A new position paper published by Ceemet sets out the priorities that the European MET industries believe must underpin the forthcoming European Strategy for Vocational Education and Training — from strengthening VET’s attractiveness to deepening industry-VET cooperation and respecting national competencies.
The paper, “What do we need for a successful EU VET strategy?”, responds to the European Commission’s intention to deliver a comprehensive European VET Strategy. Ceemet broadly welcomes the initiative, in particular its objective of increasing the number of people obtaining a secondary VET qualification, while firmly emphasising that Member States must remain primarily responsible for the organisation, structure and content of their vocational training systems.
Skills shortages are holding industries back
According to Ceemet, persistent skills gaps continue to undermine the competitiveness, innovation capacity and employment creation of companies across the metal, engineering and technology (MET) industries. Europe is not producing enough graduates from higher education and VET, nor enough with STEM backgrounds, while participation in continuous training once workers have entered the labour market remains insufficient.
In this context, Ceemet considers excellent and well-functioning VET systems to be indispensable instruments for equipping workers with the skills required to manage major technological change and support the transition towards a green and digital economy.
Six priorities for a stronger European VET strategy
The position paper outlines six key priorities that Ceemet believes must feature in the forthcoming EU strategy. First and foremost, VET must become a genuinely first-class training choice. Despite some improvement in recent years, outdated stereotypes about vocational education persist in a number of EU countries, and reversing this trend requires consistently high-quality programmes with a strong work-based learning component.
Ceemet also calls for reinforced cooperation between industry, social partners and VET providers, ideally at regional and local level, where direct interaction between businesses, VET institutions, young people and teachers can have the most tangible impact. The paper equally stresses the need to foster synergies between VET and general or higher education, so that learners are not forced to choose one pathway over another but can move more freely between systems.
Investment in both Initial VET (IVET) and Continuing VET (CVET) is presented as essential, with the latter being particularly critical for the upskilling and reskilling of adults in rapidly transforming industries. Ceemet also highlights the growing potential of customised and digital learning and calls for improved career guidance and counselling from an early age to help young people appreciate the full range of career opportunities that VET offers.
What does this mean for the MET industries specifically?
The MET industries depend on a broad range of skills, from highly specialised engineers, data analysts and cybersecurity experts to mechanics, welders and electrical technicians. The shipbuilding sector alone illustrates the scale of the challenge: within the next decade, 40% of its workforce is expected to retire, while the sector simultaneously faces the demands of the green and digital transitions.
Ceemet also draws attention to the risk of fragmentation at EU level. While welcoming initiatives such as the TRIREME project and the Automotive Skills Alliance in both of which Ceemet plays an active role, the paper urges the Commission to provide greater clarity on how the various EU skills initiatives, including the VET strategy, the future STEM strategy and the Skills Observatory, will interact in practice and avoid duplication.
Support, not override
Throughout the paper, Ceemet reiterates that the EU’s role should be one of support and coordination, facilitating the exchange of good practices and reinforcing national reforms where needed, but without creating additional institutional structures or overriding national systems. The EU strategy on VET, in Ceemet’s view, can be a powerful catalyst, as long as it continues to respect subsidiarity and does not collide with the national strategies already in place across Member States.
Ceemet and its member organisations are ready to contribute constructively to the debate on the future of vocational education and training in Europe.