WorldSkills Croatia Conference 2025 at WorldSkills General Assembly

On 14 October, as part of the WorldSkills General Assembly, the WorldSkills Croatia Conference 2025 will unite influential voices from across the skills ecosystem. Titled ‘Skills (r)evolution – Empowering the future with skills development and TVET’, discussions will have a strong global focus, yet bring Croatian perspectives and best practices into the conversation.

Guests will be welcomed by Croatia’s Minister of Labour, Pension System, Family and Social Policy, Marin Piletić, and Minister for Science, Education and Youth, Prof. dr. sc. Radovan Fuchs, as well as by the Mayor of Dubrovnik, Mato Franković, and the Director for the Agency for VET and Adult Education, Mile Živčić.

Minister Fuchs, who said he was proud to see the General Assembly feature a conference of this scale, stressed that the dialogue would be “an invaluable opportunity to share experiences, confront common challenges, and co-create solutions that will shape the future of skills development worldwide.”

An inspiring and thought-provoking keynote by Finnish futurist and author Perttu Pölönen will set the tone for the day. Under the title, ”The future of skills development and technical and vocational education in a disruptive world”, Pölönen will discuss the challenges and possibilities regarding the future of work, information technologies, education, disruption, and ethics.

Senior figures from international organizations will help frame the discussion, including Borhene Chakroun of UNESCO, Manuela Geleng of the European Commission, Andreas Schleicher of the OECD, and Olga Strietska-Ilina of the ILO. They will be joined by major industry representatives such as Dr Jiren Liu, Founder and Honorary Chairman of Neusoft, and Kristine Naltchadjian, Regional Director for Coursera. WorldSkills Champions Trust representatives Nurit Davidowicz and Narmeen Almarzooqi will bring in youth perspectives.

Throughout the day, sessions will explore the disruptive forces shaping the future of work. Nino Buic, Official Delegate of WorldSkills Croatia, explained that the Conference will look at “how TVET and skills systems can dynamically transform and evolve to meet the unprecedented challenges of our rapidly changing world.”

Underlining the importance of aligning TVET with global priorities, Buic added that sessions “will address workforce mobility in times of crisis, the transition to sustainable green and circular economies, and explore how skills development can become the driving force behind thriving innovation communities and creating opportunities that benefit everyone.”

The closing plenary will look ahead to WorldSkills Conference 2026 in Shanghai, ensuring that insights gained in Dubrovnik feed into next year’s conversation.

Learn more about WorldSkills Croatia Conference 2025, the speakers, and all the planned sessions.