A first attempt has been made to present an overview of national VET and
HRD research across Europe, including all the new EU member states.
Drawing on country reports prepared by experts cooperating in the
Cedefop network ReferNet, a synopsis of national research has been
compiled, which is easily accessible from the grid below:

Grid <http://www.b.shuttle.de/wifo/vet-hrd/=grid.htm>

The synopsis is structured according to individual countries and to
selected aspects of national VET and HRD research, including the
following:

# Context of national VET/HRD policies 
# Context of EU policies and programmes 
# Issues and themes of VET/HRD projects 
# Major institutions involved in VET/HRD research 
# Funding frameworks of VET/HRD research 
# Professional research associations related to VET/HRD 
# Contact persons in VET/HRD research 
# References to VET/HRD research resources 

In addition, a review has been prepared for each country, highlighting
issues of current and future VET/HRD research in the national context. 

The synopsis is part of the European Research Overview (ERO), developed
by Cedefop in cooperation with the Research Forum WIFO. There are links
leading from the brief country presentations to more detailed
information provided in the ERO Base, including the original country
reports. This rich resource base, available on the website of the
European Training Village (see link below), offers information on
experts, projects and papers in VET and HRD across European countries.

ERO Base
<http://www.trainingvillage.gr/etv/projects_networks/ero/base.asp>

Drawing on the data collected for the synopsis, the European landscape
of VET and HRD research is being analysed. To start with, an
institutional analysis was carried out, with the aim of mapping HRD and
VET research across Europe (see L&W Newsletter No 2006/05). 

Outcomes of this analysis were discussed in round table sessions at both
the European HRD Conference in Tilburg (May 2006) and the European
Conference on Educational Research (ECER/ VETNET) in Geneva (September
2006). The complete proceedings of these discussions, involving 16
experts from 10 European countries, are now available online,
complemented by a PDF file combining the proceedings of both events (see
links below). 

RT Tilburg <http://www.b.shuttle.de/wifo/vet-hrd/rt-tilbg.htm>
RT Geneva <http://www.b.shuttle.de/wifo/vet-hrd/rt-genf.htm>
Two RT 2006 <http://www.b.shuttle.de/wifo/vet&hrd/2RT06.pdf>

These round table proceedings are the latest in a series of annual
conference discussions on European HRD and VET issues which have been
recorded and published by WIFO. You can find the complete set of
publications, including downloadable PDF files, on the following page:

Publication series <http://www.b.shuttle.de/wifo/pub.htm>
Flyer <http://www.b.shuttle.de/wifo/WIFO-Pub1.pdf>

With best wishes
Sabine Manning