VALIDATE is an initiative of the BFPE aimed at promoting bridging skills gaps to fight unemployment via innovative LLL programs and validation of non-formal and informal learning and recognition of such qualifications. It is being developed in partnership with the Centre for Southeast European Studies, University of Graz, Austria and ICDT, Hungary.
All countries of the Danube region face the need for improving ways to tackle high rates of unemployment, especially among young people, and enhance competitiveness and economic growth. Finding effective ways to bridge gaps between education supply and labour market needs is one of the most important challenges that need to be overcome. On the one hand, formal education lacks flexibility to respond to the ever-changing labour market needs quickly enough. On the other, the potential of non-formal education and training to act as a bridge is underused and also hampered by the lack of procedures for validation of non-formal and informal learning and recognition of such qualifications. Also, cooperation between different education and labour market stakeholders is still underdeveloped, especially in the context of jointly creating innovative learning environments.
We wish to support the development of innovative LLL programs and procedures for validation of non-formal and informal learning and recognition of such qualifications.
To this aim, our VALIDATE initiative is primarily geared toward:
1. Supporting development of national procedures for recognition of qualifications and validation of non-formal and informal learning in line with the EU Council Recommendation 2012/C 398/01
2. Promoting development of innovative LLL programs though cooperation among formal and non-formal education/training providers, research centres and businesses.
We are looking for a wide range of partners from the countries of the Danube region – education, research and labour market stakeholders who wish to join in on this initiative and jointly develop it further into a project proposal to be submitted for funding in 2015. We have mapped out Erasmus+ and the Danube Transnational Programme as key funding opportunities in 2015.
To this end, we attended the 3rd International Stakeholder Conference of the Policy Area 9 of the EU Strategy for the Danube Region – Investing in People and Skills that took place in Vienna on November 6-7, 2014. The BFPE kindly thanks the two hosts of the event – Austrian Federal Ministry of Education and Women’s Affairs and the Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and Consumer Protection for the initiation and the opportunity to present our newest initiative VALIDATE at their event in search of strategic partners in the countries of the Danube Region.
Please get in touch with us if you are interested!
