Initiators and promoters, State services and administrations, Municipalities, University of Luxembourg, Professional chambers' training bodies, Trade union stakeholders, Research centres, Associations and foundations, Sector-specific training bodies, Private training bodies, Companies.
There are currently several types of stakeholders involved in Luxembourg's lifelong learning spectrum.
The State plays a very active role in continuing training provision as a whole. It acts in particular to enhance legislation in this area, to co-fund company investment and to facilitate the governance of the system.
The employers' professional chambers, i.e. the Chamber of Commerce (Chambre de Commerce), Chamber of Trades (Chambre des Métiers) and the Chamber of Agriculture (Chambre d'Agriculture) - and the employees' professional chambers i.e. the Chamber of Civil Servants and Public Employees (Chambre des Fonctionnaires et Employés publics) and the Chamber of Employees (Chambre des Salariés) - are also involved in shaping educational and vocational training policy through the recommendations they make.
The fundamental mission of the INFPC, a public institution under the supervision of the Ministry of Education, Children and Youth (Ministère de l’Éducation nationale, de l'Enfance et de la Jeunesse), is to promote lifelong learning within an economic network, and to unite all of the social and economic stakeholders around the common purpose of developing continuing training.
The Department of Adult Education (Service de la formation des adultes) is responsible for:
The Department of Vocational Training (Service de la formation professionnelle) is tasked with:
As part of adult education and in order to promote the Luxembourgish language and multilingualism, facilitate integration and social cohesion, intercultural exchange and contribute to people's employability, the tasks of the INLL include:
The Institute acts as the national authority for learning, teaching, andragogy and certification of the Luxembourgish language. The INLL is under the authority of the Ministry of Education, Children and Youth.
The CNFPC is a state institution that falls directly under the authority of the Vocational Training Department (Service de la formation professionnelle) and the Ministry of Education, Children and Youth (MENJE).
Its purpose is to offer training programmes to anyone who wants to undertake training, whether they are employees, job seekers, members of the general public or young adults.
The CNFPC's training courses are varied and cover several areas:
The Employment agency (Agence pour le développement de l'emploi - ADEM), under the supervision of the Ministry of Labour, plays a key role on the Luxembourg labour market, facilitating contact between job seekers and employers, while offering advice, training, integration and professional reintegration services.
It has wide ranging missions in the field of training including:
Municipalities are taking an increasingly active role in the development of continuing training for citizens.
They offer courses in many areas including:
Over the last few years, new initiatives have sprung up that aim to pool the training supply offered by municipal administrations grouped together in a network.
These initiatives are implemented through, among other things, the availability of websites such as www.landakademie.lu, which offers a wide range of training for the "Éislek-Attert" region.
University training
University of Luxembourg's main objectives are:
University diplomas can be obtained through continuing training.
Professional chambers are strongly involved in upskilling.
They are constantly increasing their training activity, and for a number of years have all had facilities dedicated specifically to training.
Every year, the Chamber of Trades (Chambre des Métiers) offers a programme of courses and seminars aimed both at company managers and their employees.
This training provision includes management courses adapted to the specific needs of small and medium-sized companies, courses to study towards the Master Craftsmanship as well as specific technical courses. The latter are reserved exclusively for companies in the crafts sector that are registered with the Chamber of Trades.
With regard to initial training, the Chamber of Commerce (Chambre de Commerce) is committed to improving the quality of secondary education and in particular the vocational education. It proposes curricula for general secondary education and is also actively involved in organising the apprenticeship, in particular by identifying potentially-relevant professions, developing programmes, providing general supervision and defining the operating methods.
The Chamber of Commerce is the co-founder of the House of Training, the reference partner for continuing vocational training for the Luxembourg economy. By bringing together the continuing vocational training offers from the LSC and the IFBL (the training bodies of the Chamber of Commerce and the Luxembourg Bankers’ Association respectively) under one umbrella, the House of Training offers a very wide range of training courses tailored to the needs of companies, employees and the employment market.
With regard to university training, in addition to its partnership with the University of Luxembourg, the Chamber of Commerce has joined forces with the Chamber of Trades to create the ISEC-HdW higher-education institute of economics (Institut supérieur de l'Économie – Hochschule der Wirtschaft), which opened its doors in September 2016 and which aims to promote a complete value chain for continuing vocational training by creating a “professionalising” tertiary training course. The ISEC offers higher education courses that lead to certification or a diploma. According to the Bologna nomenclature, the diplomas are delivered at a Bachelor's or Master's degree level. The courses can be followed as a work-study programme, but since the educational scheme is practice-oriented, it also provides for placements and apprenticeships in companies that enable students to obtain ECTS credits.
The Chamber of Employees' LLLC offers evening courses, seminars and specialist training together with university training, in association with Luxembourgish and foreign partners.
The LLLC also allows anyone that can provide proof of significant professional and/or non-professional experience to obtain one or several diplomas from its "Evening Classes" programme (including Computer Science and Office Automation Equipment, Accounting and Budgetary Control, Law, Marketing Actions, Social Skills, Economics and Management) without having to attend a course or sit examinations.
The EST is a training institute that is under the authority of a tripartite board of directors, and under the supervision of the Minister of Labour.
The Higher School for Labour (École supérieure du travail - EST) is the labour institution whose task is to organise free training for staff representatives. These courses are specially designed to meet the needs of this role of intermediary between employees and employers within the company.
The content of the courses is continually adapted to changes in the world of work and current socio-economic issues. From a practical point of view, the organisation of the training courses takes into account the professional requirements of the staff representatives, such as working hours.
The LIH, the Luxembourg Institute of Health, is responsible for the transfer of knowledge gained during research activities through high-level placements. These placements are aimed at young academics wishing to refine their academic knowledge, and at executives with some professional experience who wish to develop in their field or retrain in new professional fields.
The Luxembourg Institute of Health (LIH) is a public research body dealing with biomedicine. Striving for excellence, its researchers generate knowledge, through their creativity, enthusiasm and commitment, about disease mechanisms and contribute to the development of new diagnostics, innovative treatments and clinical applications that affect the health of Luxembourg and European citizens. The activities of the LIH are developed around the following research areas: oncology, infectious and auto-immune diseases and public health.
At the forefront of biomedical sciences, the LIH is deeply involved in implementing national and international research programs in personalised medicine. It acts as a catalyst to promote research collaborations with health care providers, hospitals and other public and private biomedical organisations. In order to create economic and social value, it sets out to transfer its scientific discoveries and technological developments. As the leading provider of public health information in Luxembourg, it also allows public authorities to take decisions based on scientific findings and to communicate validated data to international institutions.
The LIH hosts a large number of trainees, Masters and doctoral students affiliated with the University of Luxembourg or partner universities abroad, as well as postdoctoral researchers wishing to specialise in a particular field of research. These young scientists at the beginning of their careers benefit from modern infrastructure, equipment at the cutting edge of technology and a stimulating work environment, guaranteeing high quality coaching and training for research.
The LIH offers a series of training courses, the "Training and Workshops", which enable scientific and transversal skills to be acquired. They are primarily intended for PhD students and young researchers of the university (UL) or the research centres established in Luxembourg.
Private associations and foundations are also stakeholders as regards continuing training.
A non-exhaustive list of not-for-profit associations and foundations can be accessed via the search engine on the lifelong-learning.lu portal, as well as through the directory of training providers published by the INFPC.
Not-for-profit associations and foundations whose head office is located in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg must be approved in order to carry out training activities.
Further information on practising in Luxembourg.
There are currently several sector-specific providers that are involved in delivering continuing vocational training.
The main objective of the IFSB, the Institute for Training in the Construction Industry is to implement a sector-specific construction training system for all categories of employees. The IFSB is an initiative created by the Federation of Construction and Civil Engineering Companies (Fédération des entreprises de construction et de génie civil), and the Grouping of Building and Public Works Entrepreneurs (Groupement des entrepreneurs du bâtiment et des travaux publics).
With its Training centre in Bettembourg, the Institute intends to market itself as the skills centre for sustainable construction in Luxembourg.
Set up in 2002 by the Luxembourg Hospital Federation and the trade unions, the DeWidong training centre aims at promoting continuing training in the healthcare sector. The training programme covers technical and specific aspects for healthcare professionals, as well as personal development, health and safety at work and resuscitation.
DeWidong is also an ERC training centre offering cardiopulmonary resuscitation courses at all levels, from premature babies to adults, ranging from basic to advanced courses.
DeWidong has 8 training rooms, including 4 spaces dedicated to simulation for workshops focused on procedures and human factors. These training courses contribute to improving the skills of healthcare professionals in Luxembourg.
Building on its strong ties with the hospital sector, which are reflected by the involvement of a large number of freelance healthcare professionals as trainers, DeWidong also offers fully customised training courses.
The mission of the INAP, the National Institute of Public Administration (Institut national d'administration publique), placed under the authority of the minister responsible for the civil service, is to promote the vocational training of employees of the State, public State institutions, municipalities, municipal unions and municipal public institutions.
The INAP is also responsible for organising the assessment of knowledge of the three administrative languages in the context of the admission of candidates to work for the State and municipalities and offers services in the field of continuing vocational training for other public institutions.
Private providers play an important role as stakeholders in continuing vocational training.
They may include:
A non-exhaustive list of training providers can be accessed via the search engine on the lifelong-learning.lu portal, as well as through the directory of training providers.
Private training providers whose head office is located in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg must be approved in order to carry out training activities.
Companies are key stakeholders of continuing vocational training. The on-going development of workforce skills constitutes a strategic challenge which they address with their annual training plan.
It is at the heart of the business that the true value of training is being fully realised and where knowledge gained is gradually turned into skills.
Companies also fall within the scope of legislation that aims to support and develop continuing vocational training. This measure enables companies to seek financial support for their training investment.
More information about support for company training.
