European Skills & VET Week 2026: a year-long campaign for vocational skills

In 2026, the European Skills & VET Week is a year-long campaign. It was launched on 2 June 2026 at the 20th Cedefop Brussels Seminar, organised together with the Cypriot Presidency of the Council of the EU.

The campaign is pan-European and bottom-up. It brings together policymakers, social partners, public authorities and education and training providers, and links what employers need, what training providers offer, what workers experience and what policymakers plan — from education to the labour market. Its goal is to turn policy into action and to show practices that can inform future policy.

“Adult learning and vocational education and training are strategic assets in responding to these challenges.”— Juergen Siebel, Executive Director of Cedefop

He referred to technological change, demographic change, the climate crisis, productivity gaps and skills and labour shortages. Georgi Dimitrov, from the cabinet of Executive Vice-President Roxana Mînzatu, called the Week “a valuable opportunity to raise awareness and help VET achieve the recognition and importance it deserves.” For the Cypriot Presidency, Elias Margadjis of the Ministry of Education, Sport and Youth stressed human capital as a decisive factor for economic competitiveness.

Job quality and the attractiveness of VET are priorities of the Union of Skills and of the upcoming European VET strategy — and the Week is one of the ways the EU wants to put them into practice.

How to take part

Organisations can register their events free of charge and appear on the campaign’s interactive map and calendar, in Europe and in partner countries. Workshops, open days, conferences and hackathons on green and digital skills — like those X-VET is preparing — are exactly the kind of activities the Week wants to show.