The new ETUI strategy for the next 4 years was built on the basis of an inclusive methodology where each internal and external stakeholder has taken an active role in the building process. The strategy has followed different paths of consultation and feedback to finish with an ETUI internal approval and ETUC endorsement in November 2019. The strategy was presented to the Trade Unions Education community at the EduDays held in Vienna from 28 to 29 November 2019.

In the first phase of strategy building, the ETUI Education department redefined its value proposition as follows:

“ETUI Education offers a motivational and distinct European TU training in a multicultural setting that is affordable, accessible and delivered flexibly.

We provide high-quality training on key competences, skills and knowledge to European Trade Union members and officers in a transnational and multicultural setting, easy to access and focused on strengthening and expanding the sense of belonging to the same community.”

The Strategy is built on 3 objectives, 3 building blocks and 9 strategic actions.

Increase participation is the first objective: The target groups of our training activities are diverse and comprehensive; hence we do not reach out to all the member organisations. Countries and Trade Unions have to be stimulated to participate in our training in order to increase our multiplier effect and impact.

Make more use of technology is the second objective of this strategy. The aim is to reach out to a bigger target group offering easily accessible and user-friendly MOOCs/SPOCs and to combine them with face-to-face courses in order to present a blended learning offer and further develop online pre-course activities.

In the European context, the ETUI’s training offer is unique. Its strength comes from its specific nature of trade union training and its proximity to the ETUC. It also lies in the expertise of its trainers and the ETUI’s own research capacities. The third objective, the ETUI should maintain and further develop its potential and capacity to offer high-quality training making more use of the internal researches and establish the ETUI as a key provider of trade union-oriented training. The synergy between Education and Research department is a key factor of success.

Our activities were redesigned and rethought through 3 building blocks: upskilling, online, strategic development. Those 3 blocks are transversal: they cross every of our core activities and are meant to frame the strategy. They mean to embrace our different strategic objectives

The courses are developed under the philosophy that participants can think more strategically, explore innovative ideas and act to change. The ETUI priorities and the ETUC action plan are translated into courses, with some new areas as trade unions renewal which has been conceived to produce mid-long-term visions, and transitions: climate change, sustainability and just transitions have different approaches translated into courses.

Our flagship courses as Eurotrainers or young leaders and our EWC offer are reinforced and new areas of development are launched as capacity building on communication strategies, new training on emotional competence and group management and developing competence to build collective intelligence within groups.

The 9 strategic actions for 2020-2023 are the following:

  • Enlarging the diversity of trainers according to the countries and the organisations that are less participative.
  • Better promote our EWC service through a multi-channel approach
  • Constantly innovate use of technology, methodology, subjects, conceptual phase, personal approach.
  • More courses with accreditation.
  • Increase the use of internal researchers during our courses.
  • Awareness to cope with change via training module
  • Appropriate technology for better TU Development
  • Quality content: based on ETUI expertise, up to date, tailor-made for unions
  • Own online learning platform
  • Standard quality procedure (label like “ISO”)

The combination of the different constitutive elements results in a multiannual course programme. The courses will, as always, be designed and delivered in partnership with the organisations.

Innovation is the keyword of the strategy: every course, learning pathway or activity will search for innovative approaches, subjects and methodologies.

The PowerPoint presentation of the strategy presented in Vienna (2019) is available here.