Blueprint Alliances

The blueprint for sectoral cooperation on skills is one of the key initiatives of the new skills agenda for Europe.

Under the blueprint, stakeholders work together in sector-specific partnerships, also called Sectoral Skills Alliances, to develop and implement strategies to address skills gaps in these sectors. These sector-specific partnerships gather key stakeholders, including: business, trade unions, research institutions, education and training institutions, and public authorities.

The purpose of the blueprint is to address skills shortages and unemployment by:

• Gathering information for the European skills panorama.
• Developing a sector skills strategy.
• Developing occupational profiles, vocational programmes and qualifications.
• Designing a long term action plan to be rolled out at the national and regional levels.
• Promoting the use of EU tools such as:
  • The European Qualifications Framework (EQF).
  • European Skills, Competences, qualifications and Occupations (ESCO).
  • Europass.
  • The European Credit system for Vocational Education and Training (ECVET).
  • The European Quality Assurance in Vocational Education and Training (EQAVET).

The blueprint builds on previous work by the European Commission and sectoral partners to address skills gaps in sectors, in particular the European sectoral skills councils and the Erasmus+ Sector Skills Alliances.