Responding to an increasing demand for qualified construction personnel across Europe, the Pathways project is a combined national and regional effort among the European workforce.

In the first step of the project, Pathways has produced a number of tools for the construction sector to assist in the recognition of foreign qualification, aimed at encouraging cross-border employment. In the second stage of the project, which is currently in progress, Pathways will identify training gaps in the construction industry and help to develop new educational programmes to reduce these gaps.

The system has already been applied to some construction professions in Denmark, Hungary, Poland, Spain and the UK. Eventually, Pathway’s envisions the project to be rolled out to other professions and sectors throughout Europe.

The ICC World Chambers Federation highlighted the importance of the project during its 5th World Chambers Congress in Istanbul in 2007 when PFST was announced as a finalist in the 2007 World Chambers Competition.

The launch of the matrix is part of an exhibition of the project taking place today at the Warsaw University of Technology in Poland during a conference sponsored by the European Union Leonardo Da Vinci programme for education and training. Conference participants will include academics, construction and vocational training representatives, and PFST partners.

Keynote speakers, including Paul Nowak, Director of the Polish British Construction Partnership, Richard Collyer, Head of Economic Development of the Bedfordshire Chamber of Commerce and PFST Project Manager, and James Freeman, Research Officer at NARIC will highlight the importance of recognizing construction personnel qualifications at the direct labour level.

The PFST project will be completed in October 2008.

The PFST project is lead by the Bedfordshire Chamber of Commerce, with partners including the European Vocational Training Association (EVTA), NARIC, the Hungarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry and ICC World Chambers Federation. 

An information campaign lead by EVTA will be launched during the conference . To view the campaign, please visit  www.euractiv.com  

More information on the project is available at  http://pst.naric.org.uk or   http://www.leonardoskills.com