ArcticSkills19 Newsletter #1

 

 

Newsletter # 1 2018

 

Information from the board meeting in Ivalo, May 2018

 

  1. Changes in the organization

 

Svein Tore Jakobsen, special adviser from the county of Finnmark, was elected Chairman of the Board of ArcticSkills. He informed the board that

  • Kirkenes comprehensive School will continue as owner of the project
  • Kirkenes comprehensive School will engage a new leader of the vocational Department who will take over the responsibility of Project manager in part time
  • Trond Hansen and Robert Flatli will continue in the project as consultants

 

  1. A new coordinating centre for Arctic Skills in Murmansk

 

Elena Zubritskaya informed that the Ministry of Education and Science in Murmansk has decided to organize a Coordinating centre for ArcticSkills in Murmansk at Murmansk Technological College of Services (MTCS) with Aleksandra Yurgalova as leader and Elena Rudnik as coordinator of the work. The centre will be responsible for coordinating the ArcticSkills matters between the colleges in Murmansk region, and responsible in application processes.

 

  1. Getting ready for the Kolarctic application process

 

Renata Mustifullina from the Kolarctic CBC program in Rovaniemi gave a presentation of the program and the application process for the board. The presentation will be sent to the board members asap, but she made some matters of importance clear:

 

  • The lead partner can come be any of the partners
  • All partners must contribute in accordance with the national programs and regulations, which means:
    • Norway and Sweden:

50 % from Kolarctic, 40 % external funding (Barents secretariat or Finnmark fylkeskommune), 10 % own contribution

  • Russia and Finland:

50 % from Kolarctic, 50 % external financing and no demands of own contributions

  • The Logical framework matrix must be accurate and written to gain interest with the assessors. It is important to describe the main points for the readers of the applications
  • We must be aware of the different steps in the grant process: The call is closed at 21st of December, but no decisions will be made before January 2019, the final decision will be made in March 2019, but no allowances will be given before June 2019. This implicates that ArcticSkills 2019 must be financed by The Norwegian Barents secretariat and the North Calotte Council. We must also search for possibilities at the Norwegian Department for foreign affairs. The grant from Finnmark fylkeskommune is expected to continue until 2021

 

 

 

  1. Additions and changes of competences in the Tournament:
  • Waiter: All partners can compete. Accepted as part of the core program
  • Tourism: The curriculum in the educational systems seems to differ. Must be assessed and demonstrated.
  • House painting: The board recommends the competence as part of the core program under the name of Decorative painting of interiors.  Kirkenes 2019 can build the scenery and provide equipment, but Tornio must take responsibility for the tasks and the arranging.
  • Duodji: The proposed alteration between hard and soft materials was accepted as part of the core program. The Sámi schools in Inari and Kautokeino will take responsibility for the change, starting with hard materials in Kirkenes 2019
  • Health care: The board accept the proposal of changing the competition from individual to competing in pairs in 2019.
  • Entrepreneurship: The board wants to assess the possibilities of inviting the competence into ArcticSkills in 2019. This must be done in a dialogue with the existing competitions in entrepreneurship.

 

  1. Inviting new partners

The board recommends that the project management invite REDU/ Rovaniemi and Utbildning    Nord/ Övertorneå, to take part in next year’s tournament in Kirkenes. This participation must be organized through qualifications, in order to secure that the number of participants from each partner does not exceed one participant.

The board also recommends an invitation to the Sámi colleges in the regions to act as independent partners, because they are all submitted to state ownership. This will give them the possibility to qualify directly in all competences of the tournament, and might consequently increase the number of participants. The project manager and the chairman will discuss this matter with the Sámi colleges

  1. Demonstrating an open class with participation of Norwegian apprentices

The board discussed the possibility of making an open class competition in order to include Norwegian apprentices in their first year of training (third graders) in the Competition. This change will only influence the Norwegian side, as long as the Finnish, Russian and Swedish system includes third graders as students at college. Murmansk argued that although the Russian students are in their 3rd year of education, they do not have three years of practical education. The first year is used only for theoretical subjects. The board eventually agreed that there could be an open class for demonstration in the competence of hairdressers in Kirkenes 2019. Kirkenes will hand the practical arrangement.

 

 

 

  1. Age limitation

The Norwegian proposal of dismissing the age limitation, and include all students within the educational systems was postponed until next meeting in the board

 

  1. The calendar

The draft of next year’s calendar was handed over to the partners so that they can fill in the information and dates necessary for the planning of the main events.

The head master of Kirkenes comprehensive school, Øystein Hansen, informed that they have set the dates for the tournament in 2019:

8thof April: Arrival

9th of April: Opening ceremony and “get-together party”

10th  of April: Competitions and closing ceremony

 

  1. Agreements of cooperation with external partners

Trond informed about the work on the Norwegian side about making agreements with partners who can support the work of ArcticSkills, such as WorldSkills Norway, The trade unions, the Norwegian union of employers, companies and branches, etc. The board agreed that this work can be of importance, and asked for examples of such agreements.

 

Kirkenes 19th of June 2018

 

Trond Hansen