The TITAN Programme

At the first preparatory meeting for the Hungarian EUGA Leadership Board, held in October 2007, a number of ideas and expectations were raised by the IT industry to reduce the workforce shortage and to make EU-funded training more efficient. The need was formulated to develop and implement a training frame programme to better serve the objectives in the first few months of 2008. HELB has set the following guidelines for the programme:

• It should respond to real-life demands of the market and it should bring results rapidly,
• It should provide the potential to train IT specialists efficiently and to high standards,
• The quality of training should be subject to constant monitoring,
• Tendering, implementation and monitoring should be carried out with as little red tape as possible (both on the government and the participants' side).

In line with the above guidelines, the establishment of the TITAN frame programme (Training Frame Programme for Increased Adaptability of the Information Society) was started by HELB which became more formalised and extended in the meantime.

The most important strategy focus points for the TITAN Frame Programme aimed at developing ICT skills are as follows:

• European and international competitiveness of Hungarian businesses,
• Transfer the expectations of the digital economy,
• Acceleration of SMEs' adaptation to the changing technologies,
• Adjust the training culture of employers to the market demand,
• The levels and up-to-dateness of employees' skills in line with the job,
• Standardised accreditation and certification pillars,
• The minimisation of red tape and own funding in the tendering processes for SMEs.

Climbing the Knowledge Pyramid

The TITAN programme recognises and provides an integrated approach to the different e-skills levels existing in society. The novelty in the pivotal elements of the program philosophy is that the training should be able to push all participants one level higher in the knowledge pyramid, while all participants are to be taught skills in line with their level. Digitally illiterate people should be equipped with digital literacy, professionals are to take part in top-of-the range training, up-to-date and relevant to the market demand.

TITAN

Training Framework Programme for Increased Adaptability of the Information Society

Subprogramme I

PROTEUS programme - Competitiveness and reaching the cutting edge
The objective is to reduce the multiple skills shortages in the ICT sector, by IT-Pro people trained in line with the market demand, to high standards and in a diversified manner, to rapidly improve the competitiveness of ICT-intensive business in Hungary.

Subprogramme II

DIG-IT programme - Digital economy and the strengthening of the SME sector
The objective is to improve the competitiveness of the Hungarian SME sector by providing decision-makers in the sector with ICT-focused training in business and more up-to-date skills in e-business.

Subprogramme III

DIG-IT-ALL programme - E-inclusion with an employability focus
Training of digitally illiterate employees and potential employees or those with basic IT skills, to assist them in getting better jobs and positions, to foster startup e-businesses.

Between 2009 and 2012, the TITAN Frame Programme intends to present model results to the above-mentioned objectives of the Pan-European Employability Alliance and the national programmes in different stages in European member states. The programming for the TITAN Frame Programme and its subprogrammes (PROTEUS, DIG-IT, DIG-IT-ALL) is now on a dynamic course with the involvement of internal workgroups and external specialists, discussions on the highest levels of decision-making have started. The objective of the discussions is to have the TITAN Frame Programme accepted and backed in 2008 as a priority programme, financed from EU funds in line with the New Hungary Development Plan.