Agenda
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As the European Year of Skills comes to a close, Cedefop is inviting journalists and reporters to a special online event for press and media on 31st May 11:30 am CET.

Cedefop Executive Director Jürgen Siebel and Deputy Director Mara Brugia, will be welcoming questions from journalists and reporters, expanding on:

  • How Europe's skills’ revolution is accelerating a fair and inclusive green and digital transition.
  • How Cedefop is building on the European Year of Skills to help develop policies towards a “decade of skills and lifelong learning” that will support Europe's global competitiveness.
  • Readily available, comparative, data produced by Cedefop, which depict the state of affairs and policy needs when it comes to skills, at a European level but also on a country-by-country basis, including Skills-OVATE, Skills intelligence, Skills Forecast, and Matching Skills.

To receive a Teams link to join the press event, journalists and reporters are invited to send an email to the contact details here below. 

To watch the live event  on YouTube click here.

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Cedefop, together with the Belgian Presidency of the Council of the EU, is organising the 16th Cedefop Brussels Seminar as a physical event. These seminars, organised in cooperation with the rotating EU Presidencies, build on the research carried out by Cedefop and address issues relevant to European debates on educatio...

Cedefop, together with the Belgian Presidency of the Council of the EU, is organising the 16th Cedefop Brussels Seminar as a physical event.

These seminars, organised in cooperation with the rotating EU Presidencies, build on the research carried out by Cedefop and address issues relevant to European debates on education, training and employment.

The June 2024 seminar will address the main skill challenges associated with the transition towards human-centric EU workplaces as opposed to one governed mainly by artificial intelligence (AI) technologies.

The Brussels seminar aims at addressing the following key questions:

  • To what extent are European workers developing and using AI technologies as part of their work?
  • In which sectors and occupations are European workers more likely to experience changing skill needs due to the adoption of AI technologies at work?
  •  Are European workers adequately prepared for the AI revolution or are AI skill gaps prevalent? Are these being met by effective upskilling or reskilling investments?
  • What role for social dialogue in facilitating human- as opposed to AI-centric workplaces?

To give evidence-based answers to such questions, Cedefop carried out its first AI skills survey in spring 2024. Collecting information from random samples of adult workers in European workplaces, the survey - a follow-up to Cedefop’s second European skills and jobs survey (ESJS2), provides first robust insights into AI skill demands in European labour markets, the extent to which European companies adopt labour-friendly management practices and how AI-ready the skills of European workers are. 

The event will be held in English.

Participation is by invitation only.

Programme (CET)

Monday 24 June 2024
10.00-10.10

Welcome and scene setting

  • Jeroen Backs, Head of Strategy & Knowledge Division, Department of Education and Training Flanders, Belgium (Belgian Presidency of the Council of the European Union)

  • Jürgen Siebel, Executive Director, European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training (Cedefop)

Moderator: Konstantinos Pouliakas

10.10-11.00

AI in European workplaces

  • AI and the EU skilling challenge: first insights from Cedefop’s AI skills survey, Konstantinos Pouliakas, Cedefop and Nicolas Becuwe, Verian
  • Human capabilities in the age of AI and learning machines,  Anoush Margaryan, Copenhagen Business School
  • Q&A

Moderator: Giulia Santangelo

11.00-12.00

Learning for AI  

  • Investing in the skills of an AI-ready workforceGiulia Santangelo, Cedefop
  • Automation and upskilling of European workersSeamus McGuinness, ESRI and Trinity College Dublin
  • Responsible AI in Education - Digisprong, Katrien Alen, Flemish Department of Education & Training
  • Q&A

Moderator: Konstantinos Pouliakas

12.00-12.15 Break
12.15-13.00

Panel discussion: AI-ready VET systems?

A panel discussion followed by Q&A and discussion involving the audience

  • Michael Horgan, European Commission (DG for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion)
  • Carlo Frising, Vice-CEO at the Chambre des salariés Luxembourg, CSL
  • Robert Plummer, Business Europe
  • Carl Lamote, Flemish Department of Education and Training
  • Yves Magnan, Le Forem, Wallonia Public Employment Service

Moderator: Jasper van Loo

13.00 End of the event

Speakers

Jeroen Backs, he is a history graduate from the University of Ghent. In 2012 he became head of the Strategy and Knowledge division of the Education and Training Department of Flanders. This division formulates policy recommendations to the minister to support an integrated and forward-looking policy.

The division is responsible for the European and multilateral education policy, educational research and policy evaluation, data and monitoring, strategic planning, legal advice on educational policy, and the Flemish central tests.

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Jeroen is currently vice chair of the OECD Centre for Educational Research and Innovation (CERI), board member of the national Erasmus+ agency EPOS, Management Board member of Cedefop on behalf of the Flemish Community and the Flemish representative in the EU High-Level Group on Education and Training. Jeroen is also vice chair of the board of one of the school groups of the Flemish Community Schools Network.

Jürgen Siebel is the Executive Director of the European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training (Cedefop) and joined the Agency from the private sector in September 2019.

He is responsible for managing the Agency’s operations in accordance with the strategic direction of its tripartite Management Board.

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With his management team and all staff, Jürgen has led Cedefop to strengthen its position as a go-to ally for the EU institutions, social partners, researchers and practitioners when it comes to analysing the impacts of megatrends on the labour market, on skills, and on training ecosystems – and on how vocational education and training enables a fair digital and green transition.

Jürgen has a background in human-resources management with particular emphasis on learning and education, earned his MSc in economics at the University of Hamburg, and his PhD in business administration from the University of Vienna.

Becuwe_Nicolas

Nicolas Bécuwe is a Senior Director at Verian, the leading international agency. He is an expert in multi-country evidence-based policy research. He has over 17 years of experience in the industry and has worked with Cedefop on vocational and skills research programmes since 2015. He has been leading the implementation and the delivery of the 2nd European Skills and Jobs survey (2nd ESJS Cedefop) and the European Training and Learning Survey (ETLS). He is currently responsible for the management of the European Vocational and Training Survey (EVTS) conducted among IVET teachers in the EU.

picture Carlo Frising

Carlo Frising is Vice CEO at the Chambre des Salariés Luxembourg, CSL (professional chamber representing the interests of the employees).

He is in charge of the Luxembourg Lifelong Learning Centre, the CVET centre of the CSL.

He is a member of the Advisory Committee on Vocational Training (ACVT) of the European Commission and a member of the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) Education and Training Committee.

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He is Member of Cedefop’s Management Board – Spokesperson to the Executive Board for the Employees' group. Also Carlo Frising is Member of the Luxembourgish Economic and Social Committee and member of the expert training group of the Economic and Social Committee of the Grande Region

picture Katrien Alen

Katrien Alen is a pedagogical scientist, graduated from the University of Leuven.

After supporting professors at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Leuven in their didactics, she started in 2022 at the Knowledge Center of Digital Education at the Flemish Ministry of Education and Training.

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At the Knowledge Center, she is the theme manager for Artificial Intelligence in education. Additionally, she serves as a project coordinator for a metadata standard on learning materials, works on ICT policy in schools, and provides support in the areas of blended learning, distance education, and early childhood education.

Horgan_Michael

Michael Horgan is a policy officer and team leader for Skills for the twin transition in DG Employment. Within the unit for Vocational Education and Training, he mainly works on Digital Skills, both in the context of the Skills Agenda and other key European Commission initiatives and tools, such as the Digital Education Action plan, Digital Skills and Jobs Coalition, the Digital Europe Programme and the Digital Competence Framework. This includes work on supporting qualitative and effective digitalisation of VET provision and provision of digital skills in VET.

picture Carl Lamote

Carl Lamote works as a policy coordinator in the Flemish Department of Education and Training. He focuses on the basic skills of pupils in compulsory education, with a special interest in vocational education.

He has been active for years in various European networks with a focus on vocational education, has extended the focus on innovation in vocational education to Flemish education and has helped to support the introduction of skills competitions in Flemish education.

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Carl has a background as an educational researcher, has a PhD in educational sciences and an additional Masters degree in public management.

Anoush Margaryan is a Chaired Professor of Learning Sciences in the Department of Digitalization at Copenhagen Business School. She studies how people learn in digitally mediated workplaces.

She has researched workplace learning for 20+ years in a range of organisational domains, including in the energy, finance and higher education sectors and the platform economy.

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Current research interests include self-regulation of learning in the workplace (strategies, antecedents, factors) and skill requirements in AI-mediated work. Professor Margaryan has over 130 scientific publications, including 2 books.

She has led over 20 collaborative, interdisciplinary, intersectoral, international research projects as PI or Co-I, funded by the UK Economic and Social Research Council, the World Bank, Shell, BP, ConocoPhilips, Centrica, Energy Institute, UK Higher Education Academy, European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training (Cedefop) and the Volkswagen Foundation.

She has received international awards for research excellence such as Alexander von Humboldt Senior Fellowship, Excellence in Research to Practice Award from the American Society of Training and Development, and Shell Research Fellowship. Further details at www.anoushmargaryan.com.

photo McGuinness resized

Seamus McGuinness is a Research Professor and the Research Area Co-ordinator for labour market research at the Economic and Social Research Institute.

Prior to joining the Institute, he held posts at Queens University Belfast, the Northern Ireland Economic Research Centre and the Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic & Social Research (University of Melbourne). He obtained his PhD in Economics from Queens University Belfast in 2003.

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His published research covers the areas of labour economics and the economics of education. He has also published research in the areas of industrial relations, small business economics, regional economics, and the economics of constitutional change in Ireland. He is a research fellow in the Institute of Labour Studies (IZA) in the University of Bonn and an Adjunct Professor in the department of economics at Trinity College Dublin.

Plummer_Robert

Robert Plummer, Senior Adviser for Social Affairs, BusinessEurope

Robert is a senior adviser responsible for issues concerning migration and mobility, education and skills, social dialogue and the European Labour Authority.

Prior to joining BusinessEurope, Robert worked as a political adviser for the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) party.

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He attended Keele University in the UK and holds a Ph.D in industrial relations and human resource management, focusing on a comparative study of the demand for EU migrant workers in Sweden and the UK. He also has an MA in European industrial relations and human resource management and a BA in human geography and human resource management.

Konstantinos Pouliakas is an Expert on Skills and Labour Markets at Cedefop.

He leads the Agency’s Skills and Work team and is principal research manager of its Digitalisation and Future of Work and Skill Mismatch projects. His proudest achievement is the development of two waves of the Cedefop European Skills and Jobs Survey.

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He has been scientific advisor and author on skills anticipation and skill mismatch for the European Commission, the World Economic Forum, ILO and the Greek Ministry of Labour and is regular instructor for the ILO-ITC.

He is currently a core member of the scientific committee of Greece’s National Skills Commission.

Before joining Cedefop he held posts at the University of Aberdeen and the University of Cyprus and worked for the Bank of Greece and HM Treasury. He has been invited Professor at the Universita Degli Studi Roma TRE and Visiting Research Scholar at the International Monetary Fund (IMF). He is Honorary Senior Lecturer at the University of Aberdeen Business School and IZA Research Fellow. He holds an M.Phil from the University of Oxford (St. Antony’s College) and a D.Phil from the Scottish Graduate Program in Economics.

He has published widely in peer-reviewed economics journals (e.g. Economics of Innovation and New Technology, Oxford Review of Education, Economica, Journal of Economic Surveys, Research in Labor Economics, Education Economics, International Labour Review).

photo Santangelo for Dec22

Giulia Santangelo is an Expert in skills and workplaces at the European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training (Cedefop), since 2022.

Before joining Cedefop, since 2013, she worked as researcher at the Joint Research Centre (JRC) of the European Commission, in the Competence Centre on Microeconomic Evaluation (CC-ME), where she has been the coordinator of the Centre for Research on Impact Evaluation (CRIE).

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She has been a visiting research fellow at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, and a lecturer at the Doctoral School of Economics at Sapienza University of Rome.

She obtained a M.Sc. in Statistical Sciences and a Ph.D. in Economic Sciences at Sapienza University of Rome.

Her main research interests lie in the fields of labour economics, applied micro-econometrics, and policy evaluation.

Jasper Van Loo is coordinator of Cedefop’s department for VET and Skills.

He currently coordinates the labour market and skills analysis work of the agency. He is also part of the team investigating EU skills trends using online job vacancies.

He has a master degree in quantitative and general economics and holds a Ph.d. in social sciences.

photo Santangelo for Dec22

Yves Magnan has been working in the bank sector for about 15 years, in particular in the credit and debit cards sector.

During this period, he held several managerial posts. He joined the Public Employment Service in Wallonia (Forem) in 2003, where he first served as manager of a vocational training centre.

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He then moved on to become Vocational Training Director of a geographical zone (province of Luxemburg), where he coordinated the vocational training activities of six centres. In 2011, he joined the Forem Headquarters in Charleroi to manage the training of trainers (FormaForm), e-learning activities and all challenges regarding certification and the EQF.

After serving 1 year as territorial manager (Provinces of Namur and Brabant Walloon), he became, and still is, General Manager for products and services, responsible for engineering the services offer of Forem regarding vocational training, jobseeker coaching and business support.

He is also a member of the DGVT group at EU level. He recently co-chaired the DGVT meeting in Mechelen under the Belgian Presidency.

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Cedefop will host the fifth Policy learning forum on apprenticeships at Cedefop’s premises in Thessaloniki, on Wednesday 2 October 2024 (in-person event).

The forum is only open to the members of Cedefop’s Management Board, i.e. representatives of governments, employer and employee organisations. It will be held ahead of Cedefop’s Management Board meeting.

As part of the series of Cedefop’s PLFs on apprenticeships, the overall objective of the 2024 PLF is to offer participants the possibility of peer learning, by sharing knowledge and reflecting on the experience of various countries.

The 2024 PLF is focused on the importance and the role of social dialogue in apprenticeships.

It will be an opportunity for peer learning in relation to (a) how social dialogue can help better shape apprenticeship programmes in line with labour market needs; and (b) how it can contribute to attracting apprentices and therefore ensuring a qualified future workforce.

The forum will combine plenary presentations, roundtable discussions, a closing panel and a structured networking session.

The agenda will be available in July 2024. Preparation material will be shared in September 2024.

The PLF presentations and a summary of the discussions will be shared after the forum.

Examples of the topics discussed in previous PLFs:

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The 2024 annual meeting of the Cedefop Community of apprenticeship experts will take place at Cedefop’s premises in Thessaloniki on Wednesday 23 October 2024 (in-person event).

The meeting is only open to members of the Cedefop Community of apprenticeship experts.

During the meeting, apprenticeship experts will have an opportunity to:

  • share information on their work on apprenticeships and learn from one another;
  • discuss the preliminary findings of the 2024 Community activity on the use of incentives in apprenticeships;
  • explore potential ways to analyse and promote the topic further;
  • present their suggestions for future Community activities.

Exact duration to be confirmed. The agenda and preparation material will be shared in due course.

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The virtual workshop will provide an opportunity for policy-makers, stakeholders, experts and researchers to discuss the initial findings of the project on VET excellence and inclusion.

Its aim will be to deepen Cedefop’s understanding of the challenges facing European vocational education and training (VET) in the coming decades. Discussions will focus on the concept exploration and inclusion in national VET objectives. The workshop complements the ongoing political discussion on the future of European VET.

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A workshop will be organised by Cedefop to discuss the progress of EU27+ countries in implementing the Council Recommendation on VET and the Osnabruck Declaration.

A workshop will be organised by Cedefop to discuss the progress of EU27+ countries in implementing the Council Recommendation on VET and the Osnabruck Declaration.

Participants will discuss and validate Cedefop’s findings from national stakeholder interviews (conducted in April – July 2024) in combination with the analysis of the measures reported by ReferNet in line with countries national implementation plans. Selected stakeholders, European and national, including those interviewed, will take part.

Among the issues, the participants will discuss how stakeholders assess the progress of their countries, differences in perceptions, main obstacles to achieve the priorities and areas to work on in the future. The outcomes will feed into preparation of the synthesis report and developing policy pointers on areas to work in the future.

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Cedefop is very pleased to announce the Eighth CareersNet annual meeting and related activities for the network on 13 and 14 November 2024 at Paviljonki Conference Centre, Lutakonaukio 12, in Jyväskylä (Finland). In partnership with the national Ministry of Education and Culture, Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment...

Cedefop is very pleased to announce the Eighth CareersNet annual meeting and related activities for the network on 13 and 14 November 2024 at Paviljonki Conference Centre, Lutakonaukio 12, in Jyväskylä (Finland). In partnership with the national Ministry of Education and Culture, Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment, and kindly hosted by the University of Jyväskylä, the meeting this year,  attended by core network experts, will take place in person at the same venue and concurrently with the IAEVG international conference - Riding the Waves of Change, which is held from 12 to 14 November 2024.

CareersNet (coordinated at the Department of VET and Skills (DVS), managed within the Lifelong guidance project) will convene this year to discuss national systems and practice developments in lifelong guidance in the context of current labour market and societal changes at large with implications for EU and national policy. Topics also include CareersNet news and network issues, as well as Cedefop work activity since last year’s meeting, and plans and possibilities for the year ahead.

The meeting will allow for mutual learning, reflection, and exchange, contributing to the network’s think-tank value and capacity building function in the field of lifelong guidance. The agenda will also provide an opportunity to learn about the lifelong guidance system in Finland, while enjoying the local environment.

The meeting has restricted participation.

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ReferNet partners and national representatives will be invited to attend the 22nd annual plenary meeting of the network.

The aim of the meeting is to:

  • inform on the latest EU VET policy developments, the outcomes of the 2024 work plan and the preparation of the 2025 work plan;
  • introduce the new partners to the processes and procedures of the network;
  • reinstall a physical network dynamic of cooperation and shared reflection by convening in a physical open space, which will encourage creative reflection on how partners would like ReferNet to develop in the 2024-27 period.
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