Osnabrück Declaration: An ambitious roadmap for vocational education and training in Europe until 2025

On 30 November, the Ministers in charge of vocational education and training (VET) of the Member States, the EU Candidate Countries and the EEA-EFTA countries, the Commission and the European social partners endorsed the “Osnabrück 2020 Declaration on vocational education and training as an enabler of recovery and just transitions to digital and green economies”. It is also supported by EU training associations and learners’ organisations.

The Declaration outlines four key objectives that are accompanied by concrete measures for action at EU and national level:

1. Resilience and excellence through quality, inclusive and flexible VET
2. Establishing a new lifelong learning culture – relevance of CVET and digitalisation
3. Sustainability – a green link in VET
4. European Education and Training Area and international VET

The Declaration continues the process of enhancing European cooperation in VET, started in Copenhagen in 2002 and followed by the Bruges Communiqué (2010) and the Riga Conclusions (2015), where priorities, targets and deliverables are agreed by the European Commission, EU Member States, candidate countries and social partners.

The document complements and operationalises the vision and strategic objectives of the ‘Council recommendation on vocational education and training for sustainable competitiveness, social fairness and resilience’.