EARLALL at the 2nd Interregional Educational Seminar and study visit in Montenegro

EARLALL joined project partners and stakeholders in Budva and Kotor on 6-8 October 2026 for three days of exchange hosted by the Centre for Vocational Education of Montenegro.

The programme focused on inclusion, diversity and excellence in education, combining regional practice presentations, institutional visits and workshops. Participants explored how schools can respond to different learning needs and what support teachers require to make inclusion part of everyday teaching.

Understanding Montenegro’s education reforms

Magdalena Jovanović, Senior Adviser for Public Relations at the Centre for Vocational Education, moderated the opening seminar. Aleksandra Lalević, Director of the Centre, welcomed participants and emphasised equal access to education, support for diverse learners and the development of teachers’ skills.

Jelena Bojović, Head of the Department for International Cooperation and Projects, introduced Montenegro’s education system and reform priorities. Her presentation outlined the Education Reform Strategy 2025–2035 and Curriculum Reform 2026–2027, which prioritise competence-based learning, practical skills and flexible educational pathways. In vocational education and training, priorities include closer cooperation with employers, work-based learning and recognition of prior learning.

Vjera Mitrović-Radošević, Advisor on Quality of Inclusive Education, presented support for learners with disabilities, Roma and Egyptian communities, children in rural areas and migrant children facing language barriers. More than 800 people have obtained the teaching assistant qualification, according to the presentation. Roma and Egyptian Social Inclusion Assistants also help families overcome communication, transport and other barriers to participation.

Vladislav Koprivica, Head of the Department for Quality, Research and Continuing Professional Development of Teachers, explained how self-evaluation and external evaluation support school improvement. Inclusive education standards examine adapted teaching, accessible facilities, supportive learning environments and individual education and transition plans.

Regional approaches to inclusion

The regional exchange showed how individual support can be organised through schools, communities and regional authorities.

Małgorzata Jachyra-Mazepa, Director of the John Paul II School and Education Complex in Lubaczów, Poland, presented “Youth Educational Centre – a chance for change”. The approach combines individual assessment, vocational education and community participation for boys placed in the centre by court order. Preparation for independent living includes managing a budget, accessing services and preparing for employment. Reported results included fewer critical incidents and improved vocational examination outcomes.

The Slovenian example explored cooperation between a municipality and an education institution to employ an intercultural mediator supporting children from Albanian migrant backgrounds.

Melita Jeremić, School Pedagogue and Coordinator for Teaching Assistants at Sračinec Primary School, presented Varaždin County’s (EARLALL member) inclusive education model in Croatia. Originating in an EU-funded initiative in 2014/15, the current project supports 146 students through 145 assistants and intermediaries across 34 schools. Assistance covers academic, social, emotional, physical and organisational needs, supported by a 250-hour training programme and cooperation with parents.

Helen Arus, representing the Estonian Quality Agency for Education, HAKA, introduced Rakvere Vocational School and its experience of peer review through the Erasmus+ CHOICES project. A review of student counselling identified dedicated staff and a learner-centred culture as strengths, while recommending clearer responsibilities, better communication and more visible support services.

From Denmark, Lisbeth Hvid Christensen, Headmaster, and Anette Degn Larsen, Head of Learning and Development, presented an approach based on dialogue, structured cooperation and multilingual learning in vocational education. They also discussed challenges, including disruption caused by staff changes and difficulties sustaining skills under assessment pressure.

Nieves Maria Moreno Martinez, Technical Officer at Murcia’s Directorate-General for Attention to Diversity, presented the INCLU-YOU programme and Resource Centres for Inclusive Education. These connect the identification of barriers with specialist advice, mentoring and practical classroom support.

Marija Đurišić, a member of the DTRD-ECA project management team at the University of Montenegro, introduced work to record and recognise extracurricular activities as part of students’ academic experience, including links with study programmes and ECTS credits.

Visiting schools in Budva and Kotor

At Danilo Kiš Secondary School in Budva, participants were welcomed by Mr Vuković, the school’s Principal. The school serves 1,058 students and offers 11 vocational programmes alongside general secondary education. The visit included specialised equipment used in tourism programmes and discussion of teachers’ professional development and cooperation with schools in neighbouring countries.

The second day took participants to the Maritime High School in Kotor, where the school leadership and quality manager introduced nautical studies, maritime engineering and logistics. Discussions covered professional certification, career progression and simulation-based training, including the resources needed to maintain relevant training facilities.

At the Maritime Faculty of the University of Montenegro, Professor Danilo Nikolić and Assistant Professor Maja Škurić presented lifelong learning programmes responding to developments in the maritime sector. Examples addressed energy-efficient ship operations, alternative fuels and propulsion, and the yachting and cruise industry. The visit also explored cooperation with ship operators and European initiatives in maritime environmental education.

Digital learning and professional development

On the final day, Mileva Lučić, a teacher at the Vaso Aligrudić Secondary Electrical Engineering School in Podgorica, presented digital services and classroom tools supporting teaching and learning. Examples included accessible content, feedback tools and translation for learners facing language barriers. She also addressed the importance of checking AI-generated materials and protecting students’ personal data.

Professor Tatjana Novović, Full Professor at the University of Montenegro’s Faculty of Philosophy, presented inclusive education and teacher development initiatives, including FOSFIM and CRED4TEACH. CRED4TEACH is developing short online programmes and micro-credentials for teachers in Albania, Montenegro and Ukraine, alongside frameworks for their recognition.

Workshops explored practical responses to different learning paces, language barriers, additional support needs and unequal digital access. Participants highlighted the need for planning time, leadership support and specialist advice. One proposal was to establish school-based digital labs where teachers could test learning activities with guidance from digital mentors.

EARLALL connects the exchange with European tools

EARLALL introduced SELFIE and SCAFFOLD as European tools relevant to schools and educators. Participants discussed their visibility, connections with national approaches and how their use and impact are evaluated. The Estonian partner’s reference to Digital Mirror prompted reflection on how regions can make better use of existing resources.

Across the discussions, a consistent message emerged: effective inclusion requires coordinated support for learners and teachers, while digital tools should respond to a clear educational need.

Continuing the regional exchange

The visit provided partners with approaches to examine with their regional stakeholders, taking account of local needs, resources and evidence of results.

During the third Steering Committee meeting, chaired by the Region of Murcia, LeadEx’s lead partner, partners approved the next semester’s focus on innovation in education and digitalisation. The next LeadEx seminar and study visit will take place in Denmark on 20-22 April 2027.

On 12 October 2026, EARLALL participated in “When Culture is at Risk: Safeguarding Heritage and Empowering Creative Voices in Wartime”, a seminar organised by its member Region Västra Götaland, Sweden. Held at Nordic House in Brussels during the European Week of Regions and Cities 2026, the event brought together museum professionals and cultural practitioners to discuss the protection of heritage and artistic expression, with a particular focus on Ukraine.

Opening the seminar, Alex Bergström, President of the Cultural Affairs Committee in Region Västra Götaland, emphasised that Ukraine is defending its people, history and culture, and that this defence matters to Europe as a whole.

Safeguarding heritage through documentation and cooperation

Moderating the first session, Anders Wikström, Museum Development Officer at Region Västra Götaland, highlighted the connection between conflict and identity, and the mobilisation of cultural institutions to protect heritage.

Anastasiia Cherednychenko, Historian, Museologist, Chair of ICOM Ukraine, shared her experience of evacuating museum collections and working under exceptionally difficult conditions, including electricity shortages. She explained the challenges of establishing the full extent of losses and tracing objects removed from occupied territories.

Her contribution underlined the importance of digitisation alongside paper records. Detailed inventories, photographs and descriptions can help identify missing objects and establish their ownership. She also thanked Region Västra Götaland for its support through a residency in which she had participated.

Mariusz Wiśniewski, Chief Specialist in the Division for Restitution of Cultural Goods at Poland’s Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, drew on Poland’s experience of wartime cultural losses and restitution. He stressed the importance of putting international legal commitments into practice and strengthening cooperation between countries. Tracing an object’s provenance, or history of ownership, requires specialist knowledge and reliable documentation. Sharing expertise across borders is therefore essential.

Maria Dahlström, Curator at Sweden’s National Museums of World Culture, discussed repatriation, illicit trafficking and the need for greater public awareness. She highlighted the value of cooperation between museums, customs authorities, police, religious institutions, libraries and archives.

She also introduced ICOM’s Emergency Red List of Cultural Objects at Risk – Ukraine, a resource that identifies categories of vulnerable objects to help prevent their illicit trade. It is a tool for recognising objects at risk, rather than an inventory of stolen items. Her contribution encouraged greater scrutiny of the origins of cultural objects and caution when purchasing antiquities.

Supporting creative voices and documenting wartime experience

The second session, moderated by Camilla Larsson, Program Manager, Gothenburg Film Festival, explored filmmaking and residencies in wartime.

Ukrainian film director Olya Chernykh, an artist-in-residence at the festival in 2024, discussed The Illusion of a Quiet Night. Filmed during a single night in July 2025, the documentary brings together footage from across Ukraine to portray people’s experiences of living through war.

The discussion also addressed the documentary community’s role in preserving evidence. One example was the Ukraine War Archive, developed by NGO Docudays, which collects and preserves material documenting the war for use by researchers and investigators.

The role of regional support

Since 2022, Region Västra Götaland has funded around thirty temporary residencies for artists, including filmmakers, and museum professionals from Ukraine. These stays offer a respite from the war, access to professional networks and support tailored to participants’ interests and needs.

For EARLALL, the seminar highlighted the importance of professional learning and cooperation across borders in safeguarding culture. The experiences shared demonstrated how regions can support cultural professionals, sustain creative work and help preserve knowledge and heritage for future generations.

On 8 October, Cedefop launched its Regional Skills Ecosystems Index (RESET) at the European Committee of the Regions in Brussels, during European Skills & VET Week 2026. The event, titled “Europe’s skills revolution starts in its regions”, presented for the first time a new skills intelligence tool covering 244 NUTS2 regions. RESET makes visible what national averages hide: two regions in the same country can face very different skills realities. Cedefop will make it freely available on its website.

EARLALL was glad to take part in the panel debate. We congratulated Cedefop and welcomed RESET, and we were happy to have followed it since its preparatory phase in 2025.

Stronger and more inclusive ecosystems

Our message was simple. Europe needs not only stronger regional skills ecosystems, but also more inclusive ones. The idea is not new: regional skills ecosystems have always been at the core of EARLALL’s work. What matters now is making them work, and making them useful for the people living in all territories, rural and outermost regions included. That is also what a tool like RESET should help regions to do, which is why it must be built with them and connected to the Pact for Skills and Smart Specialisation strategies rather than run alongside them. We also noted that the European Skills High Level Board, which calls for stronger regional and sectoral skills ecosystems (SPARKs), still has no regional representative.

We named five obstacles that hold ecosystems back:

• Fragmentation of skills policy across education, employment, economic development and cohesion.
• Limited capacity and short-term funding, while ecosystems run on trust that takes years to build.
• Different cultures among education, employment and business.
• Weak guidance and anticipation. Adults struggle to find their way through the training offer, and learners are lost at every transition.
• Too few exchanges between regions.

Each of these also affects inclusion. Smaller and rural regions, SMEs and adult learners are the ones most likely to be left without intermediaries, intelligence or guidance. An ecosystem is only strong if they have a seat at the table.

What works, from our network

Our members show the way. Baden-Württemberg’s Alliance for Lifelong Learning has given adults a recognisable point of entry through state-wide guidance and a digital campus. Brittany’s employment-training-inclusion committees let the region and local actors work from the same evidence. In the Basque Country, Tknika’s monitoring nodes bring technology trends into vocational curricula, and between 2018 and 2024 ICT jobs linked to vocational training grew by almost 64%, against about 7% for the whole labour market. Västra Götaland, Trento, Tuscany, Vestland, as well as our partner Fingal County, offer different structures with the same ingredients: a trusted intermediary, employers as real partners, guidance that keeps learners in the system, a link to regional economic priorities and a long enough horizon.

EARLALL’s Regional Skills Partnership for lifelong learning mobility, whose proposal has been approved, will build on this logic. It will offer training and capacity building on EU upskilling and reskilling tools and help partners fine-tune their skills strategies.

Lifelong learning as Europe’s infrastructure

Asked what we hope to see in five years, we said that lifelong learning should be treated not as an education policy but as proper infrastructure for Europe. That means an inclusive skills partnership in every region, rural and outermost ones included, with SMEs and adult learners at the table. It also means accessible career guidance for every adult, regional skills intelligence that quickly informs what training is offered, progress towards the EU target of 60% adult participation in learning each year, and stable multi-annual funding. RESET can be the yardstick if it captures governance and cooperation as well as outputs, shows learner journeys through transitions, and is used by regions in their own planning. Numbers matter, but so does the trust of the people in the ecosystem.

Evolution, not revolution

The event’s title spoke of a revolution. We would like to see a faster evolution: one in which people can follow the change and feel part of it. The revolution Europe needs is in how we cooperate across levels of government. For people, the future of work should not be something to fear. Humans are adaptable and curious, and every talent is needed.

9 October 2026 – The European Erasmus+ project PATHWAYS – Breaking the Cycle: Innovative Adult and Vocational Education for the Reintegration of People in Prison was officially launched during its first online partner meeting on 9 October 2026, bringing together organisations and regional stakeholders from across Europe to strengthen adult education for people in prison and those under criminal justice supervision.

The project aims to improve access to inclusive, flexible and high-quality learning opportunities by identifying effective practices, strengthening cooperation between education providers and prison authorities, and supporting the development of sustainable education and training pathways. By fostering knowledge exchange and professional development, PATHWAYS seeks to contribute to better educational continuity, improved employment prospects and successful reintegration into society.

Building stronger prison education systems through European cooperation

Prison education systems across Europe face a range of challenges, including fragmented provision, unequal access to learning opportunities and difficulties ensuring continuity of education. PATHWAYS addresses these challenges by bringing together partners from different European regions to share experiences, identify promising approaches and explore how successful practices can be adapted to different institutional and regional contexts.

Over its 36-month implementation period, the project will bring together research, peer learning, capacity building and practical implementation through five work packages:

• Project management and coordination
• Mapping prison education ecosystems: gathering information on existing systems, identifying needs and documenting effective practices across participating regions.
• Peer learning and capacity building: supporting the exchange of experiences and strengthening the competences of prison educators and other relevant stakeholders.
• Regional implementation plans and practical tools: translating project findings into actionable resources and approaches that can be applied in diverse prison education settings.
• Communication and knowledge transfer: sharing project results, fostering a European Community of Practice and promoting the long-term uptake of successful approaches.

From mapping needs to practical solutions

The project’s first meeting marked the beginning of this collaborative process. Partners introduced their organisations and roles, reviewed the project structure and discussed the coordination, communication and research activities that will guide the initial phase of implementation.

A key priority is the mapping of prison education systems and the collection of comparable information across participating regions. Through a dedicated data collection tool and local stakeholder workshops, partners will examine existing provision, identify challenges and gather insights to inform the development of practical solutions.

Supporting educators and creating lasting impact

At the heart of PATHWAYS is the recognition that education plays a vital role in personal development, social inclusion and successful reintegration. Equipping educators with practical tools, strengthening links between education providers and prison authorities, and improving access to relevant learning opportunities can help create more coherent and effective pathways for people in prison.

Expected results include a comparative European analysis of prison education, an online repository of effective practices, a practical toolkit for prison educators, regional implementation plans and policy recommendations. The project will also foster a European Community of Practice, enabling professionals and institutions to continue exchanging knowledge and experience.

By combining evidence-based approaches with regional cooperation and practical implementation, PATHWAYS aims to support prison education systems that are more inclusive, adaptable and sustainable.

Looking ahead

Following the launch meeting, partners will begin the initial mapping and data collection activities, refine the project’s communication and dissemination arrangements, and coordinate the next stages of implementation. Dedicated working meetings and local stakeholder workshops will help ensure that the project responds to the needs and realities of the participating regions.

Through this shared European effort, PATHWAYS seeks to turn knowledge and collaboration into meaningful improvements in prison education, helping ensure that learning opportunities remain accessible and that educational pathways can support people both during imprisonment and after release.

About PATHWAYS

PATHWAYS is a European Erasmus+ cooperation project focused on strengthening adult education for people in prison and those under criminal justice supervision. Through research, the exchange of effective practices, professional development, practical tools and regional cooperation, the project aims to improve the quality and continuity of prison education and support sustainable pathways towards education, employment and social reintegration.

More than 60 participants joined the SALAM -Sustainable AccessibIlity to the LAbour Market Interreg Europe webinar on migrant inclusion and labour market integration, co-organised and moderated by EARLALL, bringing together regional and local authorities, policy experts and Interreg Europe project representatives to exchange experiences and explore solutions for more inclusive labour markets.

Professor Francesca Torlone from the University of Florence opened the webinar by raising a key question: how can approaches and practices to migrant inclusion be successfully transferred and adapted to different regional contexts?

From integration to comprehensive inclusion

Erik Gløersen from the Interreg Europe Policy Learning Platform highlighted the need to move beyond predefined target groups and address the overlapping barriers people face when accessing employment, including housing insecurity, caring responsibilities, transport, language and qualification recognition.

The discussion drew on the Policy Learning Platform policy brief Comprehensive local and regional inclusion strategies, which explores comprehensive approaches to inclusion. Gløersen also invited participants to the next webinar, Integrating third-country nationals into rural communities and labour markets, on 5 November 2026.

Regional experiences and practical solutions

SALAM partners from Tuscany, Catalonia, Romania, Centre-Val de Loire, Västra Götaland, Baden-Württemberg and the Municipality of Mark shared approaches to improving migrants’ access to employment and economic opportunities.

Tuscany presented its work on migrant entrepreneurship, highlighting coordinated support that continues beyond business start-up. Partners also discussed job matching and career guidance from day one, language learning alongside employment, and cooperation between public authorities, employers and third-sector organisations.

Baden-Württemberg and Tuscany shared approaches to skills development, bridging programmes and profession-specific language training to help migrants use their existing qualifications and access employment. Participants also discussed the risk of migrants entering precarious work despite their skills and experience, underlining the importance of combining targeted training with practical work opportunities.

The Good Practice gallery showcased examples of migrant entrepreneurship in Tuscany, job matching from day one in Mark, and integrated pathways involving social enterprises. Together, these approaches demonstrate how coordinated support can help address the different barriers migrants face.

Connecting European projects and policy learning

The webinar also connected SALAM’s regional exchange with wider European initiatives working on inclusion and socio-economic participation.

Dr Costanza Pallini, from the Department of Urban Planning and Sustainability (Direzione Urbanistica e Sostenibilità) at Regione Toscana, presented the HEROES Interreg Europe project, highlighting the role of affordable housing and complementary community services in social inclusion.

The WISE project  in which EARLALL is a partner, was represented by Elena Lanteri, Case Worker at IRC Italy, and Olga Chizhevskaya, EARLALL’s Project & Partnership Officer and WISE Communications Officer. WISE supports Ukrainian refugee women through holistic support centres that combine employment readiness, psychosocial support and individual case management.

Representatives from other Interreg Europe projects, including SIRM, atWork4NEETs and MILEstone,  also joined the exchange, bringing additional perspectives on employment, skills and social inclusion.

Continuing the exchange

The discussion and chat explored qualification recognition, precarious employment, profession-specific language training, housing and stakeholder coordination. These exchanges reinforced the importance of connecting employment measures with wider support systems and adapting solutions to regional needs.

Through its involvement in SALAM and other European cooperation initiatives, EARLALL supports regional learning and the exchange of practices that can inform more inclusive policies and strengthen migrants’ economic participation and financial independence.

Regional experiences and practical solutions

SALAM partners from Tuscany, Catalonia, Romania, Centre-Val de Loire, Västra Götaland, Baden-Württemberg and the Municipality of Mark shared approaches to improving migrants’ access to employment and economic opportunities.

Tuscany presented its work on migrant entrepreneurship, highlighting coordinated support that continues beyond business start-up. Partners also discussed job matching and career guidance from day one, language learning alongside employment, and cooperation between public authorities, employers and third-sector organisations.

Baden-Württemberg and Tuscany shared approaches to skills development, bridging programmes and profession-specific language training to help migrants use their existing qualifications and access employment. Participants also discussed the risk of migrants entering precarious work despite their skills and experience, underlining the importance of combining targeted training with practical work opportunities.

The Good Practice gallery showcased examples of migrant entrepreneurship in Tuscany, job matching from day one in Mark, and integrated pathways involving social enterprises. Together, these approaches demonstrate how coordinated support can help address the different barriers migrants face.

Find further information in the webinar presentation.

Connecting European projects and policy learning

The webinar also connected SALAM’s regional exchange with wider European initiatives working on inclusion and socio-economic participation.

Dr Costanza Pallini, from the Department of Urban Planning and Sustainability (Direzione Urbanistica e Sostenibilità) at Regione Toscana, presented the HEROES Interreg Europe project, highlighting the role of affordable housing and complementary community services in social inclusion.

The WISE project, in which EARLALL is a partner, was represented by Elena Lanteri, Case Worker at IRC Italy, and Olga Chizhevskaya, EARLALL’s Project & Partnership Officer and WISE Communications Officer. WISE supports Ukrainian refugee women through holistic support centres that combine employment readiness, psychosocial support and individual case management.

Representatives from other Interreg Europe projects, including  SIRM, atWork4NEETs and MILEstone, , also joined the exchange, bringing additional perspectives on employment, skills and social inclusion.

Continuing the exchange

The discussion and chat explored qualification recognition, precarious employment, profession-specific language training, housing and stakeholder coordination. These exchanges reinforced the importance of connecting employment measures with wider support systems and adapting solutions to regional needs.

Through its involvement in SALAM and other European cooperation initiatives, EARLALL supports regional learning and the exchange of practices that can inform more inclusive policies and strengthen migrants’ economic participation and financial independence.

Materials

• Webinar recording
• General presentation: SALAM Learning Journey and Good Practices
• Erik Gløersen’s presentation
• WISE presentation
• HEROES presentation

On 6 October 2026, the QUEEN-Quality apprenticeships for evolving labour needs partnership, an Interreg Europe project, came together for its fourth virtual meeting, marking the end of the project’s third semester. With one and a half years of cooperation behind them, partners took stock of the progress achieved so far and looked ahead to the next phase of peer learning, regional cooperation and policy improvement.

The meeting provided an opportunity to reflect on the work carried out during the first part of the project and, importantly, to discuss how the knowledge and experiences generated through QUEEN can increasingly be translated into action within the participating regions.

Continuing the exchange of Good Practices

One of the central elements of the QUEEN project is the exchange of Good Practices between regions. During the meeting, partners reviewed the Good Practices identified so far and discussed the themes that have emerged across the partnership.

The practices identified by the partners cover a broad range of issues linked to work-based learning, skills and apprenticeships, including the effectiveness of regional systems

The next phase of the project will place particular emphasis on identifying and exploring practices that can help address areas where further learning is needed. These include topics such as skills mismatches and skills foresight, digitalisation, adult learning and inclusion, as well as other issues relevant to the development of effective work-based learning systems.

Partners will have the opportunity to explore these practices through a combination of online exchanges and study visits. The aim is not simply to identify successful approaches elsewhere, but to understand the context in which they have developed and consider how the lessons learned could be relevant to other regions.

This peer-learning process is closely connected to the project’s wider objective of policy improvement. Learning from other regions can provide new perspectives for partners as they work on strengthening their own policy instruments and approaches.

From peer learning to policy improvement

A further focus of the meeting was the next stage of the partners’ policy improvement work. Partners discussed a practical checklist and guidance designed to help regions structure this process and connect the different strands of learning taking place within QUEEN.

The partnership also looked at the experience of Tuscany as an example of how learning from the project can be connected to regional policy development. The example demonstrated how the policy improvement process can start from a specific challenge or opportunity and develop through engagement with relevant stakeholders, research and learning from experiences in other regions.

This is an important step as the project moves forward: the value of transnational cooperation ultimately lies in how the knowledge gained can support improvements in regional policies and practices.

Building capacity within regions

The meeting also provided an opportunity for partners to exchange experiences on the use of the QUEEN Capacity Building modules.

While the detailed experiences and outcomes of this work will be explored separately, the discussion highlighted the different ways in which partners are using the resources within their organisations and with regional stakeholders. Across the partnership, the activities are helping to create opportunities for reflection and discussion around topics such as work-based learning, stakeholder cooperation, mentoring, skills and the role of different actors within regional ecosystems.

The experiences also demonstrate the importance of adapting transnational project resources to the specific needs and priorities of each region. Rather than applying a single approach, partners are using the materials as a basis for discussion and further engagement with colleagues and stakeholders.

Looking ahead to Cork

The partners also continued preparations for the fourth QUEEN project meeting, which will take place in Cork on 4-5 November 2026.

The meeting will offer another opportunity for partners to learn from the host region, exchange experiences and further explore the development of work-based learning and apprenticeship systems. Study visits and discussions with regional stakeholders will contribute to the project’s ongoing peer-learning process.

The Cork meeting will also provide an important moment for partners to take stock of the work carried out during the first half of the project and consider how the different strands of cooperation can come together during the remaining project period.

Strengthening the European dimension of regional learning

As QUEEN enters its next semester, the partnership is moving from identifying and exploring experiences towards deepening the transfer of knowledge and translating learning into policy development.

The Good Practice exchanges, stakeholder engagement, Capacity Building activities and policy improvement work are interconnected elements of this process. Together, they provide regions with opportunities to learn from one another, test new ideas, strengthen their networks and consider how approaches developed elsewhere could respond to their own challenges.

For EARLALL and the QUEEN partnership, this continued exchange between regions is at the heart of European cooperation: bringing together

How can regions prepare people and skills systems for the green and digital transitions?

This was the challenge at the heart of SKYLA – Smart Specialisation Skills Ecosystems for the Twin Transition. Over the course of the project, partners from across Europe worked together to explore how regional skills ecosystems can become more responsive to changing economic, technological and societal needs.

The new SKYLA final video brings this journey together — from the challenges that brought partners together, through interregional learning and exchange, to the concrete actions and policy improvements that emerged from the project.

From learning to action

SKYLA was built around a simple idea: learning from other regions is most valuable when it can lead to action at home.

Through policy needs analysis, peer exchange, study visits and the transfer of Good Practices, partners explored approaches that could be adapted to their own regional contexts.

The video highlights how this learning translated into concrete examples of cooperation and policy development.

For example, Fingal and Sofia explored participatory feedback approaches, while partners from Poland and Lithuania exchanged experience around VET and apprenticeships. Learning from several SKYLA regions also contributed to work on apprenticeship promotion in Tuscany and the development of Fingal’s new Skills Strategy.

These examples show that interregional cooperation can go beyond sharing experiences. It can help regions adapt ideas, strengthen policies and put new approaches into practice.

Building stronger regional skills ecosystems

Policy improvements do not happen in isolation.

Throughout the project, SKYLA brought together different actors within regional ecosystems — including public authorities, education and training providers, businesses and young people.

By creating opportunities to learn from one another and work across institutional and geographical boundaries, the project helped partners develop a broader understanding of the skills challenges linked to the green and digital transitions.

The result is not one single solution, but a stronger capacity to identify needs, learn from others and adapt solutions to regional realities.

One project. Many regions. Shared learning.

The final SKYLA video also celebrates the people behind the project.

Behind every policy discussion, study visit, workshop and Good Practice exchange are people willing to share their experience, ask questions and look at familiar challenges from a different perspective.

This spirit of cooperation is at the heart of SKYLA.

The project demonstrates the value of interregional learning as a pathway to policy improvement — connecting regional experiences and turning them into knowledge that can be adapted and used elsewhere.

Looking ahead: the SKYLA legacy continues

As SKYLA comes to an end, its impact does not stop with the project. The relationships built, practices explored, lessons learned and policy improvements initiated provide a foundation for continued cooperation and the further development of regional skills ecosystems.

The next step in this journey will be the final SKYLA event, “Future Skills for the Twin Transition”, which will bring together the main results and lessons from the SKYLA policy learning process and explore what they mean for the future of skills ecosystems supporting Europe’s green and digital transformation.

The SKYLA journey may be coming to an end, but the conversation about future skills continues.

EARLALL has joined European organisations through the Erasmus+ Coalition in highlighting the importance of ensuring a strong Erasmus+ programme in the next EU long-term budget. As negotiations on the next Multiannual Financial Framework progress, the Coalition is calling for Erasmus+ to receive at least €47.4 billion, irrespective of how the future EU budget is ultimately structured. This level of funding would provide the basis for maintaining the programme’s current level of activities and continuing to broaden its reach.

The discussion comes at an important moment for Erasmus+, which will celebrate its 40th anniversary in 2027. The €47.4 billion allocation is also being advocated within the European Parliament, ahead of its final position on the 2028–2034 programme. At the same time, the evolving scope and ambitions of Erasmus+ highlight the importance of ensuring that the programme is adequately resourced to meet future needs.

From EARLALL’s perspective, the strength of Erasmus+ lies not only in the scale of its investment, but also in its ability to reach people and regions across Europe. A future programme should continue to promote inclusion, cooperation and mobility while remaining responsive to the diverse realities of Europe’s regions.

A stronger regional dimension for Erasmus+

Regional and local authorities have an important role to play in the success of Erasmus+. They work closely with citizens, education and training providers, employers and local labour markets, and are therefore well placed to help translate European priorities into meaningful opportunities on the ground.

EARLALL’s position on the future of Erasmus+ highlights the value of involving regional and local authorities as strategic partners in the design, governance and implementation of the programme. Greater consideration of regional contexts can help ensure that Erasmus+ responds effectively to different skills needs and supports cooperation across diverse education and training ecosystems.

This territorial dimension is particularly relevant as regions address digitalisation, the green transition, demographic change and evolving labour-market needs. Regional cooperation can help connect education and training with these developments, while supporting lifelong learning opportunities for people at different stages of their lives.

Making Erasmus+ more inclusive and accessible

EARLALL also underlines the importance of ensuring that the opportunities offered by Erasmus+ remain accessible to a broad range of learners and organisations.

While the programme has become an important part of European cooperation in education, training and youth, some organisations and learners continue to face financial, administrative or capacity-related barriers to participation. This can be particularly relevant for smaller organisations, vocational education and training providers, adult learning organisations and learners with fewer opportunities.

The next generation of Erasmus+ could therefore benefit from continued efforts to simplify access, strengthen organisational capacity and take different regional contexts into account. Such measures would help ensure that European mobility and cooperation opportunities reach an even wider range of people and territories.

Erasmus+ also has an important contribution to make to Europe’s wider skills agenda. Through mobility and transnational cooperation, it enables learners and professionals to develop competences while allowing education and training organisations and regional authorities to exchange experience and respond to changing labour-market needs. Initiatives such as Centres of Vocational Excellence can further strengthen cooperation within regional skills ecosystems.

Investing in Erasmus+ means investing in Europe’s regions and people

EARLALL sees the future development of Erasmus+ as an opportunity to build on what has made the programme successful while adapting it to the changing needs of European citizens and regions.

Adequate resources will be essential to achieve this. The proposed €47.4 billion can be seen as an important minimum basis for maintaining the programme’s current activities, while its future ambitions may require continued consideration of its resources and scope.

At a time when Europe is seeking to strengthen skills, competitiveness, social inclusion and resilience, Erasmus+ remains an important instrument for bringing European cooperation closer to citizens and communities.

For EARLALL, a strong Erasmus+ contributes to stronger skills, more connected regions and a more resilient Europe.

As discussions on the next EU long-term budget continue, EARLALL will continue to support a well-resourced, inclusive and regionally responsive Erasmus+ programme that can contribute to lifelong learning and cooperation across Europe.

Read the full joint statement here.

On 2 October, EARLALL’s working groups met online to reflect on emerging priorities for the 2027 programme period and explore opportunities for stronger cooperation across the network.

Representatives from EARLALL’s different working groups came together to exchange perspectives, share developments and look ahead to the activities and opportunities that will shape the next programme period.

The meeting brought together discussions around lifelong guidance, intergenerational fairness, mobility and internationalisation, skills and labour markets, and youth policies. While each working group has its own focus, the meeting highlighted several shared challenges and opportunities for cooperation.

Looking ahead to a changing world of work and learning

Digitalisation and artificial intelligence are increasingly influencing education, guidance, skills development, employment and youth pathways.

The joint meeting provided an opportunity to reflect on how EARLALL and its members can continue responding to these developments, while ensuring that new opportunities remain inclusive and accessible.

Other common themes included intergenerational fairness, inclusive mobility, international cooperation, and making skills more visible, relevant and transferable in changing labour markets.

A closer look at the UK’s return to Erasmus+

A particular highlight of the meeting was the contribution of Richard Tallon from the United Kingdom, who joined the working groups to share insights on the UK’s return to the Erasmus+ programme.

His contribution provided an opportunity for EARLALL members to learn more about the UK’s renewed engagement with Erasmus+ and the opportunities this can create for cooperation between UK and European organisations.

With UK participation expected to bring new opportunities for mobility, partnerships and knowledge exchange from 2027 onwards, the discussion underlined the potential to strengthen links between regions and organisations across Europe and the UK.

Richard’s participation also reinforced the value of connecting regional networks and partners as new opportunities emerge within the Erasmus+ programme.

Switzerland and Erasmus+: an update from Movetia

The UK introduction was followed by an update from Movetia, Switzerland’s national agency for exchange and mobility, on the latest developments concerning Switzerland’s participation in Erasmus+.

The update provided EARLALL members with an overview of the progress towards Swiss participation and the potential opportunities this could create for international cooperation, mobility and partnerships.

Together with the discussion on the UK’s return to Erasmus+, the Swiss update highlighted the changing landscape of European cooperation and the importance of maintaining strong links between regions and organisations across Europe.

Strengthening cooperation across generations and sectors

Another important theme was the need to strengthen cooperation across generations and policy areas.

Issues such as demographic change, intergenerational fairness, the green transition and digital inclusion are closely connected and require approaches that bring different perspectives together.

The joint working group format provided a valuable space to identify these connections and consider where future collaboration can add value.

Inclusive mobility and skills for the future

Mobility, international cooperation and skills development also featured prominently in the discussions.

EARLALL will continue to explore how mobility opportunities can become more inclusive and how regions can strengthen international cooperation and learning.

At the same time, ensuring that skills remain visible, relevant and transferable will be increasingly important as labour markets continue to evolve.

From dialogue to action

The joint meeting reaffirmed the value of bringing EARLALL’s different areas of expertise together.

Across the discussions, a common ambition emerged: to strengthen cooperation, exchange knowledge and turn shared challenges into opportunities for joint learning and action.

In the coming months, the working groups will continue developing their priorities and activities for 2027, while looking for opportunities to work together across themes and regions.

EARLALL looks forward to continuing this collaborative work and to building new opportunities for its members and partners in the next programme period.

On 29 September, EARLALL held its 20th Academy session, bringing together members to explore how demographic change is reshaping labour markets and skills needs across Europe. The session combined an international perspective from El Iza Mohamedou, Head of the OECD Centre for Skills, with a regional perspective from Joacim Waara, Region Västra Götaland.

El Iza Mohamedou provided an OECD perspective on how demographic change is reshaping skills needs and labour markets, highlighting the growing importance of inclusive lifelong learning and policies that enable people to develop and adapt their skills throughout their working lives.

Bringing the regional perspective, Joacim Waara shared insights from Region Västra Götaland, illustrating how demographic trends, labour market transformation and changing skills needs are being experienced and addressed at regional level.
Together, the two perspectives provided a starting point for an exchange among EARLALL members on common challenges and regional experiences related to demographic change, skills and lifelong learning.

The discussion highlighted how many of these challenges are shared across EARLALL regions. The session once again demonstrated the value of the EARLALL Academy as a space for bringing together international perspectives and regional experiences, fostering peer learning and exchange among members on common challenges in skills and lifelong learning.

Under the Regional Skills Partnership on Lifelong Learning Mobility, EARLALL welcomed a representative of Support Group Network Deutschland e.V. from Baden-Württemberg to Brussels on 15-16 September 2026 for a learning mobility focused on the inclusion and integration of refugees and migrants.

The mobility provided an opportunity to exchange knowledge and explore different approaches to refugee inclusion through participation in two European-level conferences addressing migration, integration and social innovation.

The first visit was to the SMART UA Final Event, “Creating pathways to inclusion: housing and employment for Ukrainian refugees in Hungary, Romania and Slovakia,” held in Brussels on 15 September 2026. The conference presented evidence and practices from Hungary, Romania and Slovakia, addressing housing and labour-market barriers, multi-stakeholder approaches to integration, the use of data for targeted support, and advocacy for improved access to fair housing and employment. The programme also brought the perspective of a Ukrainian refugee project participant into the discussion and concluded with reflections on next steps and personal commitments.

The mobility continued with the WISE Final Conference, where Mosab Tato, Co-founder and Managing Director of Support Group Network Deutschland e.V., contributed directly as a speaker in the Policy and Scale-up Panel. Bringing the perspective of a refugee-led organisation, he joined representatives from European institutions, academia, civil society and local social services to discuss how successful social innovation can move beyond individual projects and become embedded in sustainable policies, partnerships and services.

The discussion explored the roles of European funding, local and regional authorities, civil society and refugee-led organisations in scaling up effective approaches. Particular attention was given to sustainable funding, cooperation across levels of governance, knowledge transfer and the capacity of refugee-led organisations to build trust and reach communities that may be less connected to mainstream services.

By combining participation in two conferences with direct contribution to a European policy discussion, the mobility offered an opportunity for peer learning, networking and exchange between regional, European and refugee-led perspectives. It also demonstrated how mobility within the Regional Skills Partnership can connect EARLALL members and their regional stakeholders with relevant European initiatives and discussions, while bringing regional experience into the wider policy debate.

As Advisory and Communication Partner of the LeadEx Interreg Europe project, EARLALL joined partners for the 10th Coordination Meeting on 11 September 2026, supporting preparations for the next stage of interregional learning and coordinating communication activities for the closing of the project’s third semester.

The online meeting brought the LeadEx partnership back together after the summer break to review ongoing activities and prepare for the upcoming Study Visit to Montenegro, taking place from 5 to 8 October 2026 in Budva and Kotor..

Preparing for interregional learning in Montenegro

The upcoming Study Visit will focus on inclusion, diversity and innovation in education, bringing together LeadEx partners and education stakeholders for institutional visits, workshops, presentations and peer-learning activities.

The programme will take participants to a secondary vocational school in Budva, the Faculty of Maritime Studies and a maritime high school in Kotor, as well as the Academy of Knowledge. Discussions throughout the visit will address topics including digital education, quality assurance and inclusive education.

A central element will be the presentation of Good Practices from LeadEx partner regions. Each partner will bring an example related to inclusion, diversity and excellence in education, creating an opportunity to compare approaches and consider how successful practices could be transferred or adapted to different regional contexts.

EARLALL will also contribute directly to the programme in Montenegro with a session dedicated to European tools for inclusive excellence, connecting the experiences emerging from LeadEx with the wider European education and training landscape.

Continuing the LeadEx learning journey

The meeting also looked beyond Montenegro to the next stage of the project. Partners agreed that the following LeadEx Study Visit will be hosted by Denmark from 20 to 22 April 2027, allowing preparations for the next interregional exchange to begin well in advance.

For EARLALL, the months ahead will combine communication, knowledge sharing and advisory support, helping partners turn the lessons emerging from LeadEx into experiences that can be shared across regions and connected with wider European discussions.

Read more here https://www.interregeurope.eu/leadex/news-and-events/news