1. The main challenges and trends in VET system of Tajikistan Istanbul University (Turkey), 10-11 March 2015 Prof. Subhon B. Ashurov

2. The structure of the education system in Tajikistan

3. VET and Labor market Labor market is the key factor determining the main challenges and trends in VET; VET system is traditionally closer to the labor market than the HE system; A main and characteristic feature of the Tajikistan’s and same Central Asian's labour market is its labour-surplus; Labour-redundancy affects the process of the labour market regulation, in particular management of labour resources development.

4. VET: Main challenges - workforce “poor quality“ Limited institutional capacity of VET and HE schools creates a workforce of “poor quality“; After completing general education each year about 85-90 thousand young people enter the LM without vocational training; Limited territorial mobility and restricted access to HE of the poor in Tajikistan have increased the social significance of VET.

5. VET: Main challenges - "two- component" LM- labour emigration The inability of the economy to place the available workforce on the national LM creates labour emigration on the foreign LM; In the period of 2008-2012, the average annual growth of the FLM was 3.5%, in 2012 the FLM made up about one-third (32.9%) of those employed in the country LM.

6. VET institutional capacity expansion A public system of Adult Education and Training (AET) has been established to implement the principle of LLL in the country education system; The AET system has also been entrusted to solve the problem of certification of skills acquired in the process of non-formal learning; The VET system (VET) of Tajikistan includes 66 public vocational lyceums, 51 vocational colleges and 28 public adult training centers.

7. Adapting LR to the needs of LM: the place and role of AET

8. VET governance progress Till 2013 two subsystems of VET were running under various ministries: the initial vocational education–under the ME, the continuing vocational training–under the MLE; At the end of 2013 the VET system "fully as a unit was transferred into the structure of the one Ministry of Labour, Migration and Employment (MLME).

9. Main trends: VET quality improvement - in line with the LM Progress has been achieved mainly with the introduction of the: National Strategy for the education system development in the Republic of Tajikistan until 2020 - 30.07.2012; Law "On training of specialists tailored to the needs of the labor market“ - 01.08.2012; New version of the Law “On education” - 22.07.2013.

10. Principles and approaches adopted at policy level improvement of education quality; development of institutional capacity and human capital of VET & HE; stimulation of the private sector for supporting education at all levels; better match of VET with labor market needs should be achieved by updating the educational content; strengthening the financial provision and material technical base of VET institutions

11. Principles and approaches adopted at policy level VET implementation should be improved by: the development of a new generation of educational standards with mandatory participation of employers; the development of flexibility and variability in VET programs by introducing modular organization; integration of components on leadership and entrepreneurship in VET programs; increasing the enrolment of VET programs; expanding short training courses for youth and adults.

12. Main impeding factors Weak capacity and experience of the VET staff. Despite the incentives and preparedness of the staff for the introduction of changes, they lack necessary experience in implementing new measures. Deterioration of the material and technical training base. High percent of training machinery and equipment of the VET system is obsolete and not motivating students to learn.

13. Main impeding factors Weakly harmonized education contents of different levels of education (VET & HE). Is observing a positive trend in linking SPE (colleges) with HE by including colleges to universities structure. Limited resources. The adopted strategy on further VET development in terms of contents and priorities corresponds to the VET current state, but it is not coherent to the financial capacity of the country.

14. Removing obstacles The agreement between the Government and ADB: to support the implementation of the adopted VET strategy in the period 2015-2019 ($ 20 million); With the ETF’s support is provided VET staff capacity development through supporting the CoP activity; EC Delegation in Tajikistan is preparing a draft of technical assistance to support the implementation of the adopted VET country strategy; Being negotiated with the ETF to support the development of NQF.

15. The main challenges and trends in VET system of Tajikistan THANKS