The Language Industry has been continuously growing for the last 10 years, currently being one of the more robust economic sectors with a 11% estimated annual growth. Great technological and skill developments have taken place along this growth in the private sector that have outpaced the translation training proposals at Higher Education institutions despite considerable efforts to the contrary by scholars. The Translation Studies community, in the meantime, has adopted a research-based pedagogic agenda to inform translators' training and education with the latest advances in empirical investigations on the translation process.

In this context, we find disperse training needs and solutions that evidence a clear gap between industry and academia, impeding quick, quality, inclusive responses to current challenges. While this by now proverbial gap has been one of the warhorses in university translation schools, it is to this day that the academic community has excelled in identifying the main issues with limited success in providing solutions.

The results include responding to the current training proposals at Higher Education institutions falling short to provide language industry-relevant learning experiences and developing a modular training and education model further articulated as an online course. These results are materialized in the form of an an open access learning handbook.

The online course proposed is developed and implemented in a virtual environment, together with its materials and activities, which are open access resources in order to ensure the modular, autonomous learning experience of participants is structured and relevant. With regards to non-tangible results, this project introduces a paradigm shift in university and professional training which will lead to a better mutual needs understanding, thus contributing to bridging the gap between industry and academia, as well as introducing new, more resilient methodologies of training and performance assessment in the face of social challenges.

Beyond the immediate benefits, the project puts forward an innovative use of technology as applied to professional training and knowledge transfer. Also, the project entails a valuable training paradigm shift: from a linear, pre-ordered sequence of discrete units, to flexible modules.