Excerpt from the Joint Statement

The Berlin Process has been demonstrating strong political support for the European perspective of the Western Balkans. It has also created a positive momentum for regional cooperation in the Western Balkans. At the second Summit Meeting on the Western Balkans, held in Vienna on 27th August 2015, the participating heads of States agreed to support the development of high quality vocational education and training systems in the region based on the ‘Roadmap to a sustainable apprentice system’.

It is in this regard that we - representatives of public and private sector entities from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, in addition Austria, Croatia, France, Germany, Italy, Slovenia, as well as representatives of the European Commission, International Financial Institutions and other multilateral and bilateral institutions - encourage greater cooperation between the public and the private sectors, with the objective of better understanding our respective contributions towards a labor market and company and practice oriented high quality vocational education and training (VET), with emphasis on work-based learning and apprenticeships. This is also in line with the European Alliance for Apprenticeships, to which the majority of these participating countries adhere.

This Joint Statement will be presented on the occasion of the third Summit Meeting on the Western Balkans, to be held in Paris on 4th July 2016.

The participants further aim to develop concrete initiatives for:

• sharing lessons learned in the introduction of dual apprenticeship elements and other forms of work-based learning, including coordination with school-based programs, and on how to move from pilot projects to sustainable changes in the VET systems
• facilitating stronger regional partnership mechanisms between private sector actors, governments, VET institutions and civil society which improve the collaboration and help to identify and use synergies of ongoing activities
• attracting companies to apprenticeships and work-based learning and building the capacity of local private sector actors as partners for VET
• showcasing the powerful and positive role that innovative partnerships between the private sector and VET providers can play
• developing tools and supporting learning
• shaping a conducive environment for labor and VET learning mobility that turns brain drain into brain gain
• providing and further exploring innovative

The full statement is also attached below.    

Conference Programme | Presentations

• Conference Program

• Presentation Ivosevic, Regional Cooperation Council

• Presentation Djurica, Regional Cooperation Council

• Presentation Mayr, IBW

• Presentation Dumitrache - Romania

• Presentation Jakubik - Slovakia

• Presentation Lakostik - Slovakia

• Presentation Weis, I.H.C GmbH

• Presentation Schmid, IBW

• Joint Statement

• Austrian Federal Ministry of Economy: Working Paper: Dual vocational education and training

• Study TripPresentation Gebr. Weiss

• Study TripPresentation Kapsch

Source: WKO