The Final Dissemination Conference of the Ermasus+ Project “National Authorities of Apprenticeship: Companies as Sustainable Partners for Apprenticeship in Greece and Cyprus” (NAAGRCY) was held on 17 February 2017, at the CEDEFOP premises in Thessaloniki (Pylea), Greece.

The Conference was opened by the Head of Department for VET Systems and Institutions, CEDEFOP, Loukas Zahilas, by the Department for Learning and Employability, CEDEFOP, Ramona Carmen David Craescu and the Deputy Head of Unit E3, VET, Apprenticeship and Adult Learning, DG EMPL, European Commission, Joao Santos.

Addresses were delivered by the Vice President of the Institute of Educational Policy (IEP), Greece, Paulos Haramis; the President of the General Confederation of Professionals, Craftsmen and Traders of Greece (GSEVEE) Georgios Kavathas;  the Director of the Technical-Vocational Education Department of the Greek Ministry of Education, Research and Religious Affairs, Georgios Moustakas; and the Inspector of Secondary Technical and Vocational Education, on behalf of the Cypriot Ministry of Education and Culture, Soula Papadia.

In the main section of the Conference, the NAAGRCY Project Manager and Director of International Relations of the Greek Public Employment Service (OAED) Athanasia Theodoridou, presented the content, overall development and outcomes of the project, while the representing the German Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (ΒΙΒΒ) Isabelle Le Mouillour, focused on the development of the in-company Apprenticeship procedure. Subsequently, the Responsible for IME GSEVEE European Projects, Vassilis Siomadis, discussed the characteristics of the specific entrepreneurial environment in Greece, while the Cypriot entrepreneurial environment was presented by the Officer of the Department of Education and European Programs, Cyprus Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI) Monica Andreou.

Representing the Labour Institute of the General Confederation of Greek Workers (INE GSEE), Ira Papageorgiou and Natasha Betziou focused their presentation on the specific labour environment in Greece. On behalf of IEP, Maria Nika (Consultant C), developed the topic of the training of in-company trainers. On behalf of IME GSEVEE, Gerasimos Karoulas, referred to the establishment of Intermediary Apprenticeship Networks. The representatives of the OAED Apprenticeship Vocational Schools (EPAS) of Moschato (Attica) and Argolis, Nikos Poulakos and Ioanna Koloriza presented the outcomes of the piloting of the NAAGRCY project in Greece. The piloting of the project in Cyprus was then discussed by Andreas Polydorou, Senior Instructor of the Cyprus Productivity Centre (CPC).
The section of presentations was closed by the NAAGRCY Project external evaluator, Dimitris Lemonakis, on behalf of KEDROS SA.
Finally, the NAAGRCY Project Manager, Athanasia Theodoridou, presented the conclusions of the Final Dissemination Conference.