Philipp Gonon is Professor of Vocational Education and Training at the Zurich University, where he teaches vocational pedagogy, history and theory of (vocational) education at the graduate and undergraduate level. From 1986 until 1992 he was research assistant and lecturer at the Institute of Pedagogy of the University of Bern. From 1999 until 2004, he served as a Full University Professor of Vocational Further Education at the University of Trier in Germany. Since 2015 he is director of the Institute of Education.

Manfred Polzin works as Senior Policy Advisor on International Affairs at the MBO Raad, the Association for VET Colleges in the Netherlands and since 2008 also for EUproVET, a representational Platform for Associations of European VET Providers.

Manfred has more than 20 years experience in international project management, always in the field of Vocational Education and Training.

Next to a strong involvement in several European programs, like Equal, Leonardo da Vinci and Erasmus+ he initiated and coordinated projects in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Romania and China about restructuring and modernizing VET.

Although the topics of his involvement were multifarious, the problem of youth at risk and the inclusion issue in general were often addressed in the various projects.

In 2006 Manfred acted as external advisor for the Commission on the issue of ‘Making best use of resources; Equity and Efficiency in education’.

Furthermore Manfred Polzin led several study visits to other countries and is regularly asked as a speaker on international conferences. He speaks fluently English, French, German and Dutch and has a great passion for European cooperation.