The impact of COVID-19 on apprenticeships: the role of regions and cities
The webinar was held on 29 September. The online event was organized by the European Commission - European Alliance for Apprenticeships (EAfA) and the Committee of the Regions (CoR).
Among the speakers, the Mayor of the Metropolitan City of Rome, Virginia Raggi, as representative of European metropolitan cities.
The COVID-19 pandemic has had an enormous impact on vocational education and training, with work-based learning and apprenticeship perhaps most gravely affected, due to their focus on practical training and direct links to the workplace.
As a concrete policy, the metropolitan city of Rome initiated the Network Cities for Apprenticeships network and will make the hiring of apprentices a social criterion in public procurement processes at metropolitan level. The ultimate aim is to facilitate and smoothen the transition into the labour market for young people and to boost economic recovery.
Ms Raggi’s intervention further emphasised the urgency for a green transition and that education and training are a potential driver of an ecological transformation.