VETs and Industry, One Workforce Goal

Europe is facing a raw materials skills gap of over 1.2 million workers. Closing it will require much closer collaboration between education providers and industry.

Vocational Education and Training (VET) — practice-based education that prepares learners for specific careers — plays a central role in building a workforce that is both job-ready and adaptable. But making that work at scale means education and industry need to align more closely, and more deliberately, than they do today.

In this 60-minute fireside conversation, we bring together perspectives from across the ecosystem to explore how that collaboration is actually working in practice across Europe: how training programmes are embedded into industrial contexts, how delivery models can scale, and how education and industry stay aligned with rapidly evolving skills needs.

What you'll take away:

• Key lessons from real-world Vocational Education and Training–industry collaboration across Europe
• A clearer understanding of current skills challenges — and how different actors are responding
• Perspectives from both policy and industry on what is needed next
• The opportunity to ask questions directly to speakers and the European Raw Materials Academy and European Advanced Materials Academy team

Who Should Attend

Whether you work in vocational education, higher education, or are responsible for workforce development in industry, this session offers relevant insights and concrete examples you can take back to your own context.

Meet The Speakers

• Vicky Marissen, European Training Institute (ETI) and EPPA
  Vicky represents the European Training Institute and European Public Policy Advisors (EPPA), a specialist European public affairs consultancy that works closely with EU institutions and stakeholders to translate policy priorities into practical learning programmes. She brings a policy and systems-level perspective on how skills initiatives are designed and implemented across Europe.

• Ivano Menso, Director of Research, Development and Innovation and Quality Control Laboratory, Minerali Industriali Group
  Ivano brings an industry-driven lens to the conversation, sharing how his organisation designs and delivers tailored workforce development solutions that respond to real operational needs. 

This session centres on what is working, where the friction points are, and where new collaboration models are emerging.

The Academies connect VET providers with industry, research, and academia across Europe, ensuring training supply meets workforce demand. If your institution is ready to be part of that network, this session is where the conversation starts.

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