Welcome to the SMWeld Project

Nowadays, South Mediterranean (SM) countries face limitations, such as:

• High unemployment rate among young people with technical high education.
• There is no national standards for certification of personnel and companies, and no international welding engineering programs.
• There are no specialization programs at master level in welding and joining technology and companies have difficulties in recruiting high skilled people.
• The existing training programs aren’t aligned with the international standards and are delivered by foreign organizations.
• Engineers employed in the welding field are rarely educated in welding.

The recent economic and political crisis in the SM region and the high unemployment rates among young educated people show that access to higher education isn’t sufficient for economic and political stability and job creation. As elsewhere in the world, manufacturing companies are increasingly searching for knowledge to comply with the three main systems as a whole: Quality, Environment and Health and Safety.

The SM Weld project promotes a novel education and training model of university-industry partnership to foster the quality of the workforce while contributing to knowledge transfer; increasing employability of engineers and technical staff as well as supplying the North-African industry with highly qualified personnel. The SM Weld objectives are segmented in three levels:

• Academic level: MSc specialization in Welding and Coordination of the International Welding Engineer/ International Welding Technicians education
• Welding personnel: Implementation and Coordination activities for training and certification of welding personnel.
• Company level: Coordinate the implementation and certification of welding organizations in compliance with ISO 3834, contributing to a considerable strengthen of their economic competitiveness.