The Trøndelag European Office (TEO) represents the Trøndelag region in Brussels, supporting regional stakeholders in engaging with European policies, programmes, and partnerships. The office strengthens regional development by connecting its members with European knowledge, funding opportunities, and networks.
A strong regional ecosystem for skills and lifelong learning
Trøndelag is one of Norway’s leading knowledge regions, characterised by close cooperation between public authorities, education providers, research environments, and industry. Competence development and lifelong learning are key priorities, embedded in strategies for sustainable growth, innovation, and inclusion.
The region works systematically to align education and training with labour market needs, with a strong emphasis on vocational education and training (VET), higher education, and continuous upskilling and reskilling. Internationalisation is central, with extensive participation in programmes such as Erasmus+.
At the same time, Trøndelag faces challenges related to skills mismatches driven by technological change and the green transition, as well as ensuring equal access to education across a geographically dispersed region. Increasing participation in lifelong learning —particularly among adults, SMEs, and in rural areas — is a key priority.
Key actors in competence development
TEO represents several members actively working with competence development and lifelong learning, including:
- Trøndelag County Authority – responsible for upper secondary education, vocational training, and regional skills strategies
- Trondheim Municipality – working with skills development and innovation in public services
- The County Governor of Trøndelag – contributing to coordination, governance, and implementation of national policies related to education, inclusion, and regional development
- Nord University – providing higher education and flexible learning pathways
- Namdal Regional Council – supporting regional competence needs, particularly in rural areas
Commitment to European Cooperation
Through its membership in EARLALL, TEO strengthens its engagement in European cooperation on lifelong learning and skills development. The network provides a platform for collaboration with other regions facing similar challenges, particularly related to skills mismatches, inclusion, and the green and digital transitions.
Participation in EARLALL supports Trøndelag’s ongoing work to develop more flexible learning pathways, strengthen cooperation between education and working life, and enhance the quality and relevance of competence development across the region.
Hamar Region is an established inter-municipal cooperation consisting of the municipalities of Hamar, Løten, Ringsaker and Stange in Innlandet County. Hamar Region works closely with Innlandet County Municipality, governed by a partnership agreement. The work of the Hamar Region focuses on the regional development of society in the area. A strategy has been developed in which the key priority areas are education, competence, business development, and population and employment growth – areas where regional cooperation is considered to offer the greatest potential for progress.
JCMM (the South Moravian Center for International Mobility) is a specialized non-profit interest association of legal entities (4 universities and the Office of the Region) in the South Moravian Region. We provide our services both to pupils, students and their parents, as well to teachers and school principals. We strive for smart and skilled people to work on the future of South Moravia. And that is not possible without quality education. At JCMM, we make sure that people who have the potential to move our world forward and make it a better place to live for all of us can fully develop their abilities. We provide various services for residents of the region, from primary schools to retirement age such as career counseling and lifelong learning, science and talent support.
Camilla Winter AB is an Educational Consultancy Organisation founded in April 2022 in Borås, Region Västra Götaland (Sweden). Camilla Winter AB aims to provide counselling and support, EU training courses and workshops.
The founder, Camilla Winter has many years of experience as an International Coordinator on a municipal and sub-regional level. Furthermore, she is an external expert for the Swedish NA for Erasmus+. In her capacity, she is an external evaluator, a member of the National Erasmus+ VET team (former ECVET team). What’s more, Ms Winter has been cooperating with EARLALL since 2018 and she has been a key advisor to design our network activities and vision.
Camilla Winter and Lifelong Learning
Camilla Winter AB is a consultancy based in Borås, Region Västra Götaland, Sweden. Their priorities for lifelong learning include capacity building concerning a lack of skills and knowledge; knowledge about Erasmus+; skills in writing a competitive proposal; knowledge about European tools like the EQF, SELFIE, e-twinning, EPALE etc.
The municipality of Borås (City of Borås)’s Working Life Department, Department for Adult Education are an associate member at EARLALL. They are part of the Working Groups: Ageing Population and Lifelong Guidance and Skills and Labour Market.
The City of Borås is located in the Västra Götaland region, in the western part of Sweden. With 113,000 inhabitants, Borås is the thirteenth largest city in Sweden.
Borås is part of a regional cooperation with seven municipalities in the surrounding area in the field of VET. Vuxenutbildningen Borås (Adult Education Borås) is the municipal adult education service for employed or unemployed people who need to develop their competences or who would like to undertake a career change. The organisation counts on about 5,500 students and 200 employees. Students have the opportunity to study full-time, part-time or via distance leaning, depending on their course choice.
The City of Borås has a special interest in upskilling and reskilling pathways for employees and the unemployed, and supports the collaboration between VET providers and companies. Adult Education Borås offers programs in specific fields where there is an explicit competence demand, such as textile or e-Commerce.
Main economic activities of the region: Logistics, Technology (digital solutions and services), Textile design, development, fashion and import; Creative businesses; Science park and innovation; Borås College University
Borås and Lifelong Learning
Two departments in Borås are involved in lifelong learning and represent the city: the Department of Adult Education which responsible for VET and the Working Life Department who works together with Department of Adult Education with NEETs and with the introduction of migrants. The city’s priorities are to work for inclusive labour markets, managing shortage of skills, providing language and professional training for migrants, including:
- Activating women, young people or NEETs in the labour market
- Projects that harness skills defined in specific contexts by representatives of labour or public authorities
- Policy initiatives where social actors shape working conditions or influence labour or social policy
- Activating young people or senior people in the labour market
Examples of projects in the municipality
DAMAS, 2021 – 2023
The DAMAS (Digital Apprentices Mobility in the Automotive Sector) project aims at testing virtual mobility in the automotive sector. In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, developing virtual mobility has proven to be a key need in the Vocational Education and Training (VET) sector. DAMAS will find an innovative solutions for the future, mostly by using digital tools. More information can be found here: https://www.earlall.eu/fostering-digital-mobility-in-vet-damas-project-kicked-off/
Get Ready in West, 2021- 2023
The project seeks to strengthen individual competencies for those who have not finished school and are unemployed to help them finish their degrees. It targets those Not in Employment Education or Training (NEETs) from 16-24 and is ran by the Department of Adult Education, Working Life Department and the National Employment Agency.
GO! organises official education in the Dutch speaking part of Belgium. It is an autonomous body of the Flemish government which functions independently of the Flemish Minister of Education. GO! Council’s main mission is to guarantee free choice of education in Flanders and the Brussels Capital Region. The GO! Council makes the main strategic choices for the future of GO!. It is supported by administrative and pedagogic services (including an in-service training department), located in Brussels. The organising power belongs to the 26 groups of schools (regional). Each group of schools manages all GO! institutions of education in a given region, consisting of a number of primary and secondary schools. GO! schools are spread all over Flanders and the Brussels-Capital region.
GO! provides education from nursery school, through compulsory school age through to adult education and including schools specialising in creative and performing arts and technical and professional education. GO! provides policy guidance, curriculum development and teacher training for its 700 schools / centres and for 35,500 members of staff serving 220,000 students in compulsory education and 109,000 in adult education.
Our mission
- To provide all children, whatever their background or status might be, with equal opportunities in education, helping them in discovering and developing their unique talents.
Education is not only about transferring knowledge or preparing for further studies or the job market. We of course want young people to acquire the necessary knowledge in an appealing way but find it equally important that they should grow into outspoken, outgoing, open-minded and critical citizens, able to find their way in today’s complex society.
In today’s world with its many aspects, beliefs, opinions, religions, ways of life it is more than ever crucial that we teach our children how to live together. To teach them that every person, whatever his or her opinion or way of life, is worthwhile and that none are superior compared to others. We firmly believe in this equal value-principle. Everyone is of course entitled to his or her own opinion but must also respect different attitudes in life in an open spirit and without condemnation.
That is why our schools must by nature be open to the world , they are not islands in their own right because the world today is anything but an island. Our schools must depict the world as it is in all its diversity. That is also why our baseline is “Samen leren samenleven” (learning all together how to live together).
Movetia is an associate member of EARLALL and is currently co-coordinating the Mobility Working Group. Movetia is the Swiss national agency for the promotion of exchanges and mobility in the education system. Be it within Switzerland, with other European countries or elsewhere in the world, Movetia encourages and supports exchange, mobility and cooperation activities in the different sectors of education, ranging from primary school through adult education to university level, as well as promoting extracurricular activities.
Movetia acts as promotion agency, funding agency, competence centre for international cooperation in education, and service centre. We fund and support exchange, mobility, and cooperation activities in the education system (from early childhood education and care to higher education) and in the extracurricular domain, both in Switzerland and abroad. We link up institutions and individuals who are already running projects and those keen to get involved.
Movetia and Lifelong Learning
Movetia’s work is anchored in the Swiss context, including in the jobs and labour market. Since 2014 Switzerland is no longer associated with Erasmus+. However, association remains objective. Movetia is the Swiss national agency for the promotion of national and international mobilities and cooperation projects. Their international activities are based on the Federal Act on International Cooperation and Mobility in Education and on the National Strategy for Exchange and Mobility of the Confederation and the Cantons.
The Swiss cantons are important players in the Swiss education system, which is based on subsidiarity. Many of them already have extensive experience with cross-border collaboration, which extends to the field of lifelong learning. In addition to working with representatives from institutions that provide education, we at Movetia thus ally with cantonal representatives. Our ambition is to support the cantons in their mobility and cooperation activities in the field of education and training in Europe and beyond.
Examples of projects
Die Lehr emit dem Plus, present
“Apprenticeship kv plus” apprentices complete two six-month work placements in a company with commercial tasks in an English-speaking and a French- or Italian speaking country. During the two work experiences abroad, they do not only develop linguistically, but also noticeably grow in other professional and soft skills. Internship abroad become a fourth place of learning. The project involved VET schools. More information is available here.