Nationwide industrial cooperation for long-life learning and apprenticeships

Long-life learning allows workers´ career evolution, and can be achieved either through dedicated adults courses, or via professional experience. Young students are also offered the possibility to study as apprentices, being part-time in the university and part-time working for a company. In this paper, we report on collaborations with Orange-France Telecom (major Telco operator in France) in both areas. Long-life learning agreement aims at delivering national diplomas on the basis of knowledge and proficiencies acquired through professional experience. The diplomas targeted are networking and telecommunications technician, and bachelor degrees in the same topic. This project was operated for the last three years and after 3 years we could analyse the practice with a sufficiently large population of workers to have return of experience. Hence, we can provide some feedback on these three years of collaboration between Orange-France Telecom and the ”Networks and Telecommunications” IUT departments. Such a scheme has been possible since the targeted diplomas benefit from a national programme, which is shared by all universities involved. Setting up this programme has required an extensive cooperation between universities, both at a pedagogic level and at an administrative level. Although schemes for validating professional experience already existed, practices differed from one university to another: the process is slightly different and the fees as well. Hence, in order to conduct a successful national project, an harmonisation of practices over all universities had to be defined. Moreover, since several diplomas with a common core area are concerned, a very detailed description of the expected expertise was defined. This process allowed for verifying the candidate experience is in line with the targeted diploma. We have designed the main lines of the process to guide employees from Orange-France Telecom over a full year, from an information session - o a validation jury for their diploma. In the meantime, they participate in collective courses helping them to write a professional overview activity report, describing their acquired expertise during their professional life in line with the aimed diploma. Each participant is also individually tutored by a university´s professor. The jury issue is then of three kinds: the diploma is delivered, or not, or only some units are granted. In this latter case, advice is given to achieve a full completion of the curricula. Now after this first phase of long-life learning by professional experience, Orange-France Telecom proposes to focus the partnership to apprenticeships. This new project meets the new French regulations (“contrats de generation”) to anticipate the retirement of employees. The originality of these generations contracts scheme lies in that some of the retirements will be replaced by anticipation by young apprentices. Thus they will not only pursue their academic technical studies, but will also benefit from a transfer of expertise from the staff member who will retire within the next 3 years. This project is starting on a national scale and raises many issues, some similar to those of the previous long-life learning by experience, but also new challenges.