Learning in the context of manuskills: Attracting youth to manufacturing through TEL

The manufacturing industry plays a pivotal role in the European economy and global competitiveness. Although production technologies and processes are continuously being improved towards the vision of factories of the future, there is a dire shortage of human capital due to skills shortage and mismatch. This paper presents the results of studies carried out in Europe on how to leverage ICT (virtual reality, serious games, teaching factory and simulations) to increase the awareness and interest of young talent in manufacturing education. A total of 24 field experiments was conducted across 5 European countries with a sample of 461 students of different age-groups, namely primary (children), secondary (teenagers) and tertiary education (young adults) with particular focus on secondary-school students. The analysis of the results are encouraging, demonstrating an impact achieved, in particular with regards to the youngsters with lowest levels of awareness and interest.