Back2Basics: Bridging the gap between higher education and labor market by fostering digital skills was a project co-funded by the Erasmus+ programme and was BioLiving's fifth European project. Coordinated by the University of Aveiro, its partners were the Associação BioLiving, from Portugal; the University of Macedonia, from Greece; and the Gabinete de Recolocación Industrial, from Spain.

​The pandemic context has made it clear that many teachers in Higher Education (HE), forced to adapt their daily work to onlineenvironments, lack ‘digital readiness’, which has resulted in many failed attempts to adapt, work overload and stress. In this way, a persistent problem of HE systems has been highlighted: if teachers are not digitally prepared, they are also not passing on important and valuable digital competences to their students for work.

 HE students use information and communication technology (ICT) tools on a daily basis, but not in a professional way, and the majority of students lack professional digital skills that would improve their employability profile. This is particularly important given that many companies are adopting a more digital way of working. In addition, many students lack basic notions of ‘netiquette’, onlinecommunication and behaviour, which also contributes to reducing their employability.

​Back2Basics project aimed to address digital transformation in the HE system and bring HE systems closer to labour markets by improving digital skills in higher education through the training of teachers and graduates. The consortium partners intended to present possible methodologies to adopt in order to create a real change in HE systems, making them more modern and aligned with the needs of the labour market.