Update on “Towards regionally-based occupational standards” – TO REGOS project

The TO REGOS project plans to contribute to employability and labour-market mobility of young people in the SEE region by investing in quality and labour-market relevant vocational education and training (VET) by developing five regionally based occupational standards by using the Common Regional Framework – methodology – produced within the project. The main partners, gathered under the WBA for WBL, are VET agencies and Chambers of Commerce from the region, and the project also relies on cooperation with private sector organisations and companies from identified priority sectors and other relevant stakeholders (Ministries of Education, Labour, National Qualification Agencies etc.). They have gathered to work on occupations belonging to two sectors: tourism and hospitality industry, and construction industry. You can find more about the concept of the project here.

The end of 2019 and the 2020 were exciting and challenging for the TO REGOS consortium. Up to the end of the first trimester of 2020 the project partners developed the first regionally based occupational standard (OS) in Western Balkan region. It was the hotel and restaurant technician OS that was further on translated into the qualification standards on national level.

Faced with challenges related to the COVID-19 pandemic the TO REGOS consortium partners moved towards developing four occupational standards in construction sector. By the end of November 2020 dry construction worker and painter occupational standards were elaborated on national level and validated on regional level through the series of online meetings attended by occupational standard development experts and business experts from six participating economies. While the COVID-19 pandemic in many ways have hindered the implementation of project activities, a positive aspect of it lies in the amendments made to the Common Regional Framework that had to be modified to allow the online working modalities.

The last two occupational standards for floor layer and tile setter have been finalised on national level while their regional validation is expected for December 2020. The development of respective qualification standards is planned for 2021.

Lastly, the project looked at the possibilities of developing regional qualification standards by commissioning the Feasibility Study on Developing Regionally Based Standards of Qualifications. The Study conclusions are to be presented by the end of 2020

More about the project, activities and outputs can be found on the website of the lead partner, ERI SEE Secretariat and on WBA4WBL Platform.