Partnership for Excellence - Centres of Vocational Excellence (Erasmus+ Programme)
The initiative on Centres of Vocational Excellence (CoVEs) defines a bottom-up approach to excellence where institutions for vocational education and training (VET) are capable of rapidly adapting skills provision to evolving economic and social needs. It aims to foster transnational collaborative platforms, which would be difficult for isolated member states to establish in the absence of EU incentives, technical support, and mutual learning opportunities.
This Erasmus+ action supports the gradual establishment and development of European platforms of CoVEs, contributing to regional development, innovation, and smart specialisation strategies as well as to international collaborative platforms. CoVEs will operate at two levels:
- At the national level in a given local context, by embedding CoVEs closely in the local innovation ecosystems, and connecting them at the European level.
- At the transnational level through platforms of CoVEs to establish world-class reference points for vocational training by bringing together CoVEs that share:
- a common interest in specific sectors (e.g. aeronautics, e-mobility, green and circular technologies, ICT, healthcare, etc.) or
- innovative approaches to tackle societal challenges (e.g. climate change, resource depletion and scarcity, digitalisation, artificial intelligence, Sustainable Development Goals, integration of migrants, upskilling people with low qualification levels, etc.).
The platforms aim for "upward convergence" of VET excellence. They will be open for the involvement of countries with well-developed vocational excellence systems, as well as those in the process of developing similar approaches, aimed at exploring the full potential of VET institutions to play a proactive role in support of growth and innovation.
CoVEs are intended for organisations providing vocational education and training, at any EQF levels from 3 to 8, including the upper-secondary level, the post-secondary non-tertiary level as well as the tertiary level (e.g. Universities of applied sciences, Polytechnic institutes, etc.).
However, applications cannot include only activities that target learners at the tertiary level; applications that focus on VET at the tertiary level (EQF levels 6 to 8) must include at least one other VET qualification level between EQF levels 3 to 5, as well as a strong work-based learning component.
Submission date: 07 September 2021 17:00:00 Brussels time.
Opportunity Details
Any public or private organisation active in the field of vocational education and training, or in the world of work and legally established in a Programme Country or in any Partner Country can be involved as a full partner, affiliated entity or associated partner. For example, such organisations can be (non-exhaustive list):
- VET providers
- Companies, industry or sector representative organisations
- National/regional qualification authorities
- Research institutes
- Innovation agencies
- Regional development authorities.
- The partnership must include at least 8 full partners from a minimum of 4 Erasmus+ Programme countries (including at least 2 EU Member States) involving:
- a) at least 1 enterprise, industry or sector representative organisation, and
- b) at least 1 vocational education and training provider (at secondary and/or tertiary level).
- The duration of the project is 4 years.
- This action follows a lump sum funding model. The amount of the single lump sum contribution will be determined for each grant based on the estimated budget of the action proposed by the applicant. The granting authority will fix the lump sum of each grant based on the proposal, evaluation result, funding rates and the maximum grant amount set in the call.
