Council Conclusions on the future priorities for enchanced European cooperation in VET

The Council stress that the priorities and guidelines established under the Copenhagen process since 2002 remain valid. Accordingly, it is necessary to pursue their implementation, and to address the following four priority areas for the period 2008-2010:

1. Implementing the tools and schemes for promoting cooperation in the field of vocational education and training (VET) at national and European level
2. Heightening the quality and attractiveness of vocational education and training systems
3. Improving the links between VET and the labour market
4. Strengthening European cooperation arrangements Reference: Conclusions of the Council and of the Representatives of the Governments of the Member States, meeting within the Council, on the future priorities for enhanced European cooperation in vocational education and training (VET).

The Council invites:

• the continuation of work focused on improving the scope, comparability and reliability of VET statistics, in close collaboration with Eurostat, the OECD, Cedefop and the European Training Foundation (ETF), and the development of a more explicit VET component within the coherent framework of indicators and benchmarks;
• further developing activities on the anticipation of skills needs and skills mismatches, in close collaboration with Cedefop, ETF and Eurofound.  

Cedefop will continue to support the Commission, in particular by monitoring and reporting on progress in implementation.