Eweld: Project Partner meeting in Newcastle

On 6-7th of June 2017 meeting of partners in the project "Quality Development of Welding Training" took place in Newcastle, United Kingdom. The meeting was attended by representatives of the Vilniaus Jeruzalės Labour Markets Training Center (hereafter "Training Center"), Slovenian Welding Association, Lithuanian Welders Association and t Rocketman Studio Limited.

During the meeting, the interim results of the project were presented:

The first step towards achieving the objectives of the project was to increase the qualification of training center welder teachers. Teachers attended International Welding Specialists Course. One vocational teacher has been awarded International Welder Engineer's Certificate (IWE), and three teachers awarded International Welder Specialist Certificates (IWS).

Parallelly preparations held for organizing the training of international welder course. Reviewed and updated training center's management and quality system documentation. Created Quality Guide for an international welder training service. According to international requirements, a training base was prepared.

In cooperation with the partners in Lithuania and Slovenia, an international welder training program was created and its pilot-traning in Lithuania was carried out. From October 2015 till November 2016 14 students were studying for the International Welder Training Program trained. On 14 th of April 2017 Certificates were issued  justifying the International Welder's competency.

On 8th of April 2016 The training center has been officially awarded the IIW Authorized Training Certificate (ATB), which authorized the training of highly qualified welder workers in accordance with the international welder training program. This is the first vocational training institution in Lithuania authorized to train international welders.

Currently, the training center is piloting training for a second intellectual product - a remote welder foreman training program. The distance learning training program for the welder is available in three languages - Lithuanian, Slovenian, English. From 16th of May 2017 pilot training started 35 participants who wanted to raise their qualifications in order to acquire the knowledge needed to organize welders' team work. Pilot training will take place until August 2017 . At the moment, 7 participants have completed the training. The distance learning welder training platform can be found at http://lt.emokymas.eu, http://en.emokymas.eu, http://sl.emokymas.eu/

During the meeting, the guidelines for further cooperation were discussed, in  training of international-level welders in Lithuania. The Slovenian partner recommended and shared the experience of Slovenia in order to create a functioning international welder system linked to the national welding system.

The project partners discussed additional project tasks foreseen by the project partners in Slovenia. The welding supervision curriculum was discussed with Slovenian  partner.

In free time, the partners from Lithuania,  met Newcastle City celebrities and visited Edinburgh, Scotland, the second largest city.