Location: Basque Country, Spain
Lead VET centre: CIFP Miguel Altuna LHII
Programme: “Smart Manufacturing” specialisation (EQF Level 5)
Goal: Update an Industry 4.0-focused course to include Industry 5.0 priorities — human-centricity, resilience, and sustainability.

Overview

At CIFP Miguel Altuna LHII’s Learning Factory in the Basque Country, the Smart Manufacturing specialisation (EQF Level 5) was refreshed to reflect a new reality: advanced manufacturing is no longer only about adopting technology—it’s also about designing work around people, staying resilient in the face of change, and making more sustainable choices.

Results (at a glance)

Early signals were strong. Learners reported higher satisfaction and a clearer sense of ownership, while trainers observed better interdisciplinary thinking, communication, and teamwork. Crucially, Industry 5.0 considerations — human factors and sustainability — showed up inside the technical work, not as an add-on.

The challenge

The course already delivered solid Industry 4.0 technology skills, but its modules did not always connect into a coherent end-to-end view of modern manufacturing. Human-centricity, resilience, and sustainability were not consistently built into tasks, reflection, or assessment, and students needed more challenge-based, interdisciplinary work that mirrors how production problems are solved in real teams.

Approach

Who was involved

The pilot brought together learners from the “Smart Manufacturing” VET specialisation (EQF Level 5), VET teachers and company trainers, and innovation stakeholders such as TKNIKA — working with partner companies across the Basque region.

What they did

The pilot upgraded the programme by embedding three Industry 5.0 principles — human-centricity, resilience, and sustainability — into both the curriculum and the Learning Factory experience.

To make the shift practical, the team first clarified the Industry 5.0 competencies the programme should develop, then redesigned Learning Factory activities supported by tools like AR, IoT and simulation, and finally adapted company internships so students experienced Industry 5.0 technologies and working practices in real environments.

How it was delivered

Delivery followed the ETHAZI1 challenge-based model, so learning stayed hands-on and collaborative. Short workshops (“nuggets”) introduced organisational mindsets (e.g., a Kiribil Laboratory2 — a mini-factory simulation where teams compare traditional vs high-involvement ways of organising work) and human–technology integration (e.g., AR support for manual assembly). Mixed-discipline teams then tackled projects — such as combining eco-design with automation or designing and manufacturing a levelling device — while also working with advanced tools like UR robots, digital planning and simulation. Internships were aligned to reinforce what students practised in the Learning Factory.

Impact

The pilot demonstrated that Learning Factories can be an effective route to bring Industry 5.0 into VET — without losing the rigour of advanced technical training. Students and teachers reported clear benefits from combining technology practice with human-centric and sustainable decision-making.

What changed

Across the pilot, learners gained more agency in how work was organised, and teams built resilience by iterating, adjusting plans, testing ideas and improving solutions. Industry 5.0 became visible in day-to-day technical decisions, and teaching practice shifted toward more participatory facilitation. Progress was tracked through surveys, qualitative feedback, observation and the ETHAZI competency-based framework.

Voices from the pilot

“Working on real problems—and being involved in decisions—made the learning feel more meaningful. Our teams naturally shared roles and planned together.”

What trainers observed

Trainers noted clear improvement in interdisciplinary thinking and communication, and found ETHAZI helpful for assessing both technical and transversal skills. They also highlighted the need for additional support and shared assessment examples to apply Industry 5.0 principles consistently across cohorts.

Lessons learned

The biggest lesson was that modular courses need deliberate bridges — otherwise integration happens by chance. Sustained impact also depends on investing in teacher upskilling, agreeing a practical set of Industry 5.0 indicators for assessment, and keeping an active feedback loop with company partners and institutional stakeholders.

Two women in blue work uniforms collaborate at a workshop, one hands a small tool to the other near a metal vise panel.
Young technician in a blue-gray jacket studies a tablet amid factory machinery and a robotic arm in the backgroundide.

Next steps

Building on the pilot, the next phase is to strengthen cross-module integration, expand professional development for trainers, and agree a practical assessment toolkit for Industry 5.0 outcomes that can be used across Learning Factory programmes.

  1. The ETHAZI challenge-based model is the Basque VET system’s active-learning framework (used widely across Basque VET schools) where students learn by working in teams on realistic “challenges” rather than mainly through lectures. It’s essentially collaborative, challenge-based learning / problem-based learning, designed to develop technical skills and transversal skills at the same time (e.g., autonomy, teamwork, resilience).

In practice, ETHAZI typically means:

  • Learning is organised around challenges (problematic situations framed as tasks/projects that resemble workplace scenarios), tackled by student teams.
  • Students use an iterative cycle: plan what they need to learn, try solutions, check results, and reflect on what changed — so “learning by evolving” is built into the method.
  • Assessment is competency-based and integrated: results show up in grades that reflect both occupation-specific/technical competencies and transversal competencies (like collaboration, autonomy, resilience).

ETHAZI gave the Miguel Altuna pilot a structure to embed Industry 5.0 priorities (human-centricity, resilience, sustainability) inside the technical challenges—so students practise technology (e.g., AR/robots/simulation) while also being assessed on how they organise work, make decisions, and adapt as a team.

  1. A Kiribil laboratory is a simulated production “mini-factory” used as a learning-and-research lab to make human‑centric organisation tangible—students (or workers) don’t just talk about better ways of working, they experience and compare them side-by-side.

In the BRIDGES 5.0 context, it’s a production laboratory created by Unai Elorza and colleagues at Mondragon Goi Eskola Politeknikoa, designed to test whether a high‑involvement work system (HIWS) can improve both performance and well‑being compared with a more traditional, manager-led system.

What happens in Kiribil (in practical terms):

  • It simulates a multi-step production process (rolling → cutting/painting → mounting) with customer orders and time pressure.
  • Participants run two contrasting simulations using the same production setup:
    • a traditional setup with top‑down coordination, and
    • a human‑centric/HIWS setup where the team coordinates work more autonomously (more transparency, mutual coordination, facilitative leadership, etc.).
  • After each run, they measure performance (e.g., on-time delivery/productivity) and well‑being (e.g., satisfaction/commitment) and compare results.