Component 2:
Quality assurance of Higher Education, related to labour market relevance
About:
Component 2 is focused on further developing and achieving the qualifications and standards for higher education.
Graduate unemployment is high in BiH, while at the same time employers complain about difficulties to fill vacancies with adequately skilled candidates hampering dynamic, future-oriented sectors to develop positively. Employers identify large skill gaps among their graduate recruits, especially in interactive skills (i.e. organisational and decision-making skills) as well as cognitive skills (i.e. sector-specific and foreign language skills). The aim of Component 2 is, therefore, to increase the quality of higher education in BiH and to make the study programmes more practical and relevant to the needs of the labour market thus facilitating the transition of young people from higher education to work.
Main result:
Qualifications and standards for Higher Education further developed!
Main outcomes:
- Robust evidence base concerning current Higher Education provision, current and future labour market needs, and how the HE sector can best address those needs;
- New occupational and qualification standards reflect labour market needs;
- Higher levels of cooperation between universities and employers;
- Strengthened mechanisms for recognition of informal/non-formal learning improving employability and further study.
Main activities:
- To develop a methodology and conduct mapping of HE study programmes in selected economic sectors
- To adapt research on needs of BiH employers for HE qualifications
- To develop occupational and qualifications standards for higher education in selected sectors
- To establish models of cooperation between universities and companies
- To assess current practices of informal education and non-formal education in HE and their recognition; developing recommendations and models to improve recognition practices
Working groups involved:
- Higher Education Working Group
- Five Expert Working Groups for the development of occupational standards and qualifications
