Issues
of HRD and VET addressed in Central and Eastern European countries
An analytical overview
of current R&D projects
Sabine Manning -
Research Forum WIFO Berlin
May
2007
Part
1 of the Paper "Issues of HRD and VET in Central and Eastern European countries,
in the light of recent R&D projects" by Sabine Manning & Liliana
Voicu, published in the ERO Base of the ETV.
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SUMMARY
This
analytical overview highlights issues of HRD and VET which are addressed
by current R&D projects carried out in CEEC. It starts out from three
questions:
-
What are
the major issues of HRD and VET identified in CEEC based projects?
-
To what
extent do the CEEC based projects reflect EU priorities for VET and HRD?
-
Which
themes of HRD and VET are particularly taken up in the EU supported projects
coordinated by CEEC institutions?
The overview
is based on data provided by EU country reports (ERO National Research
Reports - ENRRs) which were supplied by the Cedefop network of experts
- ReferNet (see Reference). The task of the
national experts preparing the ENRRs was to compile, for each country,
about ten projects regarded as important in the national context of HRD
and VET. These could be either national projects or EU supported projects
carried out by an institution in the country concerned. A total of 80 projects,
mostly referring to the year 2005, were put forward by nine CEEC based
reports.
The
following countries are involved in this overview: Cyprus [CY], the Czech
Republic [CZ], Estonia [EE], Hungary [HU], Latvia [LV], Lithuania [LT],
Poland [PL], Slovenia [SI] and the Slovak Republic [SK].
Altogether,
the analytical overview suggests the following general conclusions:
The
requirements of socio-economic reconstruction in CEEC have a strong impact
on all the major issues of HRD and VET addressed in R&D projects. In
particular this impact is demonstrated by projects dealing with issues
of the labour market and skills requirements (E), issues of promoting (initial)
vocational education and training (B) and continuing education and training
(C), and issues of transition between education and work (D). While these
are primarily systemic aspects, there seems to be less emphasis on process
aspects such as learning and training (A) unless these are again linked
to system aspects, for example curriculum development and e-learning.
The
fundamental effort of developing human resources, as reflected in the CEEC
projects, appears to be directed, most of all, to the promotion of the
state system of education and training in close relation to the needs of
the labour market. This strategy of HRD can be regarded as a characteristic
of CEEC. Business and enterprises, on the other hand, seem to play a less
prominent role in human resource development. Partly, as the projects show,
efforts are made to involve firms and social partners in restructuring
the public VET programmes. Only a few projects refer to HRD activities
carried out by private organisations themselves, in the context of human
resource management.
The
EU programmes contribute significantly to promoting R&D activities
in CEEC institutions. This is not only apparent from the considerable proportion
of EU supported projects, included in the selection, but also from the
European dimension which is evident in several national projects. Nearly
all the EU related projects address significant issues of development in
CEEC. Likewise it can be assumed that CEEC institutions, by engaging in
EU project partnerships, also make an impact on R&D in the broader
EU context, by enriching the transnational perspective on HRD and VET issues. |