EESC Corner: How to make post-secondary vocational education and training more attractive?

The structural shortage of skilled labour in the EU is a fact. For European businesses, the immediate consequences of these shortages are missed opportunities for growth and increased productivity.

The lack of skilled labour will be one of the main obstacles to economic growth in the upcoming years. To bring together Bologna and Copenhagen into an integrated process, to identify main causes of low attractiveness of the vocational education and training, to address the recommendations to the different stakeholders, this is main message of the own initiative opinion drafted on behalf of the Employers´ group in the EESC.

Post-secondary VET cannot be placed in a grey area between upper secondary VET and higher education. Postsecondary VET is strategically important within the EU 2020 Strategy as a way of making VET a more attractive career option for young people and to support up-skilling and higher levels of attainment. Cross-border learning mobility is a key area which business has long supported, notably for young persons in VET and apprenticeships. Europe currently still has an insufficient level of mobility as regards VET employees, learners and teachers. Their mobility can only be improved by having a good knowledge of at least one foreign language.

The Committee calls upon the Commission to encourage the Member States to achieve long-term and short-term objectives set out in the Bruges Communiqué, improve the quality and efficiency of VET so as to enhance its attractiveness and relevance. In this respect the social partners at all levels have to continue to play an active role in the Copenhagen process and contribute to realisation of the short-term deliverables.

Member States have to develop financial levers both for companies, especially SMEs (incentives, tax), in order to increase the attractiveness of both IVET and CVET and mobilise businesses, and for the education institutions to cooperate with business. The budget for Europe 2020 has to invest in Europe’s brains by increasing the amounts allocated to education, training, research and innovation.

Vladimíra Drbalová
Member of the EESC, Rapporteur of the opinion