'In Lithuania, the overall amount of structural funds reprogrammed is EUR 31 million. They have been mobilised recently for youth employment measures by amending programmes or making internal reallocations between measures. Labour market reforms to remove disincentives for employers to take on more staff are ongoing, in particular to facilitate temporary work contracts for up to two years; flexibility in setting working hours; teleworking; transparent and equal remuneration for work / terms…

The adaptation of BEQUAL benchmarking tool and Community of Practice that took place under the framework of BEQUAL + project had been based on Country Profiles fulfilling the role of background information for needs analysis and determining the main characteristics of VET systems in importing countries, existing approaches and gaps in quality assurance that needed be taken into account in the process of adaptation. They provided the basis for comparative analysis and for deciding the correct…

The piloting of the translated and adapted BEQUAL tool for benchmarking quality assurance in VET was completed successfully in April 2013. The purpose of the piloting actions was to test the application of the adapted benchmarking tool in the importing countries (Bulgaria, Italy and Turkey), to observe the feedback of the users in order to discover potential problems and/or errors, as well as to re-evaluate and improve the BEQUAL tool. We tested the technical performance of the BEQUAL…

A delegation of the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs (EMPL) of the European Parliament has met with Members of the Seimas and discussed unemployment, promotion of employment, the lack of qualified labour force, emigration and the events covering these issues to be held in the framework of the parliamentary dimension of the Lithuanian Presidency of the Council of the EU.

See more at:…

Source: http://www.cedefop.europa.eu/EN/publications/21183.aspx

3 piloting seminars have been held in Bulgaria in the period 15 February- 07 March 2013. Their purpose was to test the application of the adapted benchmarking tool in Bulgaria, to observe the feedback of the users in order to discover potential problems and/or errors and to define the areas for improve the benchmarking tool. The seminars were held in Plovdiv, Pleven and Sofia and were visited by 75 VET providers (principals of VET high schools, colleges and managers of centers for vocational…

From January till March 2013 the piloting of the Benchmarking tool was done in Italy.

15 individual meetings with VET centres and Vocational schools of Tuscany were fixed and fulfilled. The meetings had place partly in locations of the VET providers and partly in ASEV’s premises.

One VET institution was interviewed telephonically and then by mail.

So totally ASEV has managed to reach 16 VET centres and vocational schools from the following cities: Empoli,…

LITHUANIAN EU PRESIDENCY PRIORITIES (JULY-DECEMBER 2013) IN EDUCATION AND TRAINING

On 6 February 2013 Ms Milda Spelyte-Letuliene, Education Attaché for the Permanent Representation of Lithuanian to the EU, presented the preliminary ideas on the priorities on education and training of the upcoming Lithuanian Presidency of the Council of the EU. This information note develops on the main directions the Council will head to for the 2nd semester 2013.

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The DG Education and Culture has announced the Lifelong Learning Programme call for proposals 2013. This year's strategic priorities are the same with the 2012 ones:

1. Develop strategies for lifelong…

This is the theme of the 2012 Global Youth Video Competition organised by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

So what is the big issue in education and skills today?

• Learning the right skills to get a job,
• Bridging the '…

Erasmus for All is the new programme proposed by the European Commission for education, training, youth and sport. It is planned to start in 2014 and it is expected to significantly increase the funds allocated for the development of…

The latest issue of the ECVET magazine (issue No.6 November 2011) is now available to the public.

The ECVET Magazine is published five times per year by the ECVET network.

The objectives of the ECVET Magazine are threefold:

- to inform about activities and initiatives to test and implement ECVET…

The BEQUAL Community of Practice is expanding. The BEQUAL project results will be transferred to Bulgaria, Italy and Turkey in the newly approved transfer of Innovation project BEQUAL+.

With BEQUAL+ project, the portal and the benchmarking tool will be made available in Bulgarian, Italian…

The 2nd conference of the QALLL project (Quality Assurance in LifeLong Learning with a Focus on Vocational Education and Training and Adult Education) will take place on November 28th 2011, in Berlin, Germany. It is titled "Reaching mutual trust...Quality…

Eurypedia is an EU website that aims to present the most accurate picture of national education systems across Europe. It includes information about specific education systems as well as analysis of educational issues at…