Pressure on European education and training systems has increased in recent years, with technological and demographic trends reshaping demand for skills and qualifications and making lifelong learning a necessity, for both individuals and countries. Vocational education and training (VET) provision has to respond to rapidly changing labour market…

Microcredentials hold promise for connecting people's skillsets with labour market demand in a rapidly changing world of work. They have proliferated in recent years across economic sectors and education levels, reinforcing European and national efforts to understand and develop them better. They can increase the provision of…

This note seeks to look back at the development and implementation process of the European Credit System for Vocational Education and Training (ECVET). It takes stock of its main achievements and how they are taken forward in the 2020 Council Recommendation on vocational education and training (VET) for sustainable competitiveness, social fairness…

The feedback between vocational education and training (VET) and the labour market can provide important input for the review and renewal of qualifications. A feedback loop that is based on learning outcomes helps provide deeper insights into what is required on the labour market, what is offered in training provisions and assessed at the end of a…

Bologna process is a framework that commenced in 1999, aiming at making the higher education systems of countries more attractive. While many studies have been carried out on undergraduate and graduate levels, the studies on associate degree are scarce. This study is aimed at investigating the current state of associate degree child development…

The world of work is being impacted by a fourth industrial revolution, transformed by artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies. With forecasts suggesting large shares of workers, displaced by automation, in need of upskilling/reskilling, the design of active skills policies is necessary. Conventional methods used to anticipate…

Ensuring that EU countries develop robust skills anticipation to inform responsive VET systems, is a key aim of the skills agenda for Europe. To be impactful, skills intelligence requires good skills governance, feeding into VET and employment policies with wide outreach to diverse potential users. In 2015, Cedefop initiated a country support…

The European qualifications framework (EQF), with its eight levels, serves as a translation grid between qualifications acquired in different European countries. Part of Cedefop's work to make qualifications easier to understand and compare, this study takes a closer look at those acquired through initial VET and assigned to EQF levels 3 and 4 via…

This paper presents a comparative analysis of the effect of different educational orientations at the upper-secondary level on labour market outcomes across European countries. The study separates safety net effect and the diversion effect of Vocational Education and Training (VET). Using PIAAC data, we show cross-national differences in the early…

Public debate on the future of work and of education and training has been raging across Europe. Globalisation, digitisation, migration, demographics and the greening economy are the challenges fuelling discussions. Unemployment, underemployment, mismatches between people's skills and available jobs, and flat or falling incomes have been…

This report provides the main findings and results from the 2022 collection of statistics on education, skills and employment in the ETF's partner countries. In addition, it provides the results of some ETF new strands of work: youth transition and skills mismatch. A statistical snapshot enabling the EU's candidate countries to reference…

The world of work is being impacted by a fourth industrial revolution, transformed by artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies. With forecasts suggesting large shares of workers, displaced by automation, in need of upskilling/reskilling, the design of active skills policies is necessary. Conventional methods used to anticipate…

The world of work is being impacted by a fourth industrial revolution, transformed by artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies. With forecasts suggesting large shares of workers, displaced by automation, in need of upskilling/reskilling, the design of active skills policies is necessary. Conventional methods used to anticipate…

Australia entered the COVID-19 pandemic with a youth (15 to 24-year-old) unemployment rate of 11.6% in December 2019, three times higher than the 25 to 64-year-old unemployment rate of 3.6%. The strategies taken by governments to minimise the spread of COVID-19 have had widespread economic impacts. By July 2020, youth unemployment had risen to…

This research paper is the fifth in a series produced as part of the Cedefop project The changing nature and role of VET (2016-18). Based on comparative analysis of labour force survey data from 2014, the report analyses the vocational effect on labour market and education outcomes, asking whether any advantages conferred by vocational…