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Digital Skills for VET Students in Bosnia and Herzegovina

In accordance with the constitution, the jurisdiction for education and training in Bosnia and Herzegovina falls within different levels of governance.

Policies, strategies, initiatives, practices

 

In accordance with the constitution, the jurisdiction for education and training in Bosnia and Herzegovina falls within different levels of governance.

At the country-wide level:

• Ministry of Civil Affairs with its Department for Education;

• Agency for Pre-primary, Primary and Secondary Education (APOSO) with its VET Department.

At the entity/district level:

• Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FBiH): Ministry for Education and Science; 10 cantonal ministries of education;

• Republic of Srpska: Ministry for Education and Culture;

• Brčko District: Department for Education.

 

While stakeholders at all levels declare that digital skills and competences (DSC) are of great importance for education and training in Bosnia and Herzegovina, such skills and competences are still in the development phase. The Framework Law on Vocational Education and Training (VET) also includes a reference to the importance of developing DSC. Each level of governance has its own legislation on VET and, to a general extent, they all address DSC as being important for VET. The state-level working document ‘Priorities in integrating entrepreneurial and digital competence into education systems in Bosnia and Herzegovina 2019–2030’ (hereafter ‘Priorities 2019–2030’) aims to bring DSC in line with the European Digital Competence Framework (DigComp) with a short-term goal of integrating DSC into International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED) levels 1, 2 and 3. The Priorities 2019–2030 should be a basis for the development of policy and reference documents at the different governance levels.

 

When it comes to integrating DSC in curricula, four modules were formulated under the EU VET II programme (2000–2014). The initial VET (IVET) system in Bosnia and Herzegovina, in which a modular approach has been implemented to some extent, includes four years of education in technical schools (ISCED 3A), with the vertical transition towards the next educational level, and three years of education in vocational schools (ISCED 3C), with no direct vertical transition towards the next level. Digital competence is mainly acquired through traditional information and communication technology (ICT) courses. In IVET, informatics/computer science is a general subject with an allocation of two hours per week, usually in the first grade (Priorities 2019–2030). DSC is also included in other subjects if the necessary conditions for its development are in place.

 

In the Republic of Srpska various subjects in IVET schools include DSC, while the digitalisation of teaching materials in primary schools has also started. The FBiH Ministry for Education and Science supports projects focused on the development of DSC, while Sarajevo Canton also supports improvements in the digital competences of IVET teachers and students on an annual basis.

Based on learning outcomes, the Common Core curricula provide a comprehensive approach to integrating DSC into all components of IVET. DSC is one of the key competences in the Guidelines for the implementation of the Common Core curricula in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

 

Facts and trends

• At least 44 IVET and technical schools in Bosnia and Herzegovina offer training for ICT-related occupations, and at least 20 schools offer ICT technician as a qualification at ISCED level 3A.

• The largest number of ICT-related qualifications are available in schools in Tuzla Canton.

• Employment in the ICT sector in the country is increasing by approximately 15% annually (Priorities 2019–2030), while the ICT qualification that is most in demand is web and application programmer with Java programming knowledge.

• The total income of the 382 registered software development companies was over EUR 400 million in 2017.

• Given the growth of the ICT sector, it is projected that there will be a deficit of around 6 000 employees in the field over the next five years.

• However, the country spends only 0.04% of its GDP (gross domestic product) on the ICT industry, which is far below the global average of 2.7%.

• In the computer programming sector, the number of employees increased from 1 250 in 2010 to 4 249 in 2017.

• 51.6% of employees in information technologies (IT) have a university diploma and 7.8% have secondary education.

• In the next two years, 56% of IT companies in the country will need up to five new employees and 2% will need more than 20 employees.

• 32.7% of IT companies provide paid apprenticeships and 19% provide unpaid apprenticeships.

 

Challenges

Each level of governance needs to develop its curricula based on the Common Core curricula, which should increase the quality of DSC in IVET. The absence of established and reliable monitoring and assessment mechanisms, at both the state and the entity and Brčko District levels, prevents constructive policy development and tracking of the effectiveness of existing DSC programmes. This is coupled with a lack of funding, as a result of which the general infrastructure in schools for advanced DSC education relies mainly on donor investments, and is therefore inadequate. There is also a deficit of ICT workers in the labour market.

 

 

Source: European Training Foundation (ETF), 2020

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