Thessaloniki, 29-30 September 2014
Cedefop and the European Commission (DG EAC) organized a conference to present the findings of Cedefop’s new vocational education and training (VET) report.

This report reviews developments in the deliverables set for 2014 and progress with the long-term objectives for VET agreed by Ministers, social partners, associated and candidate countries in the Bruges Communiqué. It also includes information by ETF on progress that candidate countries have made in these areas.

During the event, debates with stakeholders on progress, obstacles, bottlenecks and positive experiences helped identify lessons that can be learnt from the current sets of priorities and short-term deliverables. These lessons should feed into the reflections of Director Generals and the EU-level Advisory Committee for Vocational Training on how to strengthen European cooperation on VET (within the framework of the so-called Copenhagen process and the Bruges Communiqué). To help foster policy learning, the conference featured small group discussions on areas where progress has been more limited.

The conference was addressed to high-level European and national policy makers for VET and VET-related fields, social partners, Cedefop’s reference network for VET (ReferNet), experts/researchers as well representatives of training providers and learners.