Looking back and looking forward at VET developments in EU candidate countries

With the five-year cycle of the Osnabrück Declaration on vocational education and training (VET) coming to an end, it is a time of looking back at progress made and what challenges still remain, while looking forward to the renewed priorities being set for2026-2030.

Directors General for VET (DGVTs) and members of the Advisory Council for Vocational Training (ACVTs) from Albania, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia and Türkiye – ‘old candidate countries’ – attended a two day event organised by the ETF in Milan, Italy, on ‘VET developments in candidate countries: closing the Osnabrück cycle’. The event also provided a forum for ACVTs and DGVTs from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Moldova, and Ukraine – ‘new candidate countries’ – to participate in discussions about VET priorities in the context of Enlargement. 

The event was an opportunity to “look back and look forward”, from how systems have evolved, to what the EU is expecting from candidate countries, said Hugues Moussy, Head of Intelligence Unit at the ETF. “It’s a two way street, to learn from the EU, and for us to learn from you, because we have to share the same future and the same destiny,” he said. 

A quarter century, and more, of VET development

Developing VET has been a top EU agenda item for decades, but took on renewed importance in 2020, with the Council Recommendation on VET  for sustainable competitiveness, social fairness and resilience and the Osnabrück Declaration on VET as an enabler of recovery from the pandemic and just transitions to digital and green economies. 

Over that time, the ETF and Cedefop have assisted EU candidate countries to develop, implement and monitor policies on VET, as well as to prepare and submit National Implementation Plans (NIPs) on developments in the VET sector. 

Stefan Ceuppens from DG Employment gave an overview of developments in VET systems and monitoring since the Copenhagen Process was adopted in 2002, to the Bordeaux Communique in 2008, up until the Osnabrück Declaration. Such developments however go back further than 25 years, with the European Economic Community (EEC) advisory committee on vocational training dating back to1963.

Over time, longer-term objectives were developed to better roll-out VET policies and widen the range of stakeholders involved, from institutions to employers and government. This involved assisting countries in implementing reforms, as well as developing monitoring processes to meet stated goals, from short-term deliverables to those in the medium and long-term. 

DGVT and ACVT at work in Milan

The core of the event consisted of two sets of parallel country working groups focused on past VET policy developments and future priorities.

On the first day, stakeholders from ‘old candidate countries’ worked within their respective country groups to provide the ETF with updates on relevant policy developments from 2024 and early 2025, specifically in relation to their countries’ National Implementation Plans (NIPs). This information will contribute to the ETF's final cycle of monitoring under Osnabrück. National experts revealed new developments in 2024-2025, such as education laws in North Macedonia, a strategy in Montenegro, and a policy framework in Turkiye, as well as work to consolidate ongoing processes through the implementation of existing reforms in the fields of work-based learning in Albania, and career guidance in North Macedonia. Some developments were recorded ‘beyond’ NIPs commitments, such as excellence in VET in Serbia. Like in past years, minor developments were reported on adult learning, gender equality and greening VET.

Meanwhile, participants from ‘new candidate countries’ took part in a session introducing them to the Copenhagen process. They received information about the process itself, the benefits of engaging in ACVT and DGVT fora – particularly in the context of Enlargement – and the associated monitoring and reporting activities. 

On the second day, all country working groups were invited to identify the main persisting challenges in VET, considering policy developments over the past five years. Through this ‘stocktaking exercise,’ participants looked ahead to the 2026-2030 period, selecting the most relevant national actions from the new draft Declaration to fit their national contexts. This exercise revealed that main challenges in VET in old candidate countries include: 

• Progress in continuous VET (CVET) and adult learning: increasing adult’s participation in lifelong learning, expanding such opportunities, linking non-formal to formal VET, implementing validation of non formal and informal learning, and ensuring its financial sustainability.
• Social partners engagement at different levels: for example, to shape curricula, to participate in data collection for the monitoring, also at local level.
• Teachers: find motivation of older staff, availability of and participation in continuous professional development, lack of staff in some cases.
• Labour market/employment side is outside of the picture.

The reporting back from these parallel sessions was discussed by ETF’s Mihaylo Milovanovitch, using insights from the Torino Process. Participants called for more and better data to measure progress for evidence-based policy making.

Additionally, ‘new candidate countries’ had the opportunity to reflect on the monitoring process, share concerns, and propose suggestions for the way forward. 

Discussions on past developments, ongoing challenges, and future priorities took a more concrete shape during a site visit to ITS Rizzoli, a Higher Vocational Education and Training centre in Milan. The visit was greatly appreciated by participants, with intense exchanges focusing on several key topics, including higher VET, curriculum design flexibility, programme permeability, work-based learning, the recruitment of teachers and trainers from the world of work, and employer participation in VET design and delivery, to name a few. 

The Osnabrück Declaration successor

The national priorities established under the Osnabrück Declaration process are still relevant as the cycle ends, said Lisa Rustico, a Human Capital Development Expert at the ETF. The draft new Declaration, being prepared under the lead of the upcoming Danish Presidency, states that the new national actions will not supersede the Osnabrück Declaration objectives, which remain valid. 

Torben Schuster, Senior Advisor at the Danish Ministry of Children and Education, said the need for a new declaration was to address the fast changing environment in the EU and around its borders. 

 “We came up with the idea of a declaration that on one hand looks back, appreciating what has been done with existing strategies, and on the other hand looking ahead for new and emerging things that need more attention,” said Schuster. The declaration was to be “a bridge between what is being done at the moment, and what we foresee in the future needs more attention” to “contribute to a new impetus in VET and education at large.” 

The draft declaration has 13 items at the national level and four items at the European level. One area that will garner particular attention is bolstering the number of people involved in VET programmes as while levels have been relatively stable for 25 years, more initiatives could be carried out to address the skills and labour shortages that many EU and non-EU countries face. 

“International cooperation could be one of the solutions, by promoting international mobility not only for students but also teachers and organisations,” said Schuster. 

The new Declaration is expected to be ratified by EU ministers in September, with Denmark aiming to take advantage of it hosting the Euroskills Competition on VET in the same month. 

Monitoring and analysis of VET

Irina Jemeljanova of Cedefop provided an overview of the monitoring and analysis of EU priorities in VET in Member States, Norway and Iceland, and the activities carried out over the past five years, ranging from the Osnabrück Declaration to the roll-out of NIPs in 2022 and 2023. 

“Countries have been working hard, and things are moving, with many developments. Most are focused on VET curricula programmes, modernisation and also strengthening work-based learning. We point out in our reporting on apprenticeships that the momentum must go on because a lot of effort has been invested in previous policy cycles and it is really important that countries continue,” said Jemeljanova.

A new initiative was the carrying out of national VET stakeholder interviews in 2024. This was a strategical tool “to obtain views and opinions on the relevance of the EU priorities from VET stakeholders in their countries, but also to harvest countries’ progress towards their implementation of commitments for VET, forward looking insights, and to capture the views of different institutional players, in addition to the official perspective of the EU27 plus countries”.

The GLAD Network for Candidate countries

The expansion of the Governance, Learning, Action and Dialogue (GLAD) Network was introduced after the event to put EU candidate countries at its core, said Siria Taurelli, a Senior expert in VET governance and lifelong learning at the ETF. The GLAD Network features within the wider open ETF GLAD community which was introduced in 2022 to help improve skills development and lifelong learning governance. It has a targeted membership of designated ACVT members and alternate members from candidate countries. Participants decided upon thematic sub-groups for their work in 2025 focused on 1) strengthening institutional coordination and reform and 2) partnerships to enhance the quality and inclusiveness of VET with a particular focus on work-based learning. The work of these sub-groups will lead to targeted advice for national stakeholders on skills development tailored to candidate countries needs within the ‘Union of Skills’ as they move towards EU accession.