Twelve sectoral councils have started their work

The task sounds simple – it is necessary to translate employers' skills needs into appropriate teaching and learning programmes. The dialogue that achieves this is, however, not at all easy to conduct, and this will be the main role of the sector councils.

With the adoption of the law on the National Framework of Qualifications in 2018, the Republic of Serbia received a legal framework to bring order to the field of qualifications and to connect all levels and types of qualifications with the labor market. Another step towards the establishment of a comprehensive system was made with the establishment of sector councils.

In the second half of November 2019, all twelve sectoral councils, as established by the decision of the Government of the Republic of Serbia, started their work by holding constitutive sessions.

Sector councils should more efficiently and effectively connect the world of work and the world of education and coordinate between these systems. Their task is to determine what qualifications are needed in a certain sector, to determine what knowledge, skills, attitudes and abilities are needed to acquire certain qualifications and thus influence learning plans and programmes. In simpler terms, the result of the work of the sectoral councils should be a clear and reviewed system of qualifications needed in Serbia. Those qualifications will be based on a standard, thus ensuring their quality, and comparable to qualifications in other European Union countries, thus ensuring easier and greater labor mobility.

Councils are organized by sector and are made up of representatives of business entities from the area for which the sector council was formed, professional chambers and associations, experts in the field of education and adult education, organizations responsible for employment affairs, ministries responsible for education, work and employment, youth policies and activities for which a sectoral council, association or association of schools and higher education institutions and representative branch unions is established.