The Association of Slovene Higher Vocational Colleges is a coordinator of the project PROCSEE and had with Anthony F. Camilleri (KIC Malta) organized 1st meeting of NCPHEE – National Committee for PHE Excellence in Slovenia. Venue of the meeting was in Ljubljana on 5 July 2016. Invitation and agenda are attached to the minutes.
A National Stakeholder Mirror Committee will be formed in Slovenia, Czechia, Croatia, Hungary and Romania, consisting of representatives of business, institutions, students and policy-makers. There were 21 participants in meeting. The national mirror committee prepared The National Priority Statement, which will be the basis for the expert groups’ policy analysis.
In the second phase of the project National Mirror committees will be responsible for selecting appropriate interventions from the toolbox put forward by the expert groups, and adapting these for their own institutional or regional/national contexts. From a thematic perspective, we intend to tackle four areas of current policy-concerns in Professional HE / Higher VET, namely:
- Alignment of PHE/HVET with regional/local development strategies
- Promotion of PHE/HVET as an alternative route through tertiary education, in particular to respond to skill shortages and increase employability of graduates
- Organising and monitoring student placements in the world of work, in particular increasing the quantity and quality of available student placements, so as to provide for meaningful learning experience and preparation for employment
- Use of Personal Learning Environments (personalised, flexible distance learning opportunities, delivered over the internet), and in particular their role in further education (both for purposes of re-training/re-qualification and enhancement of skills).
The National Priority Statement is a problematisation statement, outlining the main challenges and barriers facing the HVET/PHE systems in the participating countries, with respect to the priority thematic areas. It will highlight areas in need of further policy development. Where policies exist but are not achieving the desired effects, they will also identify these situations. The compilation of all 5 national reports will produce some trends which can be extrapolated to other countries with developing-VET systems.
Participants agreed on lack of a common, comprehensive strategy/strategic policies as crucial for further development of PHE and has to include regional specifics. It should be a result of a wide cooperation of all PHE stakeholders. Its implementation needs also a political support of the government – but only on implementation level, not strategical. The overall PHE area should be more integrally linked – national policies, verticals of PHE, understanding of professional paradigm and science, short-cycle higher vocational education and higher education, academic and professional education. Each stakeholder should keep its specific identity and also cooperate with other stakeholders.
More on the PROCSEE project is available on www.procsee.eu.
