Online con­fe­rence on the Erasmus+ Centres of Vocational Excellence

Innovation, sustainable development and excellence in vocational education and training were the focus of an event organised by the Erasmus+ VET Team Austria at the OeAD and the BMBWF on 3 December 2024.

The online con­fe­rence offered an insight into the success story of the European Centres of Vocational Excellence (CoVE) and their importance for education, the economy and regional deve­lo­p­ment. Participants received the latest infor­ma­ti­on on current deve­lo­p­ments and objec­ti­ves of the CoVE initia­ti­ve at European level. Austria’s active role in this network of voca­tio­nal excel­lence was under­pin­ned by illu­stra­ti­ve project examples. Karin Luomi-Messerer moderated the event together with Rudolf Razka.

Highlights from the programme

• ‘The Erasmus+ Centres of Vocational Excellence and Skills Ecosystems’

Ragnhild Skaalid (DG Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion) explained the European Commission’s strategic vision for CoVE and showed how it con­tri­bu­tes to linking VET and innovation.

• Industrial logistics of the future

In the Engineering Excellence for the Mobility Value Chain (EE4M) project, Manuel Woschank (Montanuniversität Leoben) showed how training in pro­duc­tion and logistics can be rethought to meet the requi­re­ments of Industry 4.0.

• Sustainable inno­va­ti­on through green technologies

Corina Pacher (Graz University of Technology) presented the European VET Excellence Platform for Green Innovation (GREENOVET) project and showed how VET can act as a catalyst for sus­tainable innovation.

• Benefits and impact of CoVE

In an exciting interview format, repre­sen­ta­ti­ves from education, research and politics, including the afo­re­men­tio­ned speakers and Jürgen Jantschgi (HTL Wolfsberg), Wolfgang Pachatz (BMBWF) and Anna Purkathofer (PH Steiermark), provided insights into the practical imple­men­ta­ti­on and benefits of CoVE projects for regions and institutions.

Exchange and networking

The event not only offered valuable insights, but also the oppor­tu­ni­ty for net­wor­king. Via an inter­ac­ti­ve Padlet, where the entire docu­men­ta­ti­on of the event can be found, par­ti­ci­pan­ts were able to discover projects in advance.