This year has been a great start for the activities of the Twinning Project “Further support to the implementation of the national qualifications framework” MK IPA 17 SO 01 21 funded by the European Union and implemented in the Ministry for Education and Science as a beneficiary. At the initial phase of the Project there were two missions within two different activities of Component 1 and Component 4 carried out in January.

The 1st Mission of Activity 1.1.1 “Review of methodical and legal regulations on NQF in line with the policy and legal framework for external QA in higher education and VET conducted in accordance with an inclusive and evidence-based approach” was held 10th-14th January. Experts in higher education and vocational education and training from Lithuania – Vidmantas Tutlys (Qualifications and Vocational Education and Training Development Centre, Lithuania); Eugenijus Stumbrys (European Social Fund Agency, Lithuania); Aurelija Valeikienė (Centre for Quality Assessment in Higher Education, Lithuania); Slavica Alojzija Černoša (The Institute of the Republic of Slovenia for VET); Mile Dželalija (European Social Fund Agency, Lithuania); Ana Tecilazić (European Social Fund Agency, Lithuania) and Eliane Kotler (High Council for Evaluation of Research and Higher Education (Hcéres), France) conducted workshops with national experts on the current-state-of-play of the quality assurance related regulations and national qualification framework. Representatives from relevant departments from the Ministry of Education and Science, Quality Agency, the Boards for Accreditation and Evaluation, National Council for Higher Education and Scientific Activity, VET Center, NQF Board, Adult Education Center and other institutions and bodies had a round table discussions on the current practices of quality assurance of NQF and identified issues that need support from the experts.

          

Within this Mission, the experts of the Project were invited to attend one of the sessions of the NQF Board held in the Members of Parliament Club to familiarize themselves with the work of the NQF Board, to discuss the processes of development and approval of qualification and occupational standards. Moreover, issues that need urgent attention were agreed. Experts agreed on further cooperation and consultations with the Board in the next missions.

                                    

                           

The 1st Mission of the Activity 4.1.1 “Defining of written recommendations for updated Further functions and links and determining for the updated NQF digital Register” was implemented during 17th – 21st January, 2022. Two experts from the Institute of the Republic of Slovenia for VET – Urška Marentič and NIka Mustar worked together with national representatives on the development, upgrading and maintenance of Digital Register. In this one-week mission, the beneficiary representatives were able to learn more about the Slovenian digital register and discussed the further improvement of the digital register in North Macedonia. The MS experts also met Assecco Project representatives to discuss cooperation and coordination issues as these two projects are implemented in parallel.

                                

On Monday 24th January, 2022, Ms. Jolita Butkiene, the Resident Twinning Advisor of the Project “Further support to the implementation of the national qualifications framework” was invited by the Sectoral Council on Economy, Law and Trade to present the main purpose and aims of the project at one of their sessions in order to strengthen the cooperation and collaboration in the project activities.

In the presentation RTA Jolita Butkiene summarized the results of the missions already conducted and introduced the upcoming missions and activities. She as well pointed out that cooperation and involvement of all relevant stakeholders is the major success factor of the Project.

                                                                               

To broaden the network and involvement of relevant stakeholders, RTA Jolita Butkiene participated in the tenth session of the National Council for Higher Education and Research Activity. The ongoing activities of the Twinning Project were presented by the RTA, as well as the joint work and collaboration pertaining to current revisions of relevant documents such as Law on NQF, Rulebooks for Accreditation and Evaluation, compliance with the International Standard of Classification of Fields of Study (ISCED) etc.

                                       

                      

‘This Newsletter was created and maintained with the financial support of the European Union. Its contents are the sole responsibility of the Twinning project and do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union’