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Friuli-Venezia Giulia

Friuli-Venezia Giulia is an original and complete destination, at the centre of the renewed European context.

It is located in north-eastern Italy and covers an area of 7,932 km², made up of the territory belonging to the historical-geographical region of Friuli, which constitutes the vast majority of its surface area, and the part of Venezia Giulia that remained in Italy after the Second World War.

About 1.2 million inhabitants, of whom about 110 thousand are foreigners, have an average age of 47.5 years and an average life expectancy of 80.7 years for men and 85.3 years for women. 

The inhabitants of Friuli Venezia Giulia have distinguished themselves for years for their high level of enjoyment of cultural content, confirming themselves as great readers. (51.7% of citizens at the age of 6 have already read at least one book) and the use of digital tools in daily life is also widespread.

The Friuli Venezia Giulia Region is a strong innovator by the European Index, because between 2011 and 2019 the performance linked to innovation has increased exponentially over time.

Some official indicators in 2018, showed that graduates between 30 and 34 years old were 34.4%, higher than the Italian average of 27.8%.

People between 25 and 64 years of age who have followed training courses in Friuli Venezia Giulia were 11.3%, higher than the Italian average of 8.1% and also European 81.9%).

The formal and informal learning network

The education and training system in FVG is articulated in n.168 State schools, present in the territory in n.1295 locations, n.208 locations of non-state schools and n.11 vocational training institutions, which provide vocational education and training (IeFP) to children aged between 15 and 18 years.

The adult population can take advantage of a very articulated training offer, which is provided by the above mentioned Training Bodies and which is largely financed by the resources of the Regional Operative Programma of the European Social Fund.

As far as post-graduate training is concerned, there are n.14 courses of higher technical education, which are provided through n.4 higher technical education Foundations. The courses are biennial or triennial and have a high technical and practical content, thanks to the presence of teachers coming directly from companies. In this way a technologically advanced and highly professionalizing preparation is guaranteed.

In the region there are also two regional universities (University of Trieste - https://www.units.it/ and University of Udine - https://www.uniud.it/ ), SISSA (International School of Advanced Studies - https://www.sissa.it/ ) and two regional music conservatories.

In general, the regional administration considers it a priority in the planning of the training offer to ensure a strong integration between the school training offer and the Educational and Professional Training system with higher technical training, thinking from a supply chain perspective.

The Region promotes the training of Territorial Learning Networks with the aim of enhancing territorial specificities and promoting joint actions to develop training proposals more responsive to the needs of the labour market and the future employment opportunities of students.

There are interventions for the training of the adult population in the context of non-formal learning. The same are provided by adult education centres. The Region guarantees support to these structures, not so much for the improvement of the employability of the training, but to promote the centrality and well-being of the person.

Moreover, the Region is strengthening the presence of realities of excellence that operate in the field of non-formal education and that can make the community a place of culture.

The developments of the Learning Region

The Friuli Venezia Giulia Region, with the Regional Law no. 27 of 21 July 2017 on "Rules on training and guidance in the field of lifelong learning", has implemented the principle that lifelong learning is a "right of the person to learn", in order to enable him/her to face and withstand the frequent challenges to change that the knowledge society imposes on a daily basis. 

The regional law recognises the centrality of the person as the bearer of a formative, professional and cultural heritage that must be continuously supported and nurtured and which is the basis for his or her labour and social inclusion.

In fact, strengthening individual knowledge, skills and abilities, in addition to being the main lever for the development and innovation of the economic system, is a condition for guaranteeing and enhancing the rights of the individual and, therefore, for the cohesion of society.

In the coming years the Region intends, therefore, to guarantee the right to learn through the presence of a training offer measured on the needs of the person and that provides for the presence of training/transformative contexts able to generate not only the development of knowledge and skills but also skills.

At the planning level, the Integrated Plan of employment and work policies has been prepared, financed under the Regional Operative Programme of the European Social Fund, which provides for the following types of training offer:

1. pathways for the acquisition of transversal skills - soft skills -, with a particular focus on e-skills and related to the development of industry digitalization;
2. professionalizing training paths, shared with trade associations, trade unions, clusters;
3. training courses constructed in co-design with companies in the regional territory that express a specific need for personnel.

For the operational implementation of the aforementioned Plan, the already existing network of services for lifelong learning will be consolidated and strengthened, which includes public employment services, regional guidance centres, the regional training system, universities and businesses and which, through implementing cooperation, operate to support people in their personal and professional development and growth throughout their lives.

In addition, the presence of hybrid contexts will be strengthened on the territory as spaces where people can find diversified formal and non-formal training opportunities to increase their skills and improve their well-being.

The presence of bottom up and top down models will favour the involvement of local communities in planning and defining the contents of formal and non-formal training offer.

Key activities of the Learning Region

The Region embraces the idea that lifelong learning is a fundamental condition for the progress, innovation, civil participation and economic development of cities, as it creates a community of active citizens capable of acquiring, in formal and non-formal contexts, technical and transversal skills throughout life, so as to be able to seize the different development opportunities present in society, transforming their knowledge into skills and giving meaning to their educational, professional but also personal life projects.

In order to contribute to the creation of the regional system for lifelong learning, the following interventions will be implemented in the near future:

1. consolidating the regional network for lifelong learning with the active and co-responsible participation of the Region, through the structures responsible for training and employment services, economic and social partnership, technological poles and clusters operating in the territory, enterprises;
2. increase the training offer related to transversal (soft skills), linguistic and digital competences;
3. to strengthen the professionalizing training activities carried out in co-planning with companies and aimed at the occupational integration of participants;
4. create additional non-formal learning contexts;
5. identify models of connection between formal and non-formal training for the recognition and certification of competences.

All the above-mentioned interventions should allow to achieve the following results:

1. To have training proposals more in line with the employment needs expressed by the productive fabric;
2.  Support employability and access to the labour market for the unemployed and the unemployed, acting on the one hand on the acquisition of specific knowledge and skills required by the production and services system and on the other hand by promoting the development of adaptability, proactivity and the promotion of innovation;
3. Strengthening the expendability of the skills, also informal, acquired by unemployed women, also promoting the acquisition of useful tools for the realization of self-entrepreneurial choices;
4. Support workers and entrepreneurs in the realignment of skills and knowledge with particular attention to innovation and sustainable development to foster the development of business competitiveness;
5. To have the presence of active, resilient citizens who are part of an inclusive community.
   
   

Key Priority Areas and Future Development

Future regional programming, with reference to lifelong learning interventions, will focus on the following three areas of intervention:

(a) Human capital

The strengthening of human capital as a whole makes it possible to guarantee personnel that meet the current needs of companies but, above all, are able to welcome continuous innovation processes in a proactive manner, transforming them into further business opportunities for the company itself. In fact, having "capable" human resources and connections with the world of research and universities are the main conditions to increase innovation in the regional productive system and to create a structured ecosystem able to respond promptly to the future challenges that the regional economy will have to face in the next ten years.

b) Dynamic and sustainable regional economy

The competitiveness of the regional economy will be strengthened through:

• Identification of specific supply chains and development strategies and the preparation of a coherent training offer;
• Supporting the digitization processes of the regional production system, guaranteeing personnel capable of using innovative digital technologies functional to a greater environmental sustainability of the entrepreneurial action;
• Support to the construction of international partnerships to consolidate the internationalization processes of companies, preparing human resources capable of managing complex relationships and contexts.

(c) Sustainable and inclusive growth

Through specific projects aimed at the recovery of handicrafts and old trades and the reactivation of young people at high risk of social exclusion, the resources of the territory will be enhanced in a sustainable and inclusive way, with reference to the weakest areas (mountain and border areas) and the degraded contexts of urban areas.

Learning Cities Networks

Since 2018, the FVG Region and the Università della Liberetà del Friuli Venezia Giulia are undergoing a positive comparison of experiences with the Municipality of Modi'in Maccabin Reut, the Multidisciplinary Centre Modi'in, and the Union of Israeli Municipalities, paying particular attention to the interaction between formal and non-formal learning and interventions aimed at the development of transversal skills.

In the future, the interest in collaborating is addressed to Learning City networks, which by size or context of reference address territories larger than the size of the individual municipality and intend to pursue lifelong learning policies on a regional or national scale.