Improving digital design skills, innovating manufacturing technologies, strengthening quality controls, and producing in a more sustainable manner to adapt the sector to new industry demands are the main objectives of the Erasmus+ DISHOLEA project (Improving the ‎Digital Skills of ‎the Workforce in the Shoe ‎and Leather Goods ‎Industry in Jordan ‎and Palestine), in which the Miguel Hernández University of Elche (UMH) is participating. For three days, some members from the Jordanian and Palestinian organizations involved in this European Union-funded initiative gathered for the first Training of Trainees (ToT) session, which was held in both in-person and online formats.

Members of the DISHOLEA project at the UMH helped coordinate this activity. They included Miguel Ángel de la Casa, Professor of materials science and metallurgical engineering; Concepción Parejo and Julio Álvarez, professors of organic chemistry; Alberto Rodríguez, associate professor of signal theory and communications; José María Sabater, Professor of automation and systems engineering; and Juan David Romero, a postdoctoral researcher at the Institute of Bioengineering and who also took part in the training.

During their stay, the Training of Trainees participants learned about the structure and content of the course developed by members of the DISHOLEA project, a training program designed to equip professionals with knowledge and skills in both digital design and innovative, inclusive manufacturing processes. There were also hands-on training sessions, during which the project members themselves led training activities, and they also visited a company in the footwear industry and UMH laboratories to see firsthand how the technologies addressed in the project are applied.

This project, which is co-funded by the Erasmus+ EDU-CB-VET program and led by the UMH Vice Rectorate for Internationalization and Cooperation, involves representatives from Turkey (TASEV, the Turkish Footwear Industry Research Development and Education Foundation); Greece (University of West Attica (UNIWA) and CreThiDev); Palestine (Palestinian Federation of Leather Industries (PFLI)), Nablus University for Vocational and Technical Education, and Palestine Technical University – Kadoorie (PTUK); Jordan (Jordan University of Science & Technology (JUST) and Al-Balqa Applied University (BAU)); and from Spain, the UMH.