EQUABENCH Symposium on Excellence in the VET sector

Final Conference, 16 September 2010, Brussels, Belgium

On the 16th September the final conference of the EQUABENCH project was held between the Symbolist walls of the Klimpt room in the Crown Plaza Hotel in Brussels. High level speakers contributed to the discussion about the need to improve the Vocational Education and Training sector and to share the excellent practices that are already in place in several EU Member States.

During the one day conference, the project partners had the opportunity to showcase the exchange, “import and export”, of procedure in place in their rehabilitation centres in order to implement the EFQM fundamental concepts of excellence that have been shared during the project. Representatives from the European Commission, user organisation and funding bodies gave feedback on the work done and highlighted common priorities and future pathways.

One of the main outcomes of the EQUABENCH project are the six Innovative Practices Guides on the examples shared during the workshops organised throughout the project and the event provided an excellent opportunity to present them. Maria Orejas from the European Foundation Centre was given the honour of officially launching the guides and was able to express a very positive feedback on them.

Documents library

Final edition of the EQUABENCH Innovative Practice Guides

Leadership and Constancy of Purpose

Management by Processes and Facts

People Development and Involvement

Customer Focus

Result Orientation

Continuous Learning, Innovation and Improvement

Programme of the EQUABENCH Final event

Programme

Presentations

Leonardo Da Vinci Programme– Investing in VET
Benoît Desjeux, Programme Manager Vocational training; Leonardo da Vinci, European Commission

EQUABENCH: Benchmarking Excellence in the VET Sector
Stephen Mathews, Chief Executive, the Cedar Foundation

Transfer of innovative practice: “VrijBaan and Request - Measure and enhance Empowerment”
Martin Künemund, Project Manager, Josefsheim-Bigge, Herma Veltman, Manager, Pluryn

Transfer of innovative practice: Process management system: Business Balanced Score Card
Birgit Grimbergen, Quality professional, Pluryn
Anne Woods, Deputy Head of Brain Injury Services, the Cedar Foundation
David Muldoon, Head of Accreditation, Standards & Supports, Nat ional Learning Network
Andreja Švajger, Head of Vocational Rehabilitation Centre Ljubljana, University Rehabilitation Institute, Republic of Slovenia

Users Perspectives on the Innovative Practice Guides
Aurélie Baranger, Director, Autism-Europe

EQUABENCH Project Evaluation
Mark Delmartino, project Evaluator, MDM Consultancy

Parallel Sessions on the Innovative Practice Guides and the EFQM Principles

Session 1

a) Continuous Learning, Leadership & Improvement
b) Managing by Processes & Facts

Session 2

a) People Development
b) Innovation & Constancy of Purpose

Session 3

a) Customer Focus
b) Results Orientation