Cedefop briefed its sister EU agency, the European Training Foundation (ETF), on several of its current initiatives during their biannual knowledge-sharing seminar on 12 December.

The virtual seminar included presentations on three topics followed by discussion by experts of the two Agencies and a meeting of the two management teams to discuss coordination and next steps.

This December’s meeting was dedicated to presentations of recent Cedefop projects:

  • Skills-based solutions to the protection of refugees

A two-fold research project that explores the possibilities, opportunities and possible pitfalls of devising a European-Union-wide system that would provide protection to refugees based on their skills. It covers exhaustively the theoretical aspects of the plan but goes one step further by carrying out an empirical pilot study, linking Greece and Portugal as first-entry and recipient countries respectively. This labour-mobility scheme would strive to match skills and qualifications of the refugee population with recipient labour market needs.

  • Microcredentials – a new opportunity for lifelong learning

The interim findings of Cedefop’s 'Microcredentials for labour market education and training' research project suggest that there is a certain degree of uncertainty linked to the naming and function of microcredentials, which point to the need for a wider awareness. The benefits with regard to their flexibility and responsiveness to labour market needs is also becoming apparent when it comes to microcredentials, which are emerging mostly in areas such as engineering, manufacturing, and construction, but also in sectors such as hospitality, human health and social work.

  • The new web portal

Cedefop's next-generation web portal takes users to a new level of usability by organising content along the lines of three major thematic areas, while offering intuitive access to a plethora of valuable datasets on all fields of Cedefop research.