Emerging competencies in oenology: quality and consistency in education and training programmes

Abstract

Scientific knowledge, traditionally anchored in chemistry and agronomy, is now intertwined with data management, digital process monitoring and communication skills. Companies are increasingly demanding professionals capable of interpreting technical and regulatory information, managing sustainability certifications and interacting with complex international markets. The alignment between vocational education and training and higher education is essential to ensure that qualifications reflect the complexity of production and regulatory contexts. Agricultural technical institutes, ITS and university courses in viticulture and oenology are progressively introducing modules dedicated to digitisation, environmental management and the circular economy. However, the transition requires a more systematic coordination between curricula, companies and territorial ecosystems of skills, ensuring consistency between training objectives, contents and teaching methodologies. Apprenticeship experiences and continuous training are effective tools to strengthen the acquisition of skills, allowing the integration of tacit, experiential knowledge. These approaches are consistent with the European Framework for Quality Assurance in Vocational Education and Training (EQAVET, 2009) and the European Framework for Effective and Quality Apprenticeships adopted by the Council of the European Union in 2018. Rapid technological and regulatory changes make it necessary to create a lifelong learning system that combines flexibility and certified quality. In this perspective, professional organisations can act as intermediaries in the processes of competence governance: they contribute to identifying new professional standards, orienting training design towards emerging needs and disseminating evidence on the evolution of professional profiles. Strengthening the dialogue between training institutions, companies and professional bodies is a necessary condition for building a workforce capable of supporting Italian production excellence and contributing to a sustainable and competitive development model at European level.