The  role of Erasmus+ project leaders’ digital competences in sustaining European transnational cooperation during the COVID-19 pandemic

Paweł  Poszytek

doi:10.23762/FSO_VOL10_NO1_9

Published : 2022-03-30

Vol. 10 No. 1 (2022)

The role of Erasmus+ project leaders’ digital competences in sustaining European transnational cooperation during the COVID-19 pandemic

Paweł Poszytek

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0413-0243

DOI: https://doi.org/10.23762/FSO_VOL10_NO1_9

Abstract

The current COVID-19 pandemic poses a significant threat to the realisation and sustainability of transnational cooperation projects of various types, especially those which are based on the mobility of their participants. This is especially the case for Erasmus+, which is the flagship European programme of cooperation between leaders of the educational, academic, vocational, industrial and business sectors. The aim of the article is to answer the question of whether digital competences can support Erasmus+ project leaders in sustaining their transnational cooperation, and if so, to what extent. The analysis also seeks to discover what factors can contribute to sustaining this type of cooperation. For this purpose, this research concentrates on a group of 990 Erasmus+ project leaders from Poland who undertook transnational cooperation projects during the COVID-19 pandemic, their digital competences and other contextual factors connected with these competences which may influence their performance. The discussion on digital competences as remedial tools for international cooperation during the COVID-19 pandemic is placed here in the broader context of Competences 4.0, Industry 4.0, and the relational and network approaches to the management of modern organisations. The results obtained prove that digital competences in conjunction with other contextual factors have facilitated the realisation and sustainability of Erasmus+ projects during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Keywords:

digital competences, competences 4.0, Erasmus, COVID-19, temporary organisation, relational paradigm, network paradigm

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Poszytek, P. (2022). The role of Erasmus+ project leaders’ digital competences in sustaining European transnational cooperation during the COVID-19 pandemic. Forum Scientiae Oeconomia, 10(1), 170-183. https://doi.org/10.23762/FSO_VOL10_NO1_9

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Paweł Poszytek

pawel.poszytek@frse.org.pl
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0413-0243

Affiliation:

Foundation for the Development of the Education System

Bio Statement (e.g., department and rank)

Paweł Poszytek, Ph.D.,is General Director of the Foundation for the Development ofthe Education System, Director of the Erasmus+ and European Solidarity Corps NationalAgency, and a member of several linguistic advisory and consultative groups at the EuropeanCommission and the Polish Ministry of National Education and Science. From 2005 to 2007, hewas a member of the board of the European Association for Language Testing and Assessment(EALTA) dedicated to improving the quality of language proficiency testing. He was also a co-ordinator of the Council of Europe project “Country Profile”, and since 2014 he has been anexpert within the scope of the Horizon 2020 programme. He is the author of numerous arti-cles on language management and education published in Poland and abroad, including bysuch renowned publishers as Cambridge University Press and Multilingual Matters. In 2021,he published a monograph entitled “The Competences 4.0 as Facilitators in the Realization,Management and Sustainability of Erasmus+ Projects in the Times of the COVID-19Pandemic”. Currently, he is a member of the Scientific Board at the International Institute forInterdisciplinary Studies (USA), a member of the working group on artificial intelligence at theChancellery of the Prime Minister of Poland, Official Delegate from Poland to the Worldskillsinitiative, and Vice-Chairman of the Mazovia Industry Council of the Future.