The EQET SEE VET and QA components Joint Regional meeting for the development of recommendations and tools for external evaluation of work-based learning (WBL) took place on 17th and 18th October in Chisinau, Republic of Moldova.

The meeting gathered representatives of relevant institutions from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo*, Montenegro, Moldova, North Macedonia, and Serbia, including representatives of VET centres dealing with WBL, QA agencies dealing with WBL and/or methodologies of external evaluation, representatives of business sector dealing with WBL, as well as experts on VET and WBL and representatives of the ERI SEE Secretariat.

The meeting focused on assuring the quality of work-based learning (WBL) through the system of external evaluation. It served to explore the way through which external evaluation can contribute to the quality of WBL, taking into consideration the national circumstances, authorities, responsibilities, and mandates.

Earlier in the course of the EQET SEE project, the external evaluation bodies from the region’s economies identified the need and expressed the interest to explore the external evaluation of WBL and consider improvements. For further enhancement of the quality assurance of f WBL the external evaluation frameworks in each economy served as the starting point, identifying quality domains through which work-based learning can be assessed.

To make the discussions more concrete, the regional proposals of sets of indicators for VET and WBL have been prepared with the help of external experts. The proposals served as the basis for the discussion for Regional Recommendations on Key Quality Standards and Quality Indicators for External Evaluation of VET and Regional Recommendations on Quality Standards and Quality Indicators for External Evaluation of Work-Based Learning (WBL).

During the two-day meeting, the delegations from the South Easten Europe economies and Moldova discussed the content of the proposed documents taking into consideration specificities of VET and WBL in each economy. Integration of the proposed two documents into the national systems of quality assurance was also discussed during the meeting. For examination and agreements on the concrete next steps in this direction, organization of the national meetings in each economy is foreseen within the EQET SEE project.

* This designation is without prejudice to positions on status and is in line with UNCSCR 1244 and the ICJ Opinion on the Kosovo declaration of independence.