3s at the “European Business Forum on Vocational Training 2014” – September 23 and 24 in Brussels

From September 23 to 24, 2014, the second European Business Forum on Vocational Training took place in Brussels. This time the spotlight was put on how VET providers and businesses can work in partnership to provide the skills needed to spur growth and competitiveness in Europe.

 After a video message from José Manuel Barroso and several keynote speeches, the first day of the forum concentrated on the topic "VET-Business Cooperation in Practice” followed by a roundtable on: "Why should – and how can – companies and schools work closer together?" In the afternoon, the following workshops were held with the support of Sigrid Nindl and Tanja Bacher of 3s:
– "Meeting skills needs in key sectors"
– "Working together on entrepreneurial skills"
– "Developing apprenticeships in companies"

 The next conference day lasted until midday and began again with keynote speeches on "Entrepreneurship 2020", "EU Policy Developments on education and training", and "European Alliance for apprenticeships". Thereafter, the results of the three workshops of the previous day were presented followed by a roundtable on "The business case for investing in VET and how to support it". The last half hour consisted of final remarks on "Lessons for the EU agenda".

In preparation for the European Business Forum on Vocational Training 2014, the "Survey of VET-business cooperation on skills, entrepreneurship and apprenticeships" was done, which can be found in the following link, or be downloaded as a pdf- file in English.