Innovative digital tools applied to sustainable Meat Science and Technology Higher Education: a link between industry and academia

In previous projects funded by the Erasmus+ Programme and leaded by the University of Thessaly (Greece), a number of consortia had been formed by several higher education institutions in some EU countries. This encouraged us to look for other partners and apply for the present project. After the success of previous projects, we realized that a new one focused on the development of innovative, digital training material for students and professionals of the meat sector could be of interest. Meat production and processing are some of the most important and complex components of the food system and is undergoing recent technological changes. The European Union (EU) is engaged in processes for digital transformation that demand actions to create comprehensive and up-to-date digitised educational material regarding the formal and continuing education in different fields, such as food/meat science and technology among others. There seem to be a lack of comprehensive and accessible online learning material elaborated by higher educational teams in the topic of Meat Science and Technology.

The general objective was to use the potential of Europe’s human and social capital originating from higher education’s institutes and the meat industry, in order to exchange and transfer knowledge and know-how in meat science and technology education, by the creation and development of a network that will provide opportunities for cooperation among stakeholders, in order to foster employability and socio-educational and personal development, as well as participation in civic and social life. As specific objectives, we planned: - To analyse the situation or the Meat Science and Technology studies in the curricula of Food Sci./Food Sci. and Technology of the universities around Europe, with special reference to the countries participating. - To produce innovative digital education material, focused on Products, Processes, Quality, Safety, Environment/Sustainability & Entrepreneurship of the Meat Sector - To use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) and design of a free, online Learning Management system (Moodle) - To share knowledge, competences and skills among the partners and connection with the meat industry.

To reach the objectives the project was structured in five worck packages (WP): WP1. Management WP2. Training Needs Analysis. This WP included 4 sections: curriculum assessment, questionnaires (for students/professors/professionals), statistical data analysis and production of the innovative meat science and technology (MST) guide. WP3. Innovative training material development WP4. Training Material Digitalization and E-Platform (Moodle Design) WP5. Connection with the industry, dissemination and sustainability As for the events, more than 20 events have been organised under the project, with more than 650 people participating: LEARNING AND TEACHING ACTIVITIES: - Train the trainees (5): each partner (higher education institution) organised its own event (hybrid) (WP4) - Train the trainers (6): each partner organised its own event (hybrid) (WP4) - Summer School (1): a unique event of 1 week was organised by IPB, with students and professors from the universities (partners) attending (WP5) DISSEMINATION ACTIVITIES: - Multiplier events (6): each partner organised its own event (hybrid) (WP5) - Connection with the industry events (2): two events were organised by 4obs and UTH withthe participation of the rest of partners (WP5)

The main result of the project is the InnoMeatEdu e-platform: https://innomeatedu.unileon.es/, which is freely accesible, providing useful educational/training material for Food Science/Food Sciences and Technology (FS/FST) students/professors/professionals of the meat sector, filling gaps and mismatches between the actual training in the Meat Science and Technology of FS/FST curricula and the meat sector, between the students/graduates and professionals. The platform employs open educational resources (OER) and the latest information and communication technologies in order to provide a user-friendly approach on both basic and advanced information on Meat Science. The e-platform, based on MOOC, includes material structured in courses (6), integrated by training subjects (TS, 24), slide presenta (94) and practicals (38). It includes case studies (6 academic and 6 based on connection with the industry), assessments-quizzes (24), take home messages (24), lists of references and further reading (many with links, 6), and multimultimedia resources (videos, 12; infographics, 7; and interactive maps, 1).