EU Neighbourhood Info Centre An ENPI project Talking about the Neighbourhood
Shortcut to the job market higher degree or practical skills?
The name of the organisation, the European Training Foundation, sounds self-explanatory. In fact, it can be misleading because the ETF does not operate in the European Union, nor it is engaged in training, and is not a foundation. It’s an EU agency that helps partner countries to develop their vocational education and training (VET), as well as labour market systems related to employment, explains its Director, Madlen Serban, in an exclusive interview to the EU Neighbourhood Info Centre. Interview with Madlen Serban How does the ETF achieve its goals of helping partner countries develop vocational education and training, as well as labour market systems related to employment? We try to make sure that each country has appropriate public policies addressing these areas, that there is a legislative framework to back it, and that the stakeholders are getting support in their implementation. So the whole cycle consists of policy development, adoption and implementation. By stakeholders, I mean governments, but as the policy should be inclusive, we are also working with employers, trade union associations at the national and sectoral levels, as well as civil society organisations. We have 35 partner countries, grouped according to the EU’s external instruments into enlargement, neighbourhood South and East, and Central Asia.
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Who benefits from your work? The ETF works at the systemic level, helping partner countries to strengthen vocational educational training and labour market institutions. So the first to benefit are the policy makers, i.e. both governments and their partners – associations of employers, trade unions and civil society associations as well as institutions that specialise in vocational education and training such as VET centres or councils. But eventually we help people acquire the right skills that can match their aspirations, thus benefiting communities and economies. We encourage countries to have an inclusive policy-making process, embracing civil society. As far as the Eastern Neighbourhood is concerned, it’s worth mentioning Dnepropetrovsk in Ukraine. The local authorities there concluded that while the central government can provide them with the policy framework, it cannot be expected to implement the strategy at the local level. So, our counterparts put together a regional development plan outlining the type of human resources they will need in the next few years. Within their mandate, the region also brought together the right actors capable of implementing the plan. Now the local government is keen to disseminate this experience in other East European countries. We are promoting such practices, and the Ukrainian government is very pleased with this initiative. What is the source of funding for the ETF? We are non-commercial so we do not raise funds ourselves. We act as an external arm of EU policies in education, training and employment, so we are funded by the EU, with the money being allocated by co-decision of the European Parliament (EP) and the Council. The ETF functions within a multi-year financial framework. Under discussion
This is a series of interviews with people involved in the Neighbourhood, prepared by the EU Neighbourhood Info Centre © 2013
Interview with Madlen Serban
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“Eventually we help people acquire the right skills that can match their aspirations, thus benefiting communities and economies.”
now, is the 2014-2020 programme, based on a multi-year strategic plan with a mid-term benchmark in 2017. In addition, we submit the annual work programme. First of all, our strategy and funding have to be adopted by the Governing Board and then approved by the European Parliament. In the Governing Board, the European Commission, represented by the Directorate General for Education & Culture, and each Member State has one vote. We also have six observers - three are independent experts appointed by the EP and three represent partner countries. Does the ETF make an intellectual or financial input into local initiatives? The ETF does not fund individual initiatives, and it’s not the money that attracts the countries, regions or institutions, but a strong belief that VET makes a difference for their communities. However, our partners may not have the right knowledge, so we try to empower them by taking advantage of our own expertise. Besides, we can mobilise expertise from EU Member States, partner countries themselves and from international organisations.
What do you consider as your most important achievements? It’s first and foremost our capability to act when we are needed. In each country we interact not only with the government but also with key stakeholders. The fact that we manage to bring them together is an achievement. We succeed in bringing together the public and the private sector. There was so much mistrust between “We succeed them, with the private sector never having time to wait for structural reforms in education, training and in bringing labour market, which would typically take years. So our approach is to look for quick wins, while involving together the all social partners in long term structural reforms. What’s also important is that we are opening up avenues for larger scale EU funding by helping to identify public and policy areas that need support in the form of expertise and assistance funded by the Development and the private Cooperation (DEVCO) budget. sector.” It’s worth mentioning the Mobility Partnerships we have with Moldova, Armenia and Georgia. These partnerships help manage legal migration, in a process that emphasises the development of the right professional skills. “We There is another landmark project we are working on with our partners in the East, namely continued eighbourhood Info Centre vocational training in the context of ageing societies. The challenge is similar to what we are facing in the encourage EU. Georgia, for example, is now working out a new VET strategy because the existing one does not provide countries many opportunities for career development. to have an
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inclusive policy-making process, embracing civil society.”
What are your biggest challenges? We continue fighting with the perceptions in societies, both in the minds of authorities and citizens, that VET is a second-best choice. People believe that a university degree will provide them with jobs for life. Yes, high aspirations in this sense are an asset, but this is not enough, because we face an overproduction of university graduates, which creates a mismatch between demand and supply on the labour market. Another challenge is the highly centralised system of vocational education and training. There are still very few regional initiatives that fly, and we are proud to be supporting them.
European Training Foundation website www.etf.europa.eu/web.nsf/pages/home European Commission – Lifelong Learning Policy http://ec.europa.eu/education/lifelong-learning-policy/vet_en.htm Erasmus Mundus http://ec.europa.eu/education/external-relation-programmes/mundus_en.htm Tempus http://ec.europa.eu/education/external-relation-programmes/tempus_en.htm
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TEMPUS IV for higher education www.enpi-info.eu/maineast.php?id=248&id_type=10&lang_id=450
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EU Neighbourhood Info Centre interview – “Tempus and Erasmus Mundus: Supporting education in the EU Neighbourhood Countries” www.enpi-info.eu/maineast.php?id=74&id_type=3&lang_id=450 EU Neighbourhood Info Centre feature story – “Students without borders” www.enpi-info.eu/maineast.php?id=424&id_type=6&lang_id=450
EU Neighbourhood Info Centre An ENPI project The EU Neighbourhood Info Centre is an EU-funded Regional Information and Communication project highlighting the partnership between the EU and Neighbouring countries. The project is managed by Action Global Communications.
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