Skills needs identification and skills matching in south eastern Europe

This analysis provides an overview of the current practices and mechanisms on skills needs identification and matching in the six South Eastern European (SEE) countries: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia. It complements similar stocktaking activities that have taken place in the six Eastern European countries (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine). This is in line with the initiative the ETF has started in collaboration with the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training (Cedefop) and the International Labour Office (ILO), to identify and support effective strategies among countries in collecting and using skills needs information.

Under this joint initiative, a common instrument, entitled Questionnaire on assessing, anticipating and responding to changing skills needs (the standard questionnaire, see Annex 1), was designed for all the countries and sent to the ministries of Labour and Education (including specialised/executive agencies), employers’ associations, trade unions and other stakeholders in each country. The survey was conducted in the SEE countries from January to April 2015.