The Erasmus+ project VIRTASK – Virtual Training for Applied Soft Skills, coordinated by VILNIUS TECH, has published the results of its first research phase. Four reports – the General Sector Analysis Report, the Training Needs Assessment Report, the Soft Skills Development Report and the Data Analysis Report
The reports consolidate a year of research in Ireland, Lithuania, Romania, Serbia and Türkiye. Partner teams visited employers in education, tourism, healthcare, finance and software, interviewing and surveying them in each sector and reviewing national and European policy sources. In parallel, 110 VET students and ICT professionals took part in local workshops, including the one held by VILNIUS TECH in Vilnius in April 2026. The reports were prepared by the Irish partner Future Cast and reviewed by all project partners.
Key findings:
- Communication with clients and non-technical users is the gap named in all five countries. Decision-making under uncertainty, working under pressure and adaptability follow, each named in four of the five.
- Digitalisation increases rather than reduces the demand for human skills: the most digitalised sectors, software and finance, report the most soft-skills gaps, not the fewest.
- The gap is a practice gap, not a knowledge gap. Young specialists know that communication and resilience matter, but rarely get to rehearse them under realistic pressure before facing a live client, patient or team situation.
- Students and professionals see the problem from different angles. Students prioritise the skills that will help them learn and get hired; professionals prioritise the skills they see missing in the juniors they manage.
The reports define 21 soft skills – 18 sector-specific and three cross-cutting – and identify six universal skills as the backbone of the future training: communication, adaptability, critical thinking, empathy, problem-solving and responsibility. They also recommend the situations to be developed as VR scenarios, such as handling an irritated non-technical user, adapting to shifting project requirements and proactively communicating a delay.
These recommendations are now guiding the next phase of VIRTASK: five sector-oriented training modules and five VR simulations, to be made available on an online learning platform. VILNIUS TECH is preparing the training module for the tourism sector.
Read the reports: https://virtaskproject.eu/#reports
VIRTASK (No. 2025-1-LT01-KA220-VET-000356223) is co-funded by the European Union under the Erasmus+ programme. Views and opinions expressed are those of the authors only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the National Agency.
