The policy instruments that can help micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) improve the training they offer to employees were highlighted during a seminar organised by Cedefop alongside the European Union's (EU) Czech Presidency.
The 13th Cedefop Brussels seminar, a virtual event held on 15 December, attracted some 70 participants, Brussels-based stakeholders from the permanent representations of Member States to the EU, the European Commission (EC), the European Parliament, European business and sector associations, trade unions and employee organisations.
The discussions were centred around Cedefop's recent research findings on policy instruments to support MSMEs to increase their training provision, presented by the Agency's experts Patrycja Lipinska and Ernesto Villalba. They concluded that a comprehensive policy package can provide both financial and structural policy approaches, thus addressing more than one barrier to training and innovation at once, while 3S's Günter Hefler laid out the results of a case study focusing on Spain's Basque region.
What MSMEs really need
Cedefop Executive Director Jürgen Siebel noted that MSMEs should be offered help to identify their current training needs and encouraged to expand the skills-in-use they offer at the workplace, while Martin Fatura, of the Czech Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports, presented the EU Presidency's work on education and training, stressing the importance of MSMEs and also outlined its initiatives for assisting the educational needs of displaced people in Ukraine.
Julie Fionda, Deputy head of unit for ‘Skills Agenda’ at the European Commission (EC), Directorate General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion of the EC, spoke of the EC's priorities in the European Year of Skills 2023 that address specifically MSMEs: furthering individual learning accounts, extending the Pact for skills and improved reporting on skills as an investment.
Cedefop Deputy Director Mara Brugia chaired a panel discussion with European stakeholders on the role of the EU and social partners in promoting training in MSMEs, which allowed the seminar's participants to be briefed on the view of MSMEs themselves, the Confederation of European Business, European trade unions and the EC.
Ending the seminar Ms Brugia pledged that Cedefop will continue contributing to achieving the goals of the European Skills Agenda, the European Pillar of Social Rights and the European year of skills.
