Activities

KulturKontakt Austria and ERI SEE organized the 5^th meeting of the Western Balkans Alliance for Work-based learning in Vienna on 10^th and 11^th July 2018 as a back-to-back meeting to the Conference “Future of VET in Europe” held within the framework of the Austrian Presidency of the European Union. Representatives of the South East European Vocational Education Network (SEEVET net) and of chambers of commerce from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo*, Moldova and Serbia gathered to  join forces to establish a regional knowledge hub for workbased learning in the Western Balkans and to develop regionally recognised occupational standards to support regional mobility in SEE.
The participants discussed with representatives of the European Commission, the European Training Foundation, the Austrian Ministries of Education, Science and Research and of Digital and Economic Affairs, the Austrian Economic Chamber and KulturKontakt Austria trends shaping the future of VET in the Western Balkan countries. The second day was dedicated to further work on the two key areas of cooperation – regional on-line platform for work-based learning, and regionally-based occupational standards. The platform will be a useful tool for exchange of information and shall contribute to transparency, faster information flow and better understanding of all stakeholders.

* This designation is without prejudice to positions on status, and is in line with UNSCR 1244/1999 and the ICJ Opinion on the Kosovo declaration of independence.

In organization of ERI SEE and ETF (European Training Foundation), representatives of national centers and institutions in charge of professional education and development of teachers gathered for the first time in Belgrade forming the Teacher Education and Training Network. The participants presented their national experiences in this field, respectively.

The meeting was also attended by the representative of the European Commission Mr Albert Sese-Ballart, who in his address and presentation stressed that teacher training was the heart of any reform and that the EU Strategy for the Western Balkans was one of their priorities. Mr Sese Ballart presented some of the programmes of the European Union from which the Western Balkans countries could benefit such as the Erasmus + programme.

The participants concluded that the regional exchange of practices and expertise is necessary for further development of the subject in question, and identified the key areas of future joint work: Training of trainers, Harmonizing the needs of teachers with the actual offer, Measuring the impact of the trainings – the example of Serbia could be used, in the form of presentations and seminars, “learnt in seminar, applied in practice”, Digitalizationand creating an On-line database of courses and participants

Joint Working Group on Recognition of Academic Qualifications (WG RAQ), Brussels 13^th, 14^th, 15^th June 2018

Brussels – Joint Working Group on Recognition of Academic Qualifications (WG RAQ) has initiated steps towards recognition exercise for the Western Balkans (WB) as well as an online system to support fast-track recognition between Western Balkans economies, at its 3rd meeting held in Brussels under auspices of the Regional Cooperation Council (RCC) & Education Reform Initiative of South Eastern Europe (ERI SEE).

The exercise on recognition of academic qualifications aims to identify, analyse and discuss similarities and differences in recognition of foreign degrees in WB economies, and suggest further joint action to decrease those differences. The exercise is envisaged as a step-by-step process, as provided by the guide presented at the meeting. The appointed teams to conduct this exercise agreed on the tasks and the timeline, as well as on a selection of specific cases which will be evaluated as part of the exercise.

After hearing the key principles and existing practices of automatic recognition of academic qualifications in other regions, key principles to guide the automatic recognition of academic qualifications in the Western Balkans were discussed and agreed in principle by the participants. The key principles to guide the automatic recognition of academic qualifications in the Western Balkans will be endorsed by the Ministers responsible for Higher Education at the Western Balkans Platform on Education and Training Ministerial Meeting on 26 June 2018.

The WG RAQ aims to facilitate removing obstacles to mobility of highly qualified workforce, in particular through development of joint standards and procedures for automatic recognition of quality assured academic qualifications.

The leaders of the Western Balkans Six have recognised the importance of development of automatic recognition procedures of the academic qualifications in the region under the Mobility pillar of the Multiannual Action Plan on the Regional Economic Area (MAP REA) and have committed to remove obstacles to the recognition of academic qualifications in the region by 2020.

Back-to-back with the Conference organized by GIZ for Dual Education which took place the day before, the Western Balkans Alliance for work-based learning met for the 4^th time. The meeting was under the auspices of ERI SEE with the support of GIZ.  It gathered 20 participants composed of representatives of agencies for vocational education and training from the region under the umbrella of the South Eastern Europe Vocational Education and Training Network (SEE VET Net), and regional chambers of economy under the umbrella of CIF from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo*, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia. The meeting was also attended by the representatives of the GIZ and Austrian Chamber of Economy. The participants discussed creating occupation profiles within a regional context and agreed on further steps that should be taken before their next meeting in Vienna.

The Meeting was organized by the Education Reform Initiative of South Eastern Europe (ERI SEE). It gathered 6 participants, composed of representatives of Montenegrin Centre for VET (2 representatives), Serbian Centre for VET (1 representative), Albanian Centre for VET (1 representative), Moldovan Ministry of Education, Culture and Research (1 representative) and ERI SEE Secretariat (1 representative).

At this meeting Mr Gojko Banović from the Serbian centre for VET, was elected Chairman of SEEVET net.

The participants discussed the creation of a Regional on-line platform on WBL, this idea was already presented in a previous meeting. It was concluded that ERI SEE would be funding the development of the platform on WBL and was authorized to start building the regional platform. The goal of the Regional on-line Platform is to serve as an instrument for more efficient use of already developed instruments and existing expertise and experience

Back-to-back with the 2nd Joint Working Group on Recognition of Academic Qualifications, the Regional Cooperation Council (RCC) and Education Reform Initiative of South Eastern Europe (ERI SEE) organized a Seminar on Quality Assured Recognition of Academic Qualifications on 27 March in the Montenegrin capital.

Experts from the region discussed the role of quality assurance in recognition of academic qualifications, the developments in quality assurance systems in the Western Balkan economies and the links between quality assurance and recognition of academic qualifications.

The seminar gathered representatives from the Ministry of Education of Montenegro, DG Education and Training (EAC) as well as the members of the Working Group on Recognition of Academic Qualifications (WG RAQ).

The 2nd Joint Working Group on Recognition of Academic Qualifications (WG RAQ), jointly organized by the Regional Cooperation Council (RCC) and Education Reform Initiative of South Eastern Europe (ERI SEE) took place in Podgorica, Montenegro on 26 March 2018.

WG RAQ has adopted the Terms of Reference and the Plan of Work discussed at the first meeting held in December 2017. Furthermore, the Working Group discussed and started the joint exercise on recognition of academic qualifications as well as a joint online system to support fast-track recognition between Western Balkans economies.

ERI SEE hereby re-announces the Vacancy for:

An assistant to the Director of the ERI SEE Secretariat

The assistant to the Director of the ERI SEE Secretariat assists the Director in everyday activities of the Secretariat, contributing to its regular and efficient functioning and leading to the realization of the tasks the Secretariat is responsible for.

The Announcement is open from 1st March – 22nd March 2018, and more information can be found in: ToR_assistant-final-re-announcement_final

On the 9th February 2018, the ERI SEE Governing Board members gathered for their 24th meeting, held in Belgrade.

The meeting served as the basis for the discussion and adoption of the relevant ERI SEE documents, such as Activity and Financial Reports for 2017; Work Programme and Financial Plan for 2018; Internal Rules and Procedures of the ERI SEE Secretariat; and other relevant issues among which updates on the most recent developments in the participating countries in the area of education and training, as well as the recent activities of ERI SEE partners and members of the Consultative Body (RCC, ETF and Austrian Federal Ministry of Education).

The next meeting is to be held in October/November 2018.