‘Skills for a lifetime – towards a future proof VET’ – Magazine with conference outcome published

On the 16th and 17th February, the EU conference ‘Skills for a lifetime – towards a future proof VET’ was held in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, within the framework of the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, first semester of 2016.

Three main themes were discussed at the conference:

• excellence in VET;
• lifelong learning;
• and internationalisation of VET.

The first day of the conference was opened by Dutch Minister of Education, Culture and Science Jet Bussemaker (link to speech) and European Commissioner Marianne Thyssen (video message). On the second day, participants could choose one out of six parallel workshops.

Karin Luomi-Messerer (3s) was invited to provide input related to ‘Theme 3: Internationalisation in VET’ in ‘Workshop B: Mobility and cooperation outside Europe’.

The outcome of the conference is reflected in a magazine (see below) and will be further developed into the document ‘Stepping stones towards a future proof VET’. From May 2016, the latter can be found on the official website of the Netherlands’ EU-Presidency. It may provide input for EU education ministers who have their next meeting in the Education, Culture, Youth and Sports Council to be held on the 30th of May 2016 in Brussels.

The Magazine is available here: