Future Mobility Campus Ireland (FMCI) traveled to Portugal earlier this month for an official meeting of the AIRMOB consortium, with the participation of Dr. Wassim Derguech (Co-Founder and COO of FMCI). AIRMOB – Developing Skills and Capabilities for Innovative Air Mobility began on 1 March and will run until 28 February 2029. This was the consortium’s first in-person meeting.
AIRMOB is a broad consortium that aims to create five regional clusters for IAM training in Italy, Spain, Portugal, Ireland and Turkey. Each country will form a Centre of Vocational Excellence (CoVE), evolving into a European Community of Practice (CoP) focused on vocational education and training. The CoP commits to providing the wide range of skills needed to support the emerging IAM sector, supporting critical improvements to current and future quality of life.
The CoVEs are formed to provide excellent vocational education and training (VET) aligned with the sector’s needs, empowering young students, reskilling and upskilling the workforce, sharing resources, and improving conditions for collaboration in upward convergence. These goals move the European IAM sector forward in pursuing its main objectives and priorities.
Leading up to the face-to-face AIRMOB event in Portugal, each country cluster met regionally to assess the status of IAM in their country, map stakeholders, and share ideas for CoVE activities. Each cluster then presented their findings to other participating partners, fostering collaboration on CoVE design and providing a first glance understanding of IAM across Europe.
AIRMOB includes an analysis of the needs and opportunities of the Integrated Vocational Education (IAM) sector. These findings will serve as a basis for designing high-quality VET curricula and resources, implementing collaborations with industry, promoting the attractiveness and acceptance of education provision and IAM, and developing a European Community of Practice for knowledge sharing and the exchange of best practices. Research methodology was determined at the Portugal kick-off for the AIRMOB project.
The AIRMOB roadmap for excellence in VET includes the design of joint curricula and training courses, the professional development of teachers and trainers, internships, mobility and other multi-level collaborations, drawing on the diverse experience of countries and partners to meet the needs of the IAM sector.
The project consortium includes 24 members and 11 associated partners, all of which were present for the kick-off event. Consortium partners are made up of vocational schools, higher education institutions, SMEs, research centres, industry clusters, regulatory bodies, and municipalities.
Acknowledgement: AIRMOB is funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them. [Grant Agreement number: 101194074]
Adapted from an original article by Universidade da Beira Interior (UBI).
