Project KSV/801 – “EU Support to Vocational Education and Training (VET), Professional Requalification and Occupation” (ESVET PRO) is fully funded by the European Union (EU) Office in Kosovo and implemented by the Luxembourg Development Cooperation Agency-LuxDev. The Project has been formulated following the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA) II guidelines. In addition, it aligns with other national documents and strategies such as Kosovo’s National Development Strategy, Kosovo European Reform Agenda, and the Kosovo Education Strategic Plan 2017-2021. The primary focus of the Project is to improve the structure and performance of the Vocational Education and Training (VET) system and VET delivery in Kosovo, as well as promote inclusive and quality education and lifelong learning for all, in line with Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG4).
The Project aims to have an impact in the VET sector at a national level and at improving the overall institutional and financial sustainability of the sector. While the development of capacities remains the main focus, several activities will assist the Ministry of Education, Science, Technology and Innovation (MESTI) in reviewing the current legal framework, governing the VET sector and financial structure in view of modernising the national VET system.
The Project promotes the implementation of best practices in terms of qualification sets development (Occupational Standards, Curricula and Teaching and Learning Materials), school management, financial monitoring and budgeting, quality assurance and monitoring and evaluation (M&E), life-long learning (LLL) services, career guidance (CG), as well as alignment with the labour market, already adopted by MESTI in selected VET institutions which are tasked to perform the national VET reform. With this respect, the sustainability of the VET sector in general and the VET institutions supported by the Project, in particular, will always be a major focus of the Project.
The project also concentrates and integrates its effort in some of the most important components of the ongoing reform, providing support at local and at the central level, addressing all the stakeholders of the VET system, from governmental institutions to the civil society, including the private sector, families, students and adults.
The overall objective of the Project is:
To contribute to the development of a quality-based, all-inclusive and accountable education and training system, in line with the best international practices.
The specific objective of the Project is:
To improve the quality and the labour market relevance of education and training programmes to facilitate transition from school to work of VET students and to enhance employability of VET graduates.
The Project’s expected results are as follows:
- planning and provision of vocational education is responsive to the needs of learners and employers in selected vocational schools;
- graduate tracking system is in place in initial and continuous VET to ensure consistent evidence on graduate employability and skills relevance to labour market needs;
- arrangements and provision of RPL at Kosovo level are in place and operational in the most needed economic sectors/occupations as a form of enhancement of employability and of lifelong learning opportunities for adult learners.
Structural Framework of the Project (Result Chain)
The Project foresees inter alia:
- the support for the development of administrative instructions and secondary legislation for the implementation of services related to TS and RPL;
- the implementation of the new integrated modular curricula with theory and practice, as well as new TLMs based on OS constantly updated in close cooperation with the relevant employers and sector stakeholders. These can be used not only in the three supported VET schools, but also in all schools which offer the same profiles or are interested in adopting them;
- increasing the overall teaching capacity of the selected VET schools, taking into consideration the option of establishing e-learning and e-assessment practices, tools and technologies that can be again further replicated at national level;
- the support to the establishment of a more active cooperation of VET schools with the private sector and public companies and the formalising of an agreement aiming at a sustainable updating of the VET offer;
- the development of income generation opportunities, the strengthening of management efficiency, the reduction of the costs of the schools and the creation of consistent job opportunities for the students;
- the provision of a more detailed list of tasks and responsibilities in the job descriptions of the VET school managers and the promotion of more efficient rules, mechanisms and structures for accountability and quality assurance;
- the development of a TS digital tool, that will be integrated in the national CG information system, as well as the development and implementation of services for the tracking of students and graduates fully integrated in the national CG model and labour market information system;
- the implementation of a new VET schools’ business model, previously developed with the support of the projects KSV/015 and KSV/020 of the Kosovo-Luxembourg Cooperation.
Benefitting from the capitalised knowledge and the lessons learned during the implementation of KSV/015 and KSV/020 the Project will promote the replication of good practices in the supported VET schools, the implementation of the BMO, the new costing mechanism and financial monitoring tools.