AGAPE//
AGAPE Platform – Take control of your skills and plan your career path!
University of Peloponnese develops new online skills taxonomy database as part of the EIT Food-funded AGAPE project
22 December, 2022
By Agape
As part of the EIT-funded AGAPE project, the University of Peloponnese, under the leadership of Professor Spiros Sirmakessis and with a team of experienced researchers and developers (Panos Papadatos, Dimitris Vossos and Marios Katsis), have developed an online tool that will ultimately help to match job descriptions and skills.
The rapid shift towards digital transformation is changing how we work, learn, participate in society and live our everyday lives. Europe can only grasp these opportunities if its people develop the right skills. The Covid 19 pandemic had a great negative impact on millions of people in the EU who have lost their job or experienced significant income loss. Many will need to acquire new skills and move to new jobs in a different sector of the economy; others will need to upskill to keep their job in a new work environment. And finally, for young people, entry into the labour market could be very challenging.
On the other side, employers face the daily challenge of finding qualified employees. Creating learning paths outside of primary education, skills-based recruitment approaches are becoming increasingly popular.
Our skills taxonomy database (based on ESCO, the multilingual classification of European Skills, Competences, and Occupations, which is part of the Europe 2020 strategy) puts the information in a hierarchical classification system. From there, skills are placed into groups, called skill clusters, to organise the information better.
Platform dashboard
Author: Spiros Sirmakessis (click to see full size)
The system allows employees to see which skills in the skills taxonomy they possess and how they relate to skills across the entire database of occupancies and jobs. In our taxonomy database, the information is structured to position skills as they relate to jobs. And this placement of skills can be beneficial for employees because they can easily see which skills they need to master in order to advance their career path. They can learn new skills based on where they would like to move to in their career.
The system has a vertical orientation focusing on the aquaculture sector. Aquaculture is one of the largest industry segments with a volume of approximately 200 billion euros globally and more than 5 billion euros in Europe, where more than 12500 aquaculture businesses employ some 73000 people.
A skills taxonomy is a structured list of skills defined at the organisational level that identifies the capabilities of a business in a quantifiable way. Essentially, it is a system that classifies skills within an organisation into groups and clusters. A skills taxonomy for your organisation creates a unified understanding and language that can deliver effective workforce strategies and drive operational efficiency. It is at the heart of a skills-based approach.
Our AGAPE Taxonomy platform can help people to understand – with an almost real-time update of ESCO skills competencies, and occupations:
- what knowledge and skills are usually required when working in a specific occupation
- what knowledge, skills and competencies are obtained as a result of a specific qualification
- what qualifications are demanded or often requested by employers from those searching for work in a specific occupation
- the categories of skills, competencies, and occupations relevant for the EU labour market and education and training based on ESCO classification
Moreover, the platform contributes to supporting different beneficiaries, such as:
- Job seekers can document and describe their knowledge, skills, and competencies to match job openings more accurately and match people with jobs in all EU countries
Professor Spiros Sirmakessis from the University of Peloponnese is interviewed by Ionian TV. He discusses the latest innovation of the skills taxonomy database.
- Education and training institutions can use a multilingual reference terminology to describe the learning outcomes of their qualifications, thus making qualifications more transparent and adapting their programmes based on feedback from the labour market
- Employers can state the skills and qualifications they expect from employees more precisely.
In the following video, Professor Spiros Sirmakessis from the University of Peloponnese is interviewed by the Greek Ionian TV. He discusses the latest innovation of the skills taxonomy database.
Related news
Upcoming Events
ICECCME 2023
