were slightly fewer participants than hoped for - two hundred instead of two hundred and fifty.
The project reached one hundred companies - the objective was to reach a minimum of seventy companies.
Another two hundred employees participated in the 2005-2006 courses.
The three universities, the local learning centres and the Västra Götaland region decided to extend the programme to the end of 2008.

Some concrete results are the following:

One SME was able to save 250,000 euros as a result of an employee participating in the programme.
A new product – floor paint – that was developed by an employee participating in the programme was successfully brought on the market.
Another SME made its production process more efficient resulting in an increase of production capacity of thirty per cent.

Resources used

The 2004-2005 period of the programme was financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), the Västra Götaland region and three universities:

University College of Borås
University College of Skövde
University College Väst

The costs for this period were 176,470 euros of which 88,235 euros were contributed by the ERDF.

From 2005 onwards, the programme is financed by the three universities and the regional government, with an annual budget of 220,000 euros.

EU involvement

This project was highlighted as a best practice on the Regions for Economic Change website

Contact info

University College of Borås
Peter Kammensjö, tel. +46 708 362 666

Project start date

01/02/2004

Links

Visit the Better Concept website (in Swedish)Visit the Regions for Economic Change website

Document type

case

Themes

Urban Policy > Economy knowledge & employment > Urban economy

Keywords

Competitiveness