Ekspats has joined EU Skills Lab as the Dutch partner in a newly approved Erasmus+ project focused on helping vocational learners develop work-ready skills through realistic digital simulations. Starting in October 2026, the 24-month project will connect education providers and employers across five European countries.
Technical knowledge alone is no longer enough to succeed in today’s workplace.
Across industries, employers look for professionals who can communicate clearly, solve problems, collaborate with others and adapt to unexpected situations. Although these transversal competences are essential for employability, they can be difficult to teach and assess through conventional classroom methods.
Introducing EU Skills Lab
EU Skills Lab – European Simulation Lab for Work-Ready Competences in VET is a 24-month Erasmus+ KA220 cooperation partnership in vocational education and training.
Beginning in October 2026, the project will bring together education providers, employers and organisations from Lithuania, Portugal, Greece, Spain and the Netherlands.
The partnership is coordinated by SMK College of Applied Sciences in Lithuania, with Ekspats participating as the project partner from the Netherlands.
The project has one clear objective: to develop a practical and performance-based approach for teaching and assessing transversal competences through realistic workplace simulations.
Why Transversal Competences Matter
Vocational education successfully equips learners with profession-specific knowledge and technical abilities. However, the transition from education to employment also requires a broader set of competences.
Employees are regularly expected to:
- respond to unfamiliar or challenging situations
- communicate with colleagues and customers
- evaluate information and make decisions
- manage competing priorities
- work effectively within a team
- adapt their approach when circumstances change
These abilities are often referred to as transversal or transferable competences because they are relevant across different professions, industries and national contexts.
Traditional tests can measure what a learner knows, but they do not always show how that learner will respond in a realistic workplace situation. EU Skills Lab will explore a more practical way of developing and observing these competences.
Learning Through Realistic Workplace Simulations in EU Skills Lab
At the centre of the project is the creation of a Digital Simulation Lab.
Real workplace situations will be transformed into short, structured digital simulations. Learners will be asked to make decisions, respond to challenges and demonstrate how they apply transversal competences within a profession-specific context.
The project will produce:
- a European Critical Incident Framework
- templates for transforming workplace situations into learning scenarios
- observation and assessment rubrics
- 12 digital workplace simulations
- practical guides for teachers and learners
- evidence and feedback collected through European pilot activities
The simulations will be designed so that vocational education providers can integrate them into existing programmes without changing their national curricula.
Teachers will therefore gain practical tools for introducing workplace scenarios into their lessons, while learners will have opportunities to practise the competences they will need before entering employment.
Connecting Education with Employer Expectations
Employer involvement will be an essential part of the project.
Workplace representatives will contribute to the development and validation of the simulations, helping ensure that each scenario reflects authentic professional situations. Teachers and employers will also evaluate whether the tools are practical, relevant and transferable across different vocational fields.
This collaborative approach will allow the project to move beyond theoretical descriptions of employability skills. Instead, the partnership will examine how learners apply those skills when faced with realistic decisions and challenges.
Ekspats’ Role in the EU Skills Lab Partnership
As the Dutch partner, Ekspats will contribute its experience in international talent, skills-based matching, digital solutions and employer engagement.
Ekspats develops Spark, its skills-first international talent matching platform, which connects qualified professionals with companies based on relevant skills, experience and work preferences.
Through its professional and business networks, Ekspats will help connect the educational dimension of the project with current labour-market expectations. Its contribution will include supporting the development of digital simulations, engaging employers in validation activities, contributing to European pilot actions and promoting the project’s results in the Netherlands.
This role closely reflects Ekspats’ broader mission: connecting international talent with meaningful opportunities through structured, transparent and skills-focused processes.
The EU Skills Lab project extends this mission to an earlier stage of the professional journey by helping learners understand, practise and demonstrate the competences that employers value.
Building More Work-Ready Learning Environments
By the end of the project, the partnership aims to provide vocational education institutions with an accessible set of tools that can be used across different countries and professional fields.
The project’s resources will be published as open educational materials, enabling organisations beyond the original partnership to explore and adopt the approach.
Through EU Skills Lab, the partners will work towards a shared goal: creating learning environments in which vocational learners do not simply acquire knowledge, but also learn how to apply it confidently in the workplace.
For Ekspats, participation in this European partnership represents an important step in strengthening the connection between education, employability and international talent development.
Further updates, project activities and resources will be shared as EU Skills Lab progresses.