On 14 April 2026, 80 policymakers and VET (Vocational Education and Training) providers from across Europe and beyond took part in ETF’s webinar: “Shaping the Centres of Vocational Excellence [CoVE] Agenda: Policy Compendium Preview and Priority Challenges.”
The online meeting was an opportunity to hear about the challenges and solutions of CoVE provision from three keynote speakers and for stakeholders to offer feedback and reflection on ETF’s emerging “Compendium”, a new resource which will help policymakers and providers define and develop CoVEs.
Opening the webinar, ETF’s Jolien van Uden, Senior Human Capital Development Expert and Coordinator for Vocational Excellence, described how this Compendium will “provide inspiration to policymakers by identifying opportunities and challenges shaping the development of CoVEs”. It will, she said, “draw on experiences from different systems and stages of development and policy traditions”, thus offering a guide “to future policies and practise.”
Three keynote speakers described their experiences of creating CoVE ecosystems. Inge Gorostiaga Luzarraga, Director of Digital Transformation and Advanced Learning in VET at the Basque Government’s Regional Ministry of Education, outlined the region’s VET strategy evolution from 1997 onwards.
“Our greatest strength”, said Luzarraga, “is a network system in collaboration with local, regional, national and European partners.” She outlined five strategic strands of policy, a roadmap which “gives direction and builds trust”: Talent, Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Sustainability and Democratic Culture, Digitalisation and, finally, Internationalisation.
“Knowledge transfer”, said Luzarraga, “is the core of the Basque model, having a system-wide impact: teachers gain knowledge, transfer the knowledge they gain to students and other teachers, and in this way companies, especially SMEs [small and medium-sized enterprises], are able to receive this knowledge. So the entire system evolves together for the benefit of all." Innovation, she said, is an integral part of, rather than an out-of-hours addition to, the working schedule of all teachers.
Dr. Silviu Gîncu, Head of the VET Department of the Ministry of Education and Research in the Republic of Moldova, described the evolution of CoVEs in his country from 2015 to 2026, noting how 14 CoVEs (serving over 14,000 students) support and inform VET provision within Moldova.
Dr Gîncu said that Moldova’s CoVEs have been involved in the elaboration of more than 100 occupational standards. Seven of Moldova’s CoVE are now part of the European Alliance for Apprenticeship (EafA) and nine are implementing the dual education system.
“In our experience”, he said, “governance and funding are very important”. A good governance system focuses not only on the funding, but also on the attribution of responsibility and the instruments for implementation. Cooperation and coordination are also very important.”
Matthieu Merciecca, Head of Business-Education Partnerships and CoVEs at France’s Ministry of Education, spoke about the importance of breaking down educational silos: “excellence is an ecosystem”, he said.
Curricula, said Merciecca, are co-designed with private partners, and there’s an ambition to “connect all the campuses in France regarding the same sector” (France has 120 CoVE campuses) in order “to disseminate pedagogic innovation”. He spoke of the importance of funding sustainability and of “excellence” being not an example of elitism but “an escalator” for “vulnerable groups in isolated areas or with disabilities.”
The expert Martiño Rubal Maseda then introduced ETF’s draft Compendium. “It is a curated collection of resources”, he said, “including strategies, legislation, guidance and toolkits”.
“It brings together global insights”, said Rubal Maseda, “showing how policymakers can tackle the biggest challenges in building or strengthening Centres of Vocational Excellence.”
The Compendium is organised thematically around three core issues: Governance and Funding, Teaching and Learning, and Partnership and Cooperation. The cross-cutting themes of the green transition, digitalisation and inclusion are present in each core issue.
“It is structured”, said Rubal Maseda, “around real policy challenges, linking problems, responses, policy-levers and outcomes”. At a time in which skills provision is under pressure (because of the well-known issues of a rapidly changing labour market and a mismatch between training provision and industry needs), the Compendium will “support adaptation rather than a copy-and-paste transfer.”
The finalised Compendium will be formally presented at a live event hosted by ETF in Turin on 8 July 2026.
The webinar was organised by ETF and sponsored by the German Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (BIBB) and the German Federal Ministry for Education, Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth (BMBFSFJ) as part of the initiative “Towards a Global TVET Agenda” (TGTA).
Congratulations on a great webinar! A highly relevant topic and a very important contributions. Well done to Moldova and to Silviu for sharing such an important experience in the transformation of Centres of Excellence in Moldova. I look forward to continuing our joint work on advancing the CoEs’ journey towards excellence.
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