Regional network of VET institutions in SEE countries DU ŠKO RAJKOVIĆ, CENTRE FOR VOCATIONAL EDUCATION MONTENEGRO

CENTRE FOR VOCATIONAL EDUCATION (VET CENTRE MONTENEGRO) Founded in 2003 by the Governement of Montenegro-Ministry of Education and Sport and social partners: Employment Agency, Chamber of Commerce and Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Montenegro The basic goal of the VET Centre has been: - development of vocational and adult education, - preparation of occupational standards, curricula and training programmes for adults, - training of teachers and principals of educational institutions, - quality assurance in educational institutions, - preparation of textbooks, etc.

Main responsibilities of the VET Centre: To monitor and analyze educational system development, To work on improvement of education, To perform technical affairs in the preparation of: curricula, occupational standards, and catalogues of knowledge, standards of teaching materials, equipment and textbooks To perform different kinds of research To perform advisory activities in institutions of vocational and adult education To conduct training of teachers and principals, To propose measures for development and introduction of new technologies and their implementations, To organize external check of students knowledge and exams for proving acquired knowledge and skills of adults, To coordinate its work with the Bureau for Educational Services and other national and foreign institutions

The VET Centre has been divided into five organizational units: Department for Curricula and Occupational Standards, Department for Adult Education Department for Evaluation Department for Textbooks Department for General Affairs and Director of the VET Centre

Legal basis for the functioning of the VET Centre General Law on Education, Law on Vocational Education, Law on Adult Education Law on National Vocational Qualifications, Strategy of Vocational Education and by-laws which regulate different segments from the field of vocational and adult education

International cooperation: GIZ ETF KulturKontakt Austria British Council Dvv international Lux Development BIBB OECD EU (IPA projects)

SEEVET-Net Conference of VET Institutions in Tirana, September 2008 Supported by: ERISEE, ETF and CARDS Twinning project for Central Europe Goal: initiating the process of establishing the regional network of VET institutions in SEE

Representatives of the VET centres/agencies: Albania, Romania, Bulgaria, Slovenia, Croatia, BiH, Serbia and Montenegro, and guests from Netherlands, Italy and EU Goal: defining objectives and interests for forming the Regional VET network, priorities and manners of cooperation among VET institutions, as well as participating in joint projects Ministry of Civil Affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina National VET Agency of Albania European Training Foundation

Exchange of information and experience from the neighbouring countries which face similar problems in terms of the lack of qualified workforce in certain sectors Mutual learning: NQF, LLL and VET, improvement of social partnership in the VET sector

The election of the SEEVET-Net Chairman: Duško Rajković elected, the director of the VET Centre Montenegro Planned activities : - Signing of the Cooperation Agreement (besides Montenegro, the following countries are willing to sign the Agreement: Albania, BiH, Croatia, Macedonia, Moldova and Serbia - Drafting Rules of the Procedure of the SEEVET-Net

In December 2010, the VET Centre sent the Draft Rules of the Procedure and the Cooperation Agreement to the countries interested in networking CEP gathered all the feedback which were considered at the meeting of the ERISEE Steering Committee in the March 2011 Signing of the Cooperation Agreement has been planned for the July in Moldova

Representatives of BiH, Croatia, Moldova, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia, EC, ETF, CEP, KulturKontakt, OECD and TFBHC Discussion on the existing proposals for creating clusters in vocational education Two clusters created: - Modernizing VET – improvement of performance, quality and attractiveness of the VET system, proposed by the Romanian Ministry of Education - NQF Development, proposed by the Croatian Ministry of Education, Science and Sport

The main goal of the Kick off meeting was to agree upon the clusters objectives and timeline and to decide on clusters outputs The event was an opportunity for starting the dialogue among EU member states and SEE partner countries in the field of education and training, in particular in view of creating a platform for mutual learning, disseminating examples of good practice, increasing quality and performance, bridging the shortage of expertise in particular policy areas and supporting reforms in national education and training systems overall. The key output of the Cluster will be a Compendium of Good Practices in Improving performance, quality and attractiveness of VET which will facilitate the creation of knowledge, the support for policy development, and inputs for policy in action and policy evaluation.