Cedefop Annual Report, 2016

2016 was a year of new challenges for Cedefop. As the Agency gears up for changes in European vocational education and training (VET) policy it aims to support the European Union's ambition to transform the "New skills agenda" and the Council recommendation "Upskilling pathways: new opportunities for adults" into actions at Member State level. As well as its young people, Europe needs to recover low-skilled adults and reintegrate them into the labour market. Cedefop worked closely with the European Commission's DG Employment on these initiatives, providing the evidence and data on which they were based. 2016 was also the last year of the three medium-term priorities that have guided Cedefop's work since 2012: modernising VET systems, citizen's careers and transitions, and analysing skills and competences. Cedefop produced pioneering work in 2016 under each of these priorities to support European VET policy-making. As well as information at European level, Cedefop support to national implementation of European VET policy provided more country specific information in 2016. Following publication of reviews of apprenticeship arrangements in Lithuania and Malta in 2015, in 2016 Cedefop worked on reviews in Greece, Italy and Slovenia and was invited to conduct reviews in Croatia and Cyprus; all this was part of Cedefop's support to the European alliance for apprenticeships. Information and data in this report show Cedefop was equal to its challenges, has a clear vision and strong administrative backup; such achievements are part of the foundations for Cedefop's further development. [For the 2015 report, see ED586408.]