DARYA: Introductory session on centres of vocational excellence, ENE and ISATCOVE

Centres of Vocational Excellence (CoVEs) are typically network institutions and/or platforms dedicated to providing vocational excellence learning opportunities to learners and contributing to the skills ecosystems they operate within. Through local and international cooperation and involvement with a range of stakeholders, CoVEs can act as pathfinders and/or good practice-leaders. They adopt a context-specific approach to vocational excellence, enabling them to adapt to evolving economic and social needs while promoting local business development and innovation. CoVEs can also play an effective role as hubs for informing VET policies and system change with a lifelong learning (LLL) perspective. 

As part of an EU funded initiative “Internationalising Vocational Excellence”, the ETF has developed the International Self-Assessment Tool for Centres of Vocational Excellence (ISATCOVE). ISATCOVE is based on the European concept of vocational excellence captured in the activities of the Erasmus+ call on centres of vocational excellence (CoVEs). ISATCOVE is designed to help vocational education and training (VET) centres elevate their standards, by identifying areas for improvement and adopting best practices from around the globe. 

Thanks to ISATCOVE, VET centres are encouraged to reflect on their achievements, engage their educators, trainers, and learners in meaningful dialogue, and build action plans based on robust data. ISATCOVE consists of three dimensions, 23 criteria and 577 indicators, covering all aspects of vocational excellence. Centres are not expected to include all in their self-assessment, but to make a selection of criteria and indicators that are relevant to them. Through ISATCOVE, participating institutions gain a deeper understanding of what it means to excel in vocational education while also having the opportunity to receive formal recognition for their commitment to excellence. 

This introductory session is organised for participants from Central Asian countries, to introduce the concept of Centres of Vocational Excellence, the ETF ENE network and ISATCOVE, in order to explore the interest of DARYA partner countries to work in these thematic areas as of spring 2025, as a new area of work under DARYA module 3.

PARTICIPANTS: 

This introductory session is of interest to Ministry of Education representatives and affiliated organisations with an interest in Vocational Excellence and with responsibility for Centres of Excellence/Dissemination Centres, as well as for VET providers that are Centres of Excellence/Dissemination centres in their country