Reform of the Moldovan System of Vocational Education and Training (1998-2000)

Type of project/activity:
Sector analysis and strategy development

Objectives:
The TACIS project for VET development aimed to carry out a local and national labour market analysis; develop new curricula curriculum and teacher training (with pilots schools) and develop the policy and strategy for taking forward reform.

Background:
The Moldovan context was one of financial crisis. The Soviet Union was not buying Moldovan agricultural products and the price of energy, supplied by the former, had risen exponentially during the 1990s. VET school budgets only received a 25 percent contribution from central government (and it was being further reduced) and the schools had to increase alternative sources of revenue, such as the sale of products; local taxation; parental contributions; contributions from local enterprises; payroll taxes as well as undertaking all the classic cost lowering mechanisms.

Partners:
The project was managed by a Danish/Dutch Consortium. David Parkes directed the policy and strategy component.

Main activities:
The policy and strategy component worked towards the production of a 'Green Paper'. The project was organised around three task groups each of which has Moldovan membership and a Moldovan chairperson, with an external consultant. The policy and strategy task group was composed of three vice ministers (education, labour and economy), the social partners, local/regional representatives and VET pilot school directors. The group was chaired by the Head of the Reform and Development Department of the Ministry of Education. It had a finance sub-group with representatives from the three ministries and the social partners.

The pressures towards decentralisation and privatisation were, in the context, inexorable. The pressing questions for Government (and therefore the project task group) were how to define and protect a minimum education base for VET to include the possibilities of adaptability and progression for student clients and how to define the steering role of the Ministry of Education (particularly for standards) in the face of declining financial contributions.

Professional development of the working group was undertaken during the project by a series of seminars bringing in EU experts on specific thematic areas and through the organisation of study visits to EU countries (Netherlands, Denmark).

Name of programme, funder or client:
EU TACIS Programme

Expected outcomes, reports/documents:
A Green Paper was drafted in 2000. The main recommendations were subsequently accepted by government, drafted in the form of 'white paper' adopted by an inter-ministerial group. In 2001, the legislation was passed both by the Council of Ministers and by the Parliamentary Assembly. Despite a positive evaluation of the programme's outcomes by the EU, to date there has been no follow-up EU funding to support the White Paper recommendations.

For more information, please contact

David Parkes parkes@wanadoo.fr