Organised in cooperation with the rotating EU Presidency, these seminars build on Cedefop’s research and analyses to address issues relevant to current European debates on vocational education and training (VET) and employment.
The 12th Brussels seminar will present Cedefop’s research activities related to the theme of microcredentials and their role in supporting labour-market-related and employment-relevant education, training, and learning, including vocational education and training.
Drawing on Cedefop research, participants will learn more about microcredentials and discuss:
- the characteristics and the potential roles microcredentials may play in supporting labour-market-related and employment-relevant education, training, and learning, including vocational education and training;
- the methodology and interim findings of Cedefop’s study on microcredentials;
- their broad uptake and function as they are increasingly regarded as independent building blocks in national and international skills strategies responding to several drivers (fast-changing labour market demands, digitalisation, ageing populations, re-skilling and upskilling needs, etc).
A concept note and agenda is available here.
Take part in the discussion #Microcredentials4LabourMarket
Programme
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| 9.30-10.00 |
Accessing the event platform – technical check |
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| 10.00-10.15 |
Welcome and introduction to the seminar |
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Moderator: Loukas Zahilas, Head of Department, Cedefop
- Aline Humbert - Chair of the Education Committee, French Presidency of the Council of the EU
- Jürgen Siebel – Executive Director, Cedefop
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| 10.15-10.30 |
Setting the scene: microcredentials and the political context |
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- Chiara Riondino – Head of Unit B3, DG EMPL – Proposal for a Council Recommendation on a European approach to microcredentials for lifelong learning
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| 10.30-10.45 |
State of play and negotiations on microcredentials |
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- Aline Humbert - Chair of the Education Committee, French Presidency of the Council of the EU
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| 10.45-11.00 |
Q&A session |
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| 11.00-11.30 |
Microcredentials for labour market education and training |
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- Anastasia Pouliou - Expert, Cedefop
- Q&A
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| -------- 10-minute break -------- |
| 11.40-12.20 |
Panel discussion with European stakeholders: are microcredentials here to stay? |
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Moderator: Loukas Zahilas, Head of Department, Cedefop
- Chiara Riondino - Head of Unit B3, DG EMPL
- Tony Donohoe – Business Europe
- Agnes Roman – Advisor, European Trade Union Confederation
- Anastasia Pouliou – Expert, Cedefop
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| 12.20-12.30 |
Concluding remarks |
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- Loukas Zahilas – Head of Department, Cedefop
- Anastasia Pouliou – Expert, Cedefop
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| -------- End of seminar -------- |
Speakers
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 Tony Donohoe
Tony Donohoe is a policy advisor with Ibec, the national representative body of Irish business and employers
He is Deputy Chairperson of the Cedefop Management Board, and Chair of the Irish Government’s skills advisory committee, the Expert Group on Future Skills Needs.
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 Aline Humbert
Aline Humbert is a senior civil servant at the French Ministry of Higher Education and Research.
After completing a PhD in International and European Law at Strasbourg University, she served as Head of the Research and Development departments in several French universities and took an active part in the implementation of the university autonomy policy in both organisational and financial areas.
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 Anastasia Pouliou
Anastasia Pouliou is a Cedefop expert. Working in the Department for VET and qualifications, she is responsible for qualifications and synergies between EU tools and learning outcomes.
She is currently leading the research conducted under Cedefop’s project Microcredentials for labour market education and training.
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 Chiara Riondino
Chiara Riondino is Head of Unit for Vocational Education and Training in the Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion of the European Commission.
Chiara previously worked as policy coordinator for employment policies, and as policy assistant to the Director for Employment.
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 Agnes Roman
Agnes Roman has been a senior policy coordinator of education policy issues at the European Trade Union Committee of Education (ETUCE) since 2010.
She has also acted as advisor to the European Trade Union confederation (ETUC) on lifelong learning and VET policy since 2012.
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 Jürgen Siebel
Jürgen Siebel joined Cedefop from the private sector in September 2019 as Executive Director.
Out of Thessaloniki, Cedefop supports the development of European vocational education and training (VET) policies, skills policies, and qualifications policies, and contributes to their implementation.
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 Loukas Zahilas
Loukas Zahilas is Head of the Department for VET and qualifications at Cedefop.
He studied Chemistry and IT and he has a PhD in educational policies.
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