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Work programme 2012-2015

European Skills, Competences, Qualifications and Occupations (ESCO) goes live

Other relevant event Brussels, Belgium 23/10/2013 - 24/10/2013

The first version of ESCO was published on 23 October 2013. This release marks the beginning of the pilot and testing phase, including the ESCO mapping pilot.

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ESCO goes live

The conference "ESCO goes live" 23rd-24th October 2013 in Brussels, jointly organised by DG Education and Culture and DG Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion.

The conference, will officially launch ESCO, the Classification of European Skills/Competences,Qualifications and Occupations, and the ESCO Portal. It is the first time that ESCO will be publically accessible.

ESCO will serve as a common language facilitating cooperation and dialogue between education/training and labour market stakeholders. Operating in 25 European languages, ESCO offers an opportunity to further European cooperation in these policy areas. ESCO has been jointly created by European and national stakeholders and the European Commission.

Realising the full potential of ESCO will call for linking the classification with national systems. Practical applications based on ESCO will be shown to demonstrate its value. The conference offers an opportunity to discuss the value of ESCO at national level, and to exchange ideas with colleagues from more than 30 European countries.

European Skills, Competences, Qualifications and Occupations (ESCO)

ESCO is the multilingual classification of European Skills, Competences, Qualifications and Occupations. ESCO is part of the Europe 2020 strategy.

The Commission services launched the project in 2010 with an open stakeholder consultation. DG Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion – supported by the European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training Cedefop – coordinates the development of ESCO. Stakeholders are closely involved in the development and dissemination of ESCO.

The ESCO classification identifies and categorises skills, competences, qualifications and occupations relevant for the EU labour market and education and training. It systematically shows the relationships between the different concepts. ESCO has been developed in an open IT format, is available for use free of charge by everyone and can be accessed via the ESCO portal.

The first version of ESCO was published on 23 October 2013. This release marks the beginning of the pilot and testing phase, including the ESCO mapping pilot. Until end of 2016 the classification will be completely revised. The final product will be launched as ESCO v1.

Source: ESCO portal on the European Commission website

Published: 23/10/2013 - Last modified: 22/07/2016
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