Cedefop and sister agency the European Training Foundation (ETF) have resumed virtually their regular knowledge-sharing seminars, after a break of one and a half years due to the coronavirus pandemic.

It was Cedefop’s turn to host the meeting on 8 July, with ETF experts presenting various themes of the agency’s work to their Cedefop colleagues and answering questions.

Welcoming the participants, Cedefop Head of VET Systems and Institutions Loukas Zahilas stressed the importance of the cooperation which stretches back to 1997: ‘These knowledge-sharing events were always an opportunity to present ongoing projects in both agencies, combined, in most cases, with the planning of our joint work programme for the next period.’

He added: ‘We strongly believe that through knowledge sharing and active participation in one another’s activities, the ETF and Cedefop deepen their expertise and ensure continued complementarity of activities and the required synergy. This cooperation has produced visible results by successfully informing EU policy-shaping and implementation in a coordinated manner.’

Georgios Zisimos, ETF’s Head of Policy Advice and EU programming Unit, echoed Mr Zahilas’s remarks. The presentations that followed touched upon key messages from ETF’s conference on ‘Building lifelong learning systems’, innovative teaching and learning, recent youth-focused studies and ETF communication campaigns.

Ways of cooperating, including a joint Cedefop-ETF project, were also discussed at a meeting of the two agencies’ directors, Cedefop’s Jürgen Siebel and ETF’s Cesare Onestini, on 9 July.

The next knowledge-sharing seminar is scheduled for December 2021, in Turin.