National Academy of Digital Competences
The National Academy of Digital Competences is an initiative of the Ministry of Digital Governance in order to develop and collect educational content on an online platform. It has been available since May 2021 with free and free access for all those who want to improve, enhance and develop their digital skills.
For the first time, citizens are given the opportunity to choose and attend, free of charge, appropriate open training in information and communication technologies in order to acquire basic and advanced digital competences. It also accelerates citizens’ digital literacy by mitigating educational, economic and social inequalities. By improving their digital skills, citizens can:
- know how to use the digital services of the Greek government;
- make use of ICT in all aspects of their daily lives; and
- enrich their existing knowledge in order to make them more attractive to the labour market.
Why is it a good practice?
The National Academy of Digital Competences aspires to play an active role in the field of digital literacy, constantly enriching its educational content to citizens. It has more than 290 basic and advanced courses corresponding to over 1,800 hours of training. Also, the courses are offered by organisations with recognised academic and educational prestige, such as Greek academic institutions, well-known international companies, banking institutions, telecommunications providers and digital education organisations. They are divided into the following six thematic categories:
Communication and cooperation: In this category courses are available in the areas of communication applications, homework, mobile devices and social networks.
Internet: The content of the courses in this category falls, inter alia, in the areas of personal data protection and safe internet browsing.
tools for everyday use: The educational content of this category is related to the fields of computer usage and office applications.
digital entrepreneurship: The courses in this category are aimed at those interested in further enriching their knowledge of digital marketing and the modern business context.
computer science: The visitor of this category can attend courses on databases, programming languages, cybersecurity, ICT and education, communications networks, etc.
cutting-edge technologies: The educational content of this category is related to the fields of artificial intelligence, cloud computing, etc.
Finally, the user’s navigation on the platform is simple and friendly. The educational material is freely available to all, without complex registration procedures and each user can choose the course that suits their interests and level of knowledge, follow it and complete it whenever they wish.
An additional benefit offered by the National Academy of Digital Competences is its digital skills self-assessment tool based on the European Digital Competence Framework, DigComp v2.1, which describes 21 digital skills organised in 5 categories. Upon completion of the test and depending on its results, the user receives personalised information on the available courses of the Academy that he/she can attend in order to improve the level of digital knowledge. Especially for specialised ICT users or professionals there is the possibility of selecting and attending a significant number of courses. It ensures access for vulnerable population groups to digital knowledge by achieving social cohesion and a smooth transition to the Digital Age.
Digital Transformation Paper 2020-2025 & National Academy of Digital Competences
The National Academy of Digital Competences is in full alignment with the strategic planning of the Ministry of Digital Governance for digital literacy by enhancing training and improving citizens’ digital skills in response to the needs that shape the ever-changing digital environment.
The operation of the National Academy of Digital Competences as a central benchmark for the field of digital competences is also described in the Digital Transformation Paper 2020-2025, the country’s national digital transformation strategy for the next five years. More specifically, it is described as one of the objectives of the Strategic Axis of Intervention: “Digital Competences & Skills” with the following objectives:
- To bring together at one entry point education and training programmes for the acquisition of digital skills by the population as a whole, at a basic, intermediate and advanced level.
- Provide educational programs both online (through modern and asynchronous education) and face-to-face.
- Provide trainees with a single homogenised certification mechanism for education and training programmes in digital skills at national level.
- Ensure that the self-diagnosis mechanism is used by citizens to determine the individual level of digital competence and to define a personalised learning pathway.
- Make constant use of European best practices and widely used educational models and standards.
- To be a collaborative platform, i.e. a central hub for cooperation between public and private providers of digital education.
Information and visual material were extracted from the website of the National Academy of Digital Competences.
