Financing adult learning: The role of public funding

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. 

She holds a university degree in Economics and a Master in Economics, politics and law of the European Union. Her mother tongue is Italian (born in Perugia) and she is fluent in English, French, Greek and Spanish.

Her recent and current projects include financing CVET/adult learning with a focus on demand-side schemes, financial and non-financial instruments supporting training performance in micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, individual learning accounts and training funds.

She holds master degrees in economics from the University of Gdańsk, Poland and the University of Exeter, UK.

During his more than 20 years of work experience, he provided advice on data analytics and monitoring of VET, adult learning and skills policies to multiple international and national bodies, such as UNESCO, ILO, OECD, G7, European Commission, Nordic Council of Ministers, BMZ/GIZ and Skills Future Singapore agency (including nearly ten years of work for the European Commission), as well as the private sector.

His academic background includes a MSc degree in Information systems and data science from the University of Amsterdam (UvA); a MSc degree in Cognitive and Decision Sciences from the University College London (UCL); a MSc degree in International Management from ISM University of Management and Economics and a Bachelor’s degree in Business from Vilnius University.

His thematic expertise includes implementation of EU priorities in VET, quality assurance in VET, and international qualifications.

Anthie has a multidisciplinary academic background with studies in translation, communication, adult education and natural language processing (NLP). Her research interests focus equally on domain and methodology aspects, including the complementarity of mixed social research methods with NLP approaches in VET. 

Alfredo graduated in Political Science and Diplomacy from the University of Padova (Italy). He then developed a career in communication, with expertise in strategic communication, journalism, multimedia, social media, event management, and marketing.

With almost 15 years of experience, he has worked in both the private and public sectors. Before joining CEDEFOP, he was part of the communication teams of EDPS and ENISA.

Ilias worked in the UK academia (University of Warwick) for about a decade before joining Cedefop, teaching and conducting research in education, skills, and the labour market. His expertise is in labour economics, education economics, and industrial relations. Ilias blends quantitative and qualitative techniques and skills while he specialises in using large scale datasets, such as the European labour force survey. 

Among other duties he is involved in the implementation of projects aiming at harmonizing education to the needs of the labour market, as well as developing national documents in the field of employment policy in accordance with various EU guidelines. He is part of the team in charge of implementation of voucher system in Croatia and a member of Forum for career guidance.

He was the project leader of the Cedefop study on Training Funds in Europe and is currently working on a large explorative study on whether lifelong learning should be a legal tasks of publicly funded education institutions in the Netherlands. Besides these studies, Simon is finalizing his PhD on what makes vulnerable adult learn, on which he published already several academic papers.

Examples of such projects include the Commission study supporting the impact assessment of the EU initiative on Individual Learning Accounts, the Cedefop study on Individual Learning Accounts, and the evaluation of the STAP budget in the Netherlands. He is a doctoral candidate at the Open Universiteit in the Netherlands, where his research focuses on the lifelong learning agency of workers, learning culture, and effective learning within organisations.

Her involvement with the STAP-budget started while she worked at UWV, and continued at the Ministry. Unfortunately for not too long, as she started in 2022 and the subsidy ended at the end of 2023.

Author of multiple monographs and over 80 publications. Research focuses on labour market, state interventionism, long-term unemployment, and labour migration.

Previously, she held various positions in Brussels, working on employment and social affairs for local authorities, the European Committee of the Regions and for elected members (French national Assembly and the European Parliament). 

Regarding the latter, he has served in various projects for the European Commission, Cedefop and in large-scale comparative projects funded by EU research funding frameworks.

He led the consortium working Cedefop’s project on the EU Member States’ responses to the Council Recommendation on individual learning accounts and he is currently serving in a senior expert role in Cedefop’s study on training funds.

He holds a master degree in philosophy, sociology and political sciences from the University of Vienna, and a PhD in lifelong learning from the University of Klagenfurt.

Among her latest publications are: "Adult Education as Empowerment", 2021, Palgrave, Winner of the AAACE Cyril O. Houle Award and "Beyond the human capital approach to adult education policy: how adult learning and education policy matters for individual subjective well-being?". (both are co-authored with Pepka Boyadjieva). Her research interests include social justice, educational inequalities, lifelong learning, skills mismatch and graduate employability.

Mr Isusi has got a large experience of more than 30 years in managing socioeconomic analysis and consultancy activities, especially in areas such as employment and working conditions, SMEs and entrepreneurship, education and training (with a particular emphasis on VET) or regional development issues. Mr Isusi has acted as consultant for several Spanish and International organisms, such as the European Commission, the OECD, the Interamerican Development Bank, The International Labour Organisation and several European agencies (i.e. CEDEFOP, Eurofound, EU-OSHA). Mr Isusi has combined his consultancy activities with several lecturing activities in the Marketing Institute of the Basque Country and the Centro de Estudios Económicos y Comerciales (ICEX-CECO) in Madrid.

She has a background in international development studies and is also a trained teacher in secondary and adult education. She is passionate about learning and takes every opportunity to visit adult education initiatives, especially at the grassroots level, and to reflect on what is needed to enable even more adults to participate.

Early in his career, he worked with various international organizations.

Flavio Leoni holds a Master's degree in Human Rights and Ethics of International Cooperation from the University of Bergamo (Italy).

With a background in journalism and media, she has authored two bestselling books and promotes mental health awareness. Fluent in six languages and currently studying Psychology, Meleti brings a dynamic, inclusive perspective to her work in the European Parliament.

 She is also chair of the European Society for the Education of Adults (ESREA), editor-in-chief of the International Journal of Lifelong Education, and co-editor of the book series Palgrave Studies in Adult Education and Lifelong Learning. 

He previously held key leadership roles within the HRDA as Director of Training Services and Director of Research and Planning. Yiannis represents the Government of Cyprus on the Governing Board of Cedefop and is one of two national delegates in the EU Directors General for Vocational Training Group. He holds an MBA from the University of Warwick, an MSc in Operational Research from the University of Sussex, and a BSc in Engineering from Thames Polytechnic. 

Currently, Jelena coordinates the implementation of skills-related initiatives under the Recovery and Resilience Fund, with a particular focus on Individual Learning Accounts and Skills Funds as key elements of development. She is also a member of the Management Board of CEDEFOP.

These include information services, individual counselling, and personal funding related to career advancement. Since 2012, contributor to the strategy “Qualification Plan Vienna 2030” and involved in the conception and implementation of the “Qualification Passport Vienna.” 

In his current role, he is particularly concerned with the legal framework of the dual vocational training system and issues such as validation, the National Qualifications Framework, National Skills Strategy and quality assurance.

He represents the German Trade Union Confederation (DGB) on numerous bodies, including Cedefop’s Management Board. 

Viola has 20 years of experience in lifelong learning activities as well as in employment and career guidance services. From 2015 to early 2023, she worked at European Schoolnet in technical product management, research and knowledge management, in initiatives such as Better Internet for Kids and Digital Skills and Jobs Platform.

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. 

He has steered key reforms, including the Law on Non-formal Adult Education and Lithuania’s Lifelong Learning Strategy, and has also played an active role in developing the Lithuanian National Skills Strategy, contributing to OECD and EU policy consultations.

He has published widely on these topics, led a number of research projects and participated in European research and networks in his field. Together with Marcella Milana and Margherita Bussi, he recently edited the ‘Research Handbook on Adult Education Policy’ (Edward Elgar, 2024). He has earlier been a member of the Danish National Research Council for Communication and Culture.

His research and consultancy work focus on skills intelligence, adult learning systems, digital and algorithmic HRM, and strategies for inclusive labour market transformation. Over the past 20 years, he has led or contributed to more than 20 international projects and authored over 90 peer-reviewed publications and 100 analytical reports for EU and international organisations. He has played a key role in shaping PES reforms, lifelong learning strategies, and funding mechanisms that enhance adult learning.

Previously, she was responsible for the implementation of Vocational Education and Training and Apprenticeships policies. Earlier, she worked in the geographical unit following the implementation of the European Social Fund and the European Semester in Romania.

Ivana has led and participated in several international research projects. She also provides expert advice to public and non-governmental institutions on lifelong learning and adult skills policies in Slovakia. 

 His contributions span the UK, Singapore, and organisations such as the European Commission, ILO, OECD, and UNESCO. Currently, Professor Sung also serves as a thematic expert for the Commission's Mutual Learning Programme on the Individual Learning Accounts in EU states.

In addition to his public sector work, he has contributed to academia as a lecturer at the Slovak University of Agriculture in Nitra and the University of Economics in Bratislava.

Peter Szovics holds a doctorate in cross-sectoral economics, as well as master’s degrees in Economics from the Slovak University of Agriculture in Nitra and in Law from Comenius University in Bratislava.

Currently, Daniel is Work Package Leader and Vice Project Coordinator in the large-scale Horizon Europe project “Skills2Capabilities” and manages 3s’ role in the Pact For Skills Support Services (DG EMPL). He has been involved in multiple European research and consulting projects, for example on “Financing adult learning” (Cedefop), “Individual Learning Accounts and the potential for integrated support policies” (Cedefop), “Training Funds in the EU” (Cedefop) and “Governance in Vocational and Professional Education and Training” (Swiss State Secretariate for Education). He has also participated as an expert in several of the OECD projects in the Skill Strategy framework, including projects on Lithuania, Norway and Northern Ireland (UK). 

Furthermore, he has been involved in the negotiations of a number of political agreements that have involved the Danish parliament, and agreements that have involved the tripartite cooperation, that is a collaboration between the state, employers' organisations and trade unions.