Competency Platform for Artists: Lifelong Learning
Germany , 2001 to Unknown
Compendium: University Business Forum (UBF)
Background
The Universität der Künste (Berlin University of the Arts) in Berlin was the first university of the arts in Germany to tackle the problem of enterprise and management skills amongst artists by opening a Career and Transfer Service Centre (CTC) in 2001. The CTC provides services related to planning a curriculum or a career, such as workshops and training complementing the artistic university education, information and coaching for start-ups, self-employed artists and freelancers and a job portal. The students quickly accepted these services and the number of participants increased rapidly, soon exceeding plans and expectations as well as the capacities of the staff. The CTC management decided to launch a project with the overall objective of widening the scope of the CTC’s services, both in terms of quantity and contents. The purpose of the project ‘Competence Platform for Artists’ was to develop and to implement a set of digital learning tools and new online services.
Aims and targets
The Competency Platform for Artists was intended to be an up-to-date, problem-oriented and manageable tool for information and education, which helps artists to acquire the necessary skills to work and present themselves – whether for a short-term project or for a longer period of time.
Strategy and actions
The Competence Platform contained three elements:
- InfoPark which is a comprehensive collection of documents, web-links, manuals etc. on a multitude of issues relevant to the artist’s career and qualification, such as career entry, business start-up, contests and prizes, networks and addresses (of galleries, artist’s associations) etc. This collection is being constantly updated.
- 'Blended learning' workshops and training combine learning in the classroom with elearning modules provided through the online Competence Platform on subjects such as project management, legal issues, entrepreneurial skills etc.
E-portfolio named the ‘Competence Portfolio’. This tool helps artists to document, to analyse and to present the competencies that he or she has developed during formal education and in working experience.
The Competence Platform was developed by an interdisciplinary consortium that had not previously cooperated. It was crucial for the success of the project that the project management and the partners involved quickly learned to cope with the challenges of interdisciplinary cooperation and gave room to the close interaction required in order to develop a shared understanding of the project and to find a common language for working together.
Monitoring and evaluation
Funding/Cost effectiveness
The initial project funding was €522,320, including an ERDF contribution of €259,000, running from 2005-2006, with online services becoming available in 2007.
Sustainability/Transferability
The Competence Platform could be transferred to other universities, particularly to other universities of the arts; universities in other fields could also use the concept of the competence portfolio and the structure of the Competence Platform after adaptation to the requirements of their specific professional competences. The structure of the e-portfolio follows the Europass-guidelines and is therefore applicable internationally.Outcomes/impacts
Achievements
The impacts include:
- for the individual artists and art students using the Competence Platform it will lead to better integration opportunities on the labour market;
- the university will integrate the idea of competence development into its teaching and offer a curriculum going beyond artistic courses;
- for enterprises, especially in the cultural sector, the Competence Platform will provide a new opportunity to find qualified people.
Success factors
For the State of Berlin the cultural sector plays an important economic role and it is also a strategic priority of the regional government to foster the development of the “creative industries”, an objective that is also supported by this project.
Unintended impacts
Strengths and weaknesses
A particular strength was that the target group users of the Competence platform, mainly art students, were involved throughout the project.
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