In Sarajevo, on June 2nd, the EU project Education for Employment in BiH hosted a Round Table on „Recognition of Non-Formal Education and Informal Learning in BiH“. In an effort to advance this area, the event resulted in a very productive discussion among participants.
The purpose of the round table discussion was to present and initiate a dialogue on the rules and principles of recognizing non-formal education and informal learning (RPL) at the higher education level, as well as the possibility of piloting RPL models in higher education institutions in BiH. The round table participants had the opportunity to gain insight into the recognition model and engage in a direct discussion about its applicability in the BiH context.
On this occasion, the project team presented the newly developed Model Rulebook for Recognizing Non-Formal Education and Informal Learning at the Level of Higher Education in BiH, developed by the project Higher Education Working Group in recent months. The Rulebook governs the purpose, general conditions, methods, decision-making procedure, and other important issues for implementing the procedure of recognizing non-formal education and informal learning, as well as the minimum criteria and bodies for carrying out the procedure of recognizing prior learning at the higher education institutions in BiH.
The round table participants will submit their comments on the Rulebook in the coming period, which will then be proposed to the Project Steering Committee for adoption with the aim to be officially accepted and used in the work of various higher education institutions in BiH. Some Round Table participants in Sarajevo have already announced the adoption and implementation of this Rulebook at the higher education institutions that they represent.
The roundtable was attended by 47 participants, including representatives from the BiH public and private higher education institutions, ministries of education, education agencies, the BiH Ministry of Civil Affairs, and the Centre for Information and Recognition of Qualifications in Higher Education (CIP).
Dragana Dilber, representing the CIP, and Adi Kovačević and Amir Sarajlić, representing the Education for Employment in BiH project, gave presentations related to the recognition of prior learning, past experiences, future expectations and possible challenges in this area.
In order to overcome the high unemployment rate and a huge mismatch of the education and training systems with the demands of the labour market, the EU funded project “Education for Employment, BiH” aims to produce human resources in line with the labour market needs in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The project assists BiH authorities in improving capacity and structure for planning the educational process and quality of educational outcomes.
