On 25 and 26 September 2023 representatives of the BuildSkills Academy project took part in the Forum on Vocational Excellence 2023 held in Amsterdam, organized in cooperation with the European Commission. The event was held at Circa – the first circular venue in the Netherlands where all Erasmus+ Centers of Vocational Excellence (CoVEs) met and had the opportunity to exchange lessons learned and good practices. Mrs. Maria Nakova, Project manager of BuildSkills Academy on behalf of the coordinator Cleantech Bulgaria and Mrs. Ivana Russiello representative of Sistemi Formativi Confindustria, partner in the Consortium had the chance to present our CoVE project during the event and to establish contacts with participants from all stakeholders represented during the networking sessions.
During the Forum, vocational education and training (VET) providers, governmental bodies and businesses (more than 900 people on the second day) came together to share knowledge, inspire and learn from each other in this exciting European Year of Skills. They all have a shared vision and responsibility to ensure updated skills, based on the current needs, the market demand and responding to the societal challenges. In this regard curricula needs to be revised regularly, both in terms of content and form, with respect to the new skills required. Furthermore, applied research and innovation in VET are incredibly important to share the latest developments with SMEs in the skills ecosystems, find proof of concepts for companies and stimulate the green and digital transition in our societies.
To overcome this huge challenge, VET providers, the labour market and governments have joined forces through the CoVEs in co-creating solutions that offer good quality education and training, in line with society’s needs and achieving inclusiveness excellence.
Many interactive workshops took place during the forum as well as site visits to local public private partnerships in VET. The discussions have been directed on how to increase our efforts and how we can spread the working models. The Forum on Vocational Excellence was characterized by building a community of practitioners and co-creating synergies between initiatives on regional, national, European and global level.
The event was a great networking opportunity with active participation of different VET centers and relevant stakeholders with the aim of reaching the European target of establishing at least 100 networks of vocational excellence by 2027.
The project “Academy for Transitional Skills in the Build Environment” is co-funded by the European Union ERASMUS+ Programme under Grant Agreement number: 101104419
