What is vocational excellence, why is it important, and how is it developed and for whom? This paper tries to: address the complexity of vocational excellence; explain the different types of centres of vocational excellence (CoVEs), which embody vocational excellence, their missions and functions; and identify good practices that work well in different contexts. The paper investigates issues such as: How can CoVEs deepen their engagement with the labour market and cooperate with other skills providers to form part of a comprehensive, inclusive, high-quality network? How can the design and development of CoVEs be linked to other elements of human capital development strategy, for example the development of lifelong learning or the emergence of smart specialisation?
This study is the result of collaborative work between all members of the ETF thematic team on CoVEs. The team was entrusted to research the developmental aspect of vocational excellence, perform a mapping exercise in partner countries, analyse findings and explore ideas for finding the right pathway to excellence.