VET/HRD research and development initiatives in ROMANIA

1
VET/HRD research and development initiatives in
ROMANIA

• Magdalena BALICA, Liliana VOICU
• ECER, University College Dublin
• 07 10 September 2005

2
Background

• Early 90
• Small research capacities, lack of research
  networks
• Short tradition of VET research, as a separated
  entity of the research field
• Low awareness of VETHRD importance
• Low awareness and trust in research
• Low investments in VET and HRD research
• Lack of relevant data and statistics on VET and
  HRD
• Huge needs for research related to the
  implementation of VET and HRD reforms

3
Links between research and development
initiatives and VET/HRD policies

• 1995-2000
• Contextual links of research with the main reform
  areas in HRD and VET (Phare VET, Phare Social
  and Economical Cohesion 2000)
• Fragmented interests and emergency type
  research (feasibility studies, impact evaluation,
  system diagnoses, strategy design in different
  VET and HRD areas)
• The focus of research are system changes of VET
  and HRD, other deep and specific analyses are
  rare and isolated
• Gap between IVET and CVT reflected in research
  as well
• Still not clear research policies at national
  level

4
Links between research and development
initiatives and VET/HRD policies

• Current situation
• Some efforts to link research policies have
  been made
• The strategies in VET and HRD refer
  directly/indirectly to the need for more research
  
• Increased participation of Romania to the
  international and European research activities
  (ETF, Cedefop, Eurostat, Eurydice, OECD, UNESCO)
• Efforts for collecting relevant statistical data
  on VET and HRD (National Institute for Statistics
  improved the data collection on CVT and HRD)
• Efforts to link the IVET and CVT, including
  research
• Isolated private analyses (HRD analyses in big
  companies, market studies by training providers,
  specific NGOs analyses)
• Still not explicit research policies at national
  level

5
EU sponsored VET/HRD research and development
initiatives and VET/HRD Policies

• ETF (Romanian National Observatory)
• Annual reports on reform changes in IVET and CVT
  Key indicators reports other specific research
  on social partnership, institution building,
  company surveys, skills survey, quality assurance
  etc.
• CEDEFOP activities
• Articles, VET-inst and VET-bib data base
• Phare (related studies on current situation and
  demands)
• PHARE TVET programme 2001-2003
• Twining project on CVT
• Phare Social and Economic Cohesion. Human
  Resources Development
• Leonardo da Vinci, Socrates, Youth for Europe
• Sapard programme
• Preparation for ESF type activities

6
Overview of important issues and themes addressed
in current VET/HRD Research and Development
projects

• Quality assurance (new law on QA, pilot projects,
  capacity building of QA assurance system in CVT)
• Curriculum for VET and CVT
• Teacher trainer training in VET and CVT
• Social Partnership in VET and CVT
• National Qualification Framework capacity
  building
• CVT at the company level

7
Main research capacities

• Public research institutions (Institute of
  Educational Sciences, National Institute of
  Economy, National Institute for the Quality of
  Life, Centre for Youth Study, National Institute
  for Statistics, National Research Centre on
  Labour and Social Protection Issues, National
  Institute for Adult Education)
• Universities
• National bodies (Centre for Development of
  Vocational and Technical Education, National
  Adult Training Board, National Agency for
  Employment)
• Private actors (NGOs, big companies, training
  providers)

8
Funding frameworks and support structures for
VET/HRD Research and Development

• Ministry of Education and Research
• IES, Universities, research units, national
  agencies
• Ministry of Labour and Social Solidarity
• National Research Centre on Labour and Social
  Protection Issues
• National Agency for Employment
• National Council for Financing the University
  Education
• European International programmes Leonardo da
  Vinci, Phare, ETF, Sapard, PNUD, ILO, UNESCO,
  USAID, CIDA, Matra, GTZ, etc.
• Private (isolated) initiatives training
  providers, big companies, NGOs

9
Professional research associations and networks
related to VET/HRD

• Not yet developed
• Not enough contact and events between researcher
  at the national level
• Stronger links with different European networks
  than networks inside the country (ETF
  Observatories network, Leonardo partnerships,
  European researcher networks)
• Lack of national events and dissemination
  addressed directly to the VET and HRD research
  field

10
Effectiveness and impact of current VET/HRD RD
activities

• Partly effective
• Increased awareness of and trust in research
• Some issues raised by the research were taken
  into consideration in policy design and
  implementation
• Increased demand for research related to
  developments at national level

• Partly not effective
• Capacity to use available resources is still week
• Some issues are not addressed, even if research
  has drawn attention on them lifelong learning
  perspective, need for demand driven approaches,
  need for local and individual perspective, weak
  social partnership.
• No strategic investment meant to develop existing
  capacities

?
?
11
Issues that need to be addressed by VET/HRD RD
in the future

• The need for explicit policy for research and
  development in VET/HRD (including resource
  allocation)
• Networking encouraged
• More dissemination activities at national,
  regional and sectoral level
• Research capacity building in order to use more
  resources in research and increase efficiency

12
Thank you!

• Magdalena BALICA
• Researcher
• Institute of Educational Sciences
• Bucharest, Romania
• magda.balica_at_ise.ro

• Liliana VOICU
• Research Director
• AxA Consulting
• Bucharest, Romania
• lilianavoicu_at_easynet.ro