Detailed roadmap for the eqf referencing of the nqf in fyrom

Implementation phase

On 7 April 2014 the Minister of Education and Science established the Working Group for Further Development of the National Qualifications Framework for Lifelong Learning, coordinated by the Ministry of Education and Science. Structure of the Group: Ministry of Education and Science (Department for Primary and Secondary Education, Department for Higher Education, representatives of the Cabinet of the Minister, EU Department), Ministry of Labour and Social Policy, Bureau for Development of Education, VET Centre, Centre for Adult Education, Employment Service Agency, State Statistical Office, Ministry of Information Society and Public Administration, Chamber of Commerce, Organisation of Employers of the Republic of Macedonia and the Chamber of Crafts. Representatives of employers, Trade Union, schools and local self-go­vern­ments are involved in the work of further development and implementation of NQF. The composition of the Working Group is presented on website http://mrk.mk/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/resenie-2-1.pdf.
The further development and implementation of NQF is supported by the ETF and the British Council. Preparations started in late 2013 and resulted with two projects with implementation period 2014-2015:

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  Support from the European Training Foundation to the process of referencing the NQF to EQF. The fields and format of cooperation is defined by the legal basis of the ETF, by the work programme adopted by ETF Governing Board chaired by the Director General for Employment Social Affairs and Inclusion. Moreover the role of the ETF is mentioned in Article 91 of the Stabilisation and Association Agreement (2001) between the EU and the country. The preparations started in late 2013, leading to the ETF project in support to the referencing of the Macedonian Qualifications Framework to EQF (2014-2015). This process has been led by the ETF expert Ms. Eduarda Castel-Branco. Main objectives and outputs: development of a roadmap for referencing the MQF to EQF; guidance and hands-on support to the process of drafting and review of the national Referencing Report; capacity building of the relevant stakeholders; Inventory of all qualification and analysis of a sample; training and experimentation of revision of VET qualifications to describe them in learning outcomes; levelling of a small sample of VET qualifications, based on learning outcomes. The ETF team supporting the EQF referencing process is composed of Ms. Eduarda Castel-Branco and the external expert Prof. Dr Mile Dzelalija from Croatia. In addition, the team in charge of the Inventory and analysis of a sample of qualification was composed of: Ms. Eduarda Castel-Branco, Ms. Mirijam de Jong and the external expert - Mr. Jove Jankulovski. Upon invitation of ETF, Mr. Wojciech Stęchły from the Polish Education Research Institute (IBE) ran the training and experimentation on revision of VET qualifications to describe them in learning outcomes, as well as the levelling of a small sample of VET qualifications, based on learning outcomes.
  

The first expert mission during which the concept of the future joint work with the Macedonian stakeholders, promotional (buy-in) meetings with relevant institutions and a workshop for acquainting with the referencing process took place in Skopje (May 2014).

The second mission to Skopje was realized in the period 23-27 June. The concept and the content of the Referencing report were agreed, as well as the Roadmap for the development of the Report. In October 2014 the third workshop was held with participation of members of the EQF AG from Austria, Croatia and Hungary, as well as represe­n­tative of Montenegro. Experiences were shared and recommendations for improving the re­fe­rencing process took place. The Inventory and Analysis of Existing Qualifications and the Synthesis report were pre­sented and discussed during the workshop.
The third expert mission on referencing (Skopje, 18 - 22 May 2015) was dedicated to improvement of the draft Referencing Report and to knowledge sharing and capacity building of stakeholders on the use of learning outcomes in the Republic of Macedonia and their links with EQF referencing criteria 2, 3, 4 and 5.
Experimentation (phase I) - The ETF invited the Polish expert Wojciech Stęchły to run the workshop “Key Learning Outcomes in VET qualifications: a practical approach” (Skopje, 3-4 September 2015).The workshop contributed to capacity building and testing a practical way to identify, formulate and describe key learning outcomes for a sample of VET - 4 qualifications in the sectors: Textile, Leather and Similar Products; Economics, Law and Trade, as well as Catering (Food Service Industry) and Tourism. The participants from the VET centre, VET schools, employers from the sectors and the Ministry of Education and Science: formulated key learning outcomes; used the approach and methodology developed and tested in Poland (IBE) for the identification and formulation of key learning outcomes; determined the levels of the qualifications and started documenting the process.
Experimentation (phase II – completion): The review and finalisation of the key learning outcomes, as well as levelling to MQF for the sample of VET-4 years qualifications continued in 17-18 December 2015. Led by Mr. Wojciech Stęchły and Ms. Eduarda Castel Branco, the same expert group which worked on 3-4 September completed the work on the selected 3 qualifications. The second part of the event was introductory for a wider group of experts (50 representatives from economic sectors, teachers, employers from all regions) who will work on reviewing additional 11 VET – 4 qualifications in the first part of 2016. General information and capacity building on the process and results of the experimentation were provided during the seeion.

Detailed information on the ETF support to the referencing process led by Ms. Eduarda Castel-Branco is provided in Annex 3.

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  Memorandum of Understanding between the Ministry of Education and Science and the British Council in the Republic of Macedonia for implementation of the project Support to the Ministry of Education and Science in the preparation of the Action plan for Implementation of the NQF for LLL. The Memorandum of Understanding entered into force on 8 April 2014.
  

The main objective of the project was provision of expertise from the United Kingdom for planning of the implementation of the NQF from the point of its relevance and functionality linked to the needs of labour market in the Republic of Macedonia. In the period 13-18 July 2014 the first capacity building workshop with the UK expert with participation of representatives of all relevant stakeholders took place in Skopje. In November 2014 the second workshop took place. Besides other topics, the draft qualifications developed by the VET Centre were discussed, as well as the draft Procedure for Developing Vocational Qualifications and the draft Methodology for Positioning of the Qualifications in the Macedonian Qualifi­cations Framework, developed by the Ministry of Education and Science. In the course of 2014 and early 2015 the final drafts of these documents were prepared and presented at the closing conference of project (Skopje, 18 March 2015). During the conference the progress in referencing the MQF to EQF and the role of employers were presented as well as the role of the sector skills councils in the UK. Three workshops addressed: the needs for capacity building of employers for active involvement in the NQF; the challenges in the cooperation with the employers as well as the governance of NQF.

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  Follow-up project between the Ministry of Education and Science and the British Council in the Republic of Macedonia
  

In the period June-December 2015 the British Council supported the capacity building relevant for the future Sectoral Qualifications Councils (sektorski komisii za kvalifikacii). Special attention was paid to raising awareness and building the capacities of the employers.

In September 2015, representatives from the VET Centre, the Chamber of Tourism, the Economic Chamber of Macedonia, representatives from secondary vocational Tourism and Hospitality schools, the University of Tourism and Management from Skopje and the Ministry of Education and Science took part to the training session with the UK consultant who shared best practices from the UK focusing on employer engagement and engagement of all relevant parties involved in the training of cadre in formal and non-formal education. Emphasis was also placed on the role and the importance of establishing Sectoral Qualifications Councils in the Republic of Macedonia as a next step. 
In cooperation with Swisscontact on their programme Increasing Employability and PREDA Plus, the British Council supported the event on raising awareness and engaging employers from the IT sector in the process of implementation of MQF. The November 2015 event brought together stakeholders, employers, representatives from higher education institutions from the IT sector and from the Ministry of Education and Science. They had the opportunity to learn about the MQF, the processes for employer engagement and the creation of occupational standards and qualifications. The UK expert shared information about the UK system, the concept and the benefits of employer engagement, the models, the best practices and the development of the IT sector in the UK. As result of this meeting, a model of cooperation between the higher education institutions and the employers in the Republic of Macedonia will be developed.

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