European Commission approves Azores' application for Vocational Centre of Excellence - Communication

Secretaria Regional da Juventude, Habitação e Emprego

The Azores' application to become a Vocational Centre of Excellence in an international consortium, led by ISCTE-University Institute of Lisbon, has just been approved by the European Commission, the Regional Secretary for Youth, Housing and Employment, Maria João Carreiro, announced today. The consortium includes 15 partners from four island territories - the Azores, the Western Region (Ireland), the Aegean Islands (Greece) and Sicily (Italy). 

This European project, designated as OVER-SEES, will enable the development of activities to train highly skilled young people and adults in strategic areas - sustainable agriculture, rural tourism, renewable energies and digitisation. The aim is to accelerate economic activities in these areas as well as create quality jobs and career opportunities.

The announcement was made today by the Regional Secretary at a press conference at Terinov, in Angra do Heroísmo, attended by the Regional Director for Vocational Training and Employment and Employment, Renato Medeiros, and CIS-ISCTE researcher and OVER-SEES coordinator, Francisco Simões.

"The approval of OVER-SEES is excellent news for the Region, as it aims to promote excellence in vocational education and training," stated Maria João Carreiro.

Under this project, innovative curricula will be developed for the initial training of young people, the retraining of adults and the training of technicians, such as instructors. It also provides tools and actions to promote interaction between training organisations and the private sector in the creation of curricula and the definition of training programmes for promising economic areas.

OVER-SEES is funded by the Erasmus+ programme and will run for 48 months.

The decision made by the Regional Government, through the Regional Secretariat for Youth, Housing and Employment, to include the Region in this international consortium is underpinned by the Regional Agenda for Vocational Training - Enhancing the Azoreans. The creation of a collaborative ecosystem in Vocational Education and Training is the main action of Axis 1 of this Regional Agenda published in 2022 to strengthen Vocational Education and Training in the Azores.

"We should face this challenge as an opportunity to build and consolidate the foundations for a more prosperous region that has the qualification, skills and talent of the Azoreans as its greatest asset. It will meet the needs of an innovative, inclusive and sustainable economy and accelerate the digital and ecological transitions," stressed Maria João Carreiro.

Along with other regions in the consortium, the Azores will participate in all phases of the project, from design to evaluation of results, taking the lead in key areas of OVER-SEES, such as the creation of innovative curricula in the area of sustainable agriculture, the development of an integrated governance model and the implementation of a digital platform for the dissemination of good practices.

The Portuguese organisations taking part in OVER-SEES include, in addition to the Regional Directorate for Vocational Training and Employment, which is also a project beneficiary, TERINOV, the Praia da Vitória Vocational School and the Fruter Cooperative.  A network of associated partners will be created to actively participate and collaborate in the implementation of the project.

The OVER-SEES project officially kicks off on March 1 this year. The first public event is scheduled for May 28 in Ponta Delgada at a seminar with all the partners from all the regions that make up the consortium. The event is open to all entities linked to the vocational training ecosystem.

The seminar will include a presentation of the first initiatives to be developed with the network of associated partners.