The future skill needs in Europe reveals that changing work content and increased task complexity will result in growth of the occupational group of managers and associate professionals [Cedefop 2016]. Over the last years, the European footwear sector has been changing in the way it demands more specialised expertise and new skills  suitable to company’s specific requirements towards new business models, innovative and high-tech technologies, design and styling, environment issues etc. In order to deliver sector-specific skills solutions, the New Skills Agenda for Europe, adopted in 2016, anticipates that “by 2025 almost half of all job openings in the EU will require higher qualifications”.

The latest updated assessment of the needs for skills in European footwear industry was performed by European Sector Skills Council for textile, clothing, leather and footwear (TCLF) industry in 2014. This report has identified various drivers of employment and skills that are influencing and shaping the TCLF sector, including the footwear sub-sector too, such as: regulation and multi-level governance, demographic and population change, environmental change, economics and globalisation, technological change, changing values and identities, consumer demand. All the project partners are involved in providing study programs, training and/or running educational projects for the footwear industry in their countries or/and EU level, but none of them have already included in their VET curricula and/or training content the entire SUM of the hereby mentioned drivers of skills for the project target group- the managers in footwear companies.  Further more, the TCLF 2014 Report reveals that “five times more jobs are to be opened for highly qualified employees than for low-qualified employees by 2025”.

On the other hand, the footwear industry in Turkey is developing quickly due to the growth of demand, the availability of raw materials from the domestic market, its proximity to the European markets, and its high production capacities. However, the products are seeking marketability, standardization, and design which can be tackled with increased skills.

Enhancing the skills of the professionals through a cross-disciplinary training program, combining professional and transversal skills associated with entrepreneurship, innovation, both technological and non-technological, is the aim of the project to be undertaken.

In this context, the SHOEMAN objectives are:

• To anticipate the job related requirements of the future managerial occupations more effectively in order to improve the transfer and use of new and existing knowledge on further skills needs among partner countries

• To create a common qualification framework that will result in better-qualified professionals involved in top and middle management in the European and Turkish footwear industry,

• To develop new methodologies and learning tools based on MOOCs for re-engineering the training process targeted to the existing and aspiring managers from footwear industry.

In order to materialise the project objectives, the proposed project will produce a set of intellectual outputs that will be supported by management activities and an exploitation plan to ensure the sustainability of its results even after the project has ended.

The SHOEMAN project aims to create a framework that will result in better qualified professionals in the European Footwear Industry.  Through the creation of a European Qualification Framework (EQF), with the use of ECVET scores, the project aims to promote both lifelong learning and equal opportunities in the knowledge-based society, as well as the further integration of the European labour market for all relevant professionals. It addresses both technological and non-technological issues, from basic to new technologies, and from fundamental managerial skills, financial or project management skills, to issues regarding health and safety at the workplace, social responsibility or traceability in the value chain. It will also take an innovative approach with the use of a MOOC that will be in line with the mentality of the professionals recently joining the footwear industry labour force and will provide the incentives for multiplier effects of the project to take place with the development of innovative footwear materials as a result of the training process, by creating a Virtual Challenge Community and an Innovative footwear products competition.