WACOM Conference: First Programme Available!

Sept. 10, 2011 - PRLog -- The WACOM project consortium has released the first programme for the European Conference “Competence Modelling for the Water Sector”! The event, taking place in Brussels, Belgium this coming September 21st, will have speakers from esteemed organizations such as UN Water and UNEVOC, ensuring a lively and conducive atmosphere. A variety of papers will also be presented, with an emphasis on the role of competence modelling and its benefits for the European water sector. “We have prepared a programme which includes contributions from a variety of experts in the water-related fields,” says Christian M. Stracke, coordinator of the WACOM project, “this variety will truly provide the basis for productive discussion.” The programme as is, while still subject to changes, demonstrates an overview of the content available at the conference in September and can be found on the conference website at www.learning-innovations.eu.

This European Conference "Competence Modelling for the Water Sector" will present the major outcome of the European WACOM consortium and initiative for competence modelling in the water sector: The Water Competence Model (WCM) with its tools for harmonized descriptions of job profiles and working places in the water sector. The overall objectives of WACOM are the transfer and adaptation of a competence model to the water sector and its integration and harmonisation with the European Qualification Framework (EQF), thus contributing to European competence standardisation and improving vocational education and training.

The conference is organized in conjunction with the 4th European Conference on "Innovations in the Environmental Sector" (INES) that is focusing new ways and approaches for the lifelong learning by competence models, E-Learning and social communities. The 4th conference INES 2011 continues the discussion developed at the first three related European conferences in Vilnius (Lithuania), Budapest (Hungary) and most recently in Bucharest (Romania) last September 2010. The WACOM consortium has organized and utilised these previous opportunities, along with national workshops in each of the WACOM partner countries, to raise the awareness of the stakeholders in the water sector, human resource development, and vocational education and training concerning the benefits and implementations of competence modelling in the water sector.

Attendance at the European conference "Competence Modelling for the Water Sector" is free of charge and requires online registration as places are limited. No more submission of papers related to the conference is possible. All accepted papers will be published in the official proceedings of the European Conference (with ISBN) and distributed to all conference participants and across whole Europe. Specific guidelines and requirements can be found on the WACOM website at www.wacom-project.eu and www.learning-innovations.eu.

Direct enquiries and registration can be sent to the WACOM project manager Xenia Kuhn, University of Duisburg-Essen, via e-Mail to: xenia.kuhn@icb.uni-due.de.

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The department of Information Systems for Production and Operations Management at the University of Duisburg-Essen is involved in the R&D of the following fields:

E-Learning
Knowledge Management
Decision Support Systems
Skill/Competence Management