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Working and ageing
60 Guidance and counselling for mature learners

3.5.3. Regional networking to support employment of older workers –
Results of the AgeQual project
Demographic development in most European countries will have profound
implications for the age structure of the working population. Increases in
working years and a later entry into retirement are probable, and they will alter
the age structure of personnel in enterprises. Enterprises will have to
implement a prospective personnel policy to maintain the skills and innovation
abilities of their employees. Through present personnel policies, future
competences of older employees can be guaranteed and can then be used
as important resources for enterprises. This implies, among others, to
preserve the employability of older employees and to encourage their
vocational qualifications during their professional careers. Usually SMEs find
it difficult to deal with these problems on their own. This problem is visible in
most European countries.
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In 2004-06, the Leonardo II AgeQual project ( ), continuing vocational
training for older employees in SMEs and development of regional support
structures, was conducted in five European countries (Moraal and Schönfeld,
2006). It focused on the low level of participation of older employees in
qualification measures, on underinvestment in human resources especially in
SMEs, and on deficits observed in regional support structures due to lack of
experience in vocational qualification of older employees. The four most
important objectives of the project were to:
(a) conduct international comparisons of employment structures, measures
and regional structures in model regions;
(b) conduct international comparative analyses of endogenous and
exogenous causes for underinvestment in, or absence of, continuing
vocational training in SMEs that participate only to a small degree, or not
at all, in continuing vocational training and in the target group of older
employees;
(c) develop instruments and measures for reducing current deficits. These
include instruments for self-evaluation that can be used in collaborative
activities with regional facilities and for developing target-group-specific
measures;
(d) develop regional support structures for vocational training of older

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( ) The AgeQual project aimed at fostering vocational training for older employees in SMEs with an
eye to stabilising employment among this group. The project also viewed fostering continuing
vocational training as a regional structural development task. Due to this, the project was conducted
in one region in each of the five participating European countries (Belgium, Denmark, Germany,
the Netherlands and Austria) (http://www.bibb.de/en/19230.htm – 17.6.2011).