Empowering VET Learners in the Furniture Sector through an InternationalisationTraining Course

The global furniture market is worth USD 513 billion for production and USD 488 billion for consumption. The European Union, the United Kingdom, Norway, Switzerland, and Iceland account for USD 119,889 billion for production and USD 128,605 billion for consumption (CSIL, 2022). Over the last 5 years, international trade in furniture has grown faster than furniture production and has consistently been around 1% of manufacturers’ international trade. Although the pandemic caused a stagnation in 2020, 2021 was a year of significant growth. The outlook for 2022 and 2023 is clouded by major uncertainties caused by the war in Ukraine, supply chain constraints, transport problems and strong inflationary pressures (CSIL, 2022).

In view of the above, there is significant potential to increase international trade in the furniture sector within Europe and to expand its presence in markets outside the European Union. To achieve this, European companies should actively invest in sound internationalisation strategies that enable them to create value. This requires the establishment of a competent and highly qualified organisational framework to provide the necessary support.

The INT4FURN project aims to support the development of a dynamic organisational structure capable of exploiting the identified internationalisation opportunities for the furniture sector. To achieve this, the project will provide a training course aimed at empowering micro-SME owners and (potential) successors, university students, entrepreneurs and future entrepreneurship advisors and trainers in the furniture sector by increasing the level of knowledge, skills, and awareness of internationalisation.

The “Internationalisation training course supported with training content and materials for VET learners” aiming at EQF level 4 in Europe according to the principles of the European Credit System for Vocational Education and Training (ECVET) is the main outcome of WP2 and the core of the INT4FURN project.

The course will be the result of the individual activities of WP2 and will support the activities of WP3 and WP4. Prior to the development of the curriculum, it was necessary to identify the actual circumstances, deficiencies and needs of the target group in the field.

To improve the internationalisation capacity of micro-SMEs in the furniture sector through an ECVET compliant training course with relevant content and materials, the designed curriculum and the list of learning outcomes were in line with the results from the literature review and the analysis of the results of a needs assessment questionnaire. The exchange of different methods and approaches in the partner countries, within the framework of the internationalisation of the furniture sector, promotes the development of a flexible and content-rich curriculum.

Once the output is finalised, a comprehensive curriculum at the specified level was provided, according to ECVET principles. This will contribute to the transferability of the curriculum by making competences and skills transparent at EU level. This European curriculum is one of the first in its field.

Reference:
CSIL – Center for Industrial Studies (2022). World Furniture Outlook 2022-2023, WO – R3593
Research prepared by U. Finzi, S. Pelizzari, July 2022, Italy.

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