Skills and Smart Specialisation - The role of Vocational Education and Training in Smart Specialisation Strategies

Vocational Education and Training (VET) can play a much bigger role in Smart Specialisation Strategies than has so far been considered. This is because VET encompasses skill development as well as innovation diffusion and applied research – which together can have a more direct impact on sustainable economic growth, especially of less developed regions. VET also contributes to addressing the demographic challenges which Europe faces, responding to the needs for re-skilling and up-skilling through nonformal training and at different levels of formal VET. Indeed, VET is now offered by institutions across the post-secondary and short-cycle tertiary education landscape, corresponding to forecasts that predict a growing number of jobs in occupations requiring higher level of skills. Taking into account the existing differences across the EU, these ongoing demographic, labour market and technological changes present considerable challenges and opportunities for VET in order to meet the needs of an increasingly diverse cohort of learners of all ages and backgrounds, and the regions in which they are located.

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