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 -------- |
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| 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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He also chairs the Enterprise Advisory Group to MicroCreds, a 5-year project led by seven Irish universities to establish a coherent national framework for quality-assured and accredited microcredentials.
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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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She was appointed advisor to the Prefect of the Alsace Region for European Affairs during the negotiation for the 2014-20 structural funds programming, where she managed their transfer to local authorities in accordance with French law.
From 2015 to 2019 she has been seconded to the European Commission, DG RTD to support the RISE Group in its foresight reflection.
In September 2019 she took up the post of Counsellor for ‘Higher Education, Education and Youth’ at the Permanent Representation of France to the European Union, where she serves as Chair of the Education Committee during the French Presidency.
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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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She is involved in other Cedefop activities (including the project on learning outcomes, the Future of VET, as well as the coordination of developments on national qualifications frameworks).
Before joining Cedefop she worked as an educational consultant in the Ministry of Education and Religious Affairs and as a head of the European Affairs Unit in the Organisation for Vocational Education and Training (Greece).
She has senior management and national coordination experience in Europass and Leonardo da Vinci projects, and has published articles in academic journals.
She is a certified PM² project manager and has a master degree in education, in teaching English to speakers of other languages (TESOL).
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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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In this context, she focused mainly on employment opportunities and challenges in the changing world of work, active labour market policies and fair working conditions.
She also worked more broadly on taking forward the European Pillar for Social Rights. Before joining the Commission, Chiara worked in both the private and the public sector, including as head of unit in the Italian Ministry of Economy and Finance.
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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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She represents the European trade unions in several bodies and groups of the European Commission and agencies, such as the Cedefop Management Board, ACVT, DGVT, EQF, and EQAVET.
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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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As Executive Director, he is responsible for managing the Agency’s operations in accordance with the strategic direction of its tripartite Management Board.
Before joining Cedefop, Jürgen served for more than 20 years as an HR manager with global governance and business-partner responsibilities at Siemens.
Jürgen earned his MSc in Economics at the University of Hamburg, and a PhD in Business Administration from the University of Vienna.
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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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His more than 27 years of professional experience in VET was mainly acquired at the Greek Ministry of Education, the University of Athens and Cedefop.
He joined Cedefop in 2006, working on qualifications and EU tools, and is currently a member of the management team.
His department supports the European Commission, Member States and social partners in fostering policy developments, strengthening EU cooperation, and informing political discussions on the future of VET.
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