The opening of the conference about vocational education and training on May 20th, 2009.
Under the leadership of the Czech Presidency new initiatives in secondary and post-secondary vocational education are
becoming the focus of representatives of the social partners, the European Commission, the European Parliament and
research institutes from the whole of Europe.
Today, only a few days after the official adoption of two strategic documents, “Recommendation of the European Parliament and the EU Council on the Establishment of the European Quality Assurance Reference Framework (EQARF)” and “Recommendation of the European Parliament and the EU Council on the Establishment of the European Credit System for Vocational Education and Training (ECVET)“, the Czech Presidency initiated another phase of cooperation in the field of vocational education and training.
Today’s conference was launched by Minister of Education, Youth and Sports Miroslava Kopicová, who spoke in favour of mobility in the field of vocational education in her opening remarks. The conference was chaired by Deputy Minister of Education, Youth and Sports Jakub Dürr.
“It is becoming more and more obvious that education plays a key role in our competitiveness. International cooperation to improve the match between supply and demand for vocational training also facilitates access to lifelong learning and mobility. We are interested in increasing the competitiveness of graduates of vocational secondary and post-secondary schools. In the present economic situation this approach is of key importance and we cannot limit expenses in this area,” stated Minister Kopicová at the conference.
ECVET as a methodological framework is a new European tool that should facilitate identification, assessment and recognition of results achieved at secondary and post-secondary vocational schools and easier transferability between national educational systems. This framework thus significantly contributes toward the creation of international mobility as well as national mobility within individual countries.
EQARF focuses particularly on improvement and evaluation of indicators of vocational education and training in the context of three EU policy priorities: increasing employability, improving the match between supply and demand for training and promoting better access to lifelong training.
Opening panel
1. Miroslava Kopicová (Minister of Education, Czech Rep): 
Welcome_speech.doc (92,00 KB)
2. Elisabeth Arnold (Ministry of National Education, France)
3. João Delgado (European Commission)
4. Aviana Bulgarelli (Director of CEDEFOP): Building synergies.doc (99,50 KB)
5. Pavel Štorkán (Institute of Czech Industry Confederation): 
New initiatives.doc
(35,50 KB)
Workshop ECVET
1. Richard Maniak, French Ministry of Education: 
New tools for Vocational Education and
Training.ppt (1,30 MB)
2. Peter Thiele, Federal Ministry of Education and Research, Germany:
DECVET-Experimentation of A National Credit
System in VET.ppt (998,50 KB)
Workshop EQARF
1. Karin Küssner, Federal Ministry of Education and Research, Germany: The Challenges of the implementation of EQARF in decentralized VET
Systems.ppt (1.87 MB)
2. Giorgio Allulli, Vice-chairperson of ENQAVET Board: The Strategic Role of the Quality Assurance/National
Reference Points.ppt (297,50 KB)
The strategic role of the quality assurance, National reference points
3. Juergen Horschinegg, Chairperson of ENQAVET Board: European Network for Quality Assurance in Vocational
Educationa and Training.ppt (2,74 MB)
4. Vladimír Hulík, Institute for Information on Education:Further
Development of Indicators for Quality.ppt (302.00 KB)
5. Katalin Molnár-Stadler, National Institute of Vocational and Adult Education, Hungary: 
Vocational_Education_and_Training.Quality_Improvement._EU_Conformity.pdf (733,98 KB)
Closing speech
1. Malin Mendes, Swedish Ministry of Education, Presentation of the Swedish Presidency in the
Council of EU: ECVET_and_EQARF_in_Sweden.ppt (1,90 MB)
Questions of the Deputy minister Jakub Dürr to the participants of the plenary
sessions: Otazky_namestka_Durra_AJ.doc (34,00 KB)
Presentations: Roundtable on ECVET
Pasqualino Mare, EVTA / KC Handel (NL): The
EVTA_and_ECVET.ppt (431,50 KB)
Liliana Volozinskis, UEAPME: ECVET_Prague.pdf
(29,37 KB)
Profiles of the speakers of the conference: 
Profiles.pdf (2,61 MB)
View the video from the conference.
Read more
about this conference.
Spokesperson of the MEYS for CZ PRES
tel.: +420 257 193 426
fax: +420 257 193 753
e-mail: tomas.bouska@msmt
cz
