Platform for Urban Greening Strongly Represented at Forum on Vocational Excellence

This year's Forum on Vocational Excellence was held in San Sebastián, Basque Country in Spain in November under the theme 'Global Partnerships for Vocational Skills'. The two-day event brought together a wide range of participants from all over Europe, including a strong delegation from the European Platform for Urban Greening.

Both a collegiate reunion and 2 days of intensive work meetings were on the program, as many European Platform for Urban Greening  partners were represented at the annual “Forum on Vocational Excellence“, which took place on November 15 and 16 in San Sebastián, Basque Country, Spain.

Global Partnerships for Vocational Skills

The meetings took place at the city’s old tobacco factory the Tabakalera, and the theme of this year’s forum was ‘Global Partnerships for Vocational Skills’. In this context, the many newly established centers of vocational excellence (CoVE) – of which 24 in addition to European Platform for Urban Greening were present on the forum – of course had to call for special attention among the well over 300 guests at the conference.

European Year of Skills Excellence

Participants were welcomed by a number of notables, including Nicolas Schmit, the European Commissioner for Jobs and Social Rights. Mr. Schmit drew the long perspectives and mentioned, among other things, the European vision of gradually increasing the number of CoVEs to at least 100 in 2027. To support this endeavor, 2023 has been assigned as the European Year of Skills Excellence.

Inspiration for Designing New Partnerships

The very concentrated program then allowed the participants to discuss the vocational excellence under many different perspectives: eg. social inclusion, public-private partnerships, managing CoVEs, applied research, learner and staff mobility, new calls and matchmaking, smart specialization, lifelong and experiential learning.

Participants took home from this year’s Forum a much clearer understanding of the visions and political priorities underlying the cross-European work with vocational excellence, but also a significant inspiration for designing new partnerships and projects.

Thanks to the organizers for a well-organized and inspiring forum 2022. Looking forward to next time!