Interagency meetings at Cedefop: Working together for VET

High-level representatives of international organisations working on vocational education and training (VET), including European Training Foundation (ETF) Director Pilvi Torsti, had the opportunity to discuss recent developments, ongoing work in working groups, how artificial intelligence influences skills development and how TVET can respond to crisis situations.

Cedefop Executive Director Jürgen Siebel opened the event arguing that ‘perhaps the time is ripe for the interagency group to start reflecting on possibilities to create implementation partnership plans, common to all participating agencies, so that support to individual countries can materialise through a concerted effort backed by shared information and evidence. As strategic targets for VET or TVET cross-cut between the agencies, the next step for the group could be to design a roadmap for shared interventions.’

The IAG-TVET was created by UNESCO in 2008 to ensure good coordination of activities by the key international organisations involved in the delivery of policy advice, programmes and research on TVET. The group has improved knowledge-sharing and a common understanding of key issues. Its goal is to better leverage the work of each member organisation to help countries design and implement more effective TVET policies and improve productivity, economic prosperity, sustainable development and employment opportunities.

In the context of this group, Cedefop has had the opportunity to cooperate with most of its members, such as UNESCO, UNEVOC, ILO, OECD, World Bank, the ETF, the European Commission and other international bodies.

Cedefop Head of Department for VET and Qualifications Loukas Zahilas, who co-chaired the meeting with UNESCO’s Hervé Huot-Marchand, referred to the cooperation within the dedicated working groups as a mechanism to carry forward work on specific priorities by shedding light on themes like TVET indicators, career guidance, future of TVET and work-based learning.

Cedefop-ETF knowledge-sharing seminar

The directors of Cedefop and the ETF signed a new framework of cooperation between the two agencies for 2024-26 before the Thessaloniki leg of the traditional knowledge-sharing seminar on 8 December.

The two sister agencies first developed a formal collaboration through an agreement in 2001, in advance of the EU enlargements of 2004 and 2007, and have continued to work together since.

Opening the seminar, Mr Siebel said: ‘We strongly believe that through knowledge sharing and active participation in the activities of the agencies, the ETF and Cedefop deepen their expertise and ensure continued complementarity of activities and the required synergy. Further deepening our cooperation has produced visible results by successfully informing EU policy shaping and implementation in a coordinated manner’.

The event benefitted from the involvement of members of the Inter-agency group on TVET, who took part in the group’s meeting the previous day. The seminar’s theme, excellence and inclusion, gave participants the opportunity to be informed about the ETF’s work and Cedefop’s planned activities.