Director of the Office for Dual Education and National Framework of Qualifications Prof. Dr. Gabrijela Grujić participated in a panel discussion as part of the conference on the presentation of the results of the research of the German-Serbian Chamber of Commerce on the investment climate and business conditions in Serbia.
It is predicted that German investments in Serbia will reach 10 billion euros in 2024, with 100,000 employees in German companies. It was also said that the companies coming to Serbia plan for the long term, and one of the important assets is qualified personnel, educated according to the dual model.
“Our goal in the coming period is to continue to fight for the further improvement of the quality of dual education. We received proof that we are on the right track today from representatives of the German economy, who say that Serbian experts are employed by German companies in Serbia and are in demand in companies as well. that operate in Germany,” Grujić said. She thanked the president of the German-Serbian Chamber of Commerce, Milan Grujić, for supporting the development of dual education in Serbia.
At the conference, the results of the research were presented, which showed that German and Serbian companies, members of the German-Serbian Chamber of Commerce, positively assess the economic climate in Serbia. The companies expressed positive expectations within their own business, and despite the current crisis, 87 percent of the companies participating in the survey would invest in Serbia again. For the third year in a row, factors related to the labor market in Serbia received a positive rating: personnel qualification, productivity and readiness of employees to work.
Director of the Office for Dual Education and National Framework of Qualifications Prof. Dr. Gabrijela Grujić attended today in Kragujevac, together with Prime Minister Ana Brnabić and Mayor Nikola Dašić, the opening of the Wacker Neuson company, which manufactures construction machinery and equipment.
Speaking about the importance of German investments in Serbia, Prime Minister Brnabić thanked the Government of Germany for their active participation in the system of dual education in Serbia.
“Dual education has made it easier for young people to find employment, material status, create a career, improve their abilities and understanding of the world they live in,” said Brnabić.
Director Grujić thanked the Prime Minister for her great support in the development of dual education, stressing that it is the duty of the Office she leads to justify trust and continue to contribute to the fight for every investor by further improving the quality of education.
In Kragujevac alone, dual education is implemented in three secondary schools, with a total of 13 different profiles. The Wacker Neuson company cooperates with the Kragujevac Secondary Vocational School.
After Belgrade, Čačak, Pančevo, Užice, the social dialogue “Young to the young” was also held in Kragujevac, with the aim of motivating high school students to think constructively and positively, through discussions with students of several faculties.
The students of the University of Kragujevac transferred to the high school students the knowledge and experience gained during schooling, which will be useful in developing positive attitudes and solving dilemmas during the educational process.
In addition to the students, the director of the Office for Dual Education and NOKS prof. Dr. Gabrijela Grujić and Mayor Nikola Dašić.
“It seems to us that young people sometimes have dilemmas, and it happens that they cannot find an adequate solution, so they often ‘wander’. Since we as adults often do not recognize these situations in time, or young people do not hear us, a better solution is for students who are only a few years older to talk to them. “Students have the necessary communication skills to address their juniors in the right way, to present them with a career path and explain that the problems they will encounter are not actually problems, but challenges for which there is a whole series of solutions,” said director Grujić.
The dialogue is an initiative of the Office for Dual Education and the National Qualification Framework, and is implemented in cooperation with the SKONUS organization. In the coming period, the Office will establish a permanent Social Dialogue Initiative Team “Young and Young”, which will be available to young people from all over Serbia.
Director of the Office for Dual Education and NOKS prof. Dr. Gabrijela Grujić presented today, at the conference “The importance of learning through work and social inclusion for the development of the economy of the Western Balkans (WB6)”, one of the key reforms in the education sector – the National Model of Dual Education.
At the meeting organized by the Serbian Chamber of Commerce, as part of the project “Knowledge to Work” (E2E) and implemented under the auspices of the Swiss Government, representatives of the private sector of the Western Balkans had the opportunity to exchange opinions on formal and informal learning through work and social inclusion as powerful mechanisms for overcoming the imbalance between supply and demand for competent workforce and creating a society of equal opportunities.
Director Grujić also spoke to the meeting participants about the challenges in the implementation of the dual education model, as well as the new legal solutions aimed at removing all the shortcomings observed in practice.
“After four years of implementation of the Law on Dual Education, it has been shown that there is room for improving the quality and scope of learning through work and easier involvement of employers in dual education.” And we will solve that, because with the planned changes to the Law, we will continue to improve the quality of education and train young people to respond as efficiently as possible to the challenges of technological development,” said Director Grujić.
At the meeting, representatives of the private sector of the Western Balkans had the opportunity to exchange valuable experiences about formal and informal learning through work and social inclusion as powerful mechanisms for overcoming the imbalance between supply and demand for competent labor and creating a society of equal opportunities.
In the WB6 region, where the need for professional workforce and improvement of employability, especially of young people, is a common denominator, learning through work can play a decisive role in stimulating economic development, social inclusion of the private sector and the overall economic development of the region, it was said at the meeting.
Director of the Office for Dual Education and National Framework of Qualifications Prof. Dr. Gabrijela Grujić attended today the promotion of the Training Center of the Technical School in Valjevo, as well as the signing of the Cooperation Agreement between the school and companies operating in the territory of the city of Valjevo – Hejsens, Hansgrohe and Bizerba.
The Government of Serbia invested 1.1 million euros in the construction of the first, fully equipped Training Center.
“Thank you to Prime Minister Ana Brnabić for starting the initiative and strongly supporting the construction of the Training Center, which will provide young people with learning through work on the most modern equipment.” Reconstructed and equipped classrooms are proof that we can educate staff in both formal dual and informal education, and the knowledge and skills that young people will acquire in this place will already put them in the focus of these prestigious companies as desirable future staff,” said Grujić.
As part of the promotion of the Training Center, director Grujić also attended the signing of the Agreement on cooperation between the school and companies, together with representatives of the Government, the mayor of Valjevo Lazar Gojković and representatives of the Serbian Chamber of Commerce. The agreement was signed by the director of the Technical School, Branko Goloskoković, with the executive president of Hajsense International, Stanka Pejanović, the general manager of Hansgrohe, Filip Burkle, and the commercial director of Bizerba, Marina Cvijetić.
Director of the Office for Dual Education and NQFS prof. Gabrijela Grujić has attended today, together with the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, the opening ceremony of the “Bizerba” factory in Valjevo.
“Bizerba” is one of the global leaders in the production of scales, as well as a supplier of hardware and software solutions for the latest technologies in this field. The company needs highly educated experts in the production process, such as the ones it has found in Serbia.
President Vučić has underlined that in just one year everything was set to ensure the arrival of the company.
“Bizerba” is changing things and makes a big difference. Additional industrialization forces us to work quickly on road and railway infrastructure and the progress is yet to be seen,” President Vučić said.
The CEO of “Bizerba” Andreas Kraut has said that this is the biggest project in terms of investment and construction of the factory, and that its goal is to expand further.
– In this modern space, conditions have been created for the automation and digitization of production processes. Our product offers precision and quality, which opens the possibility for highly educated experts. I am glad that “Bizerba” managed to find them here in Serbia – Mr Kraut said. This leading company was founded in Ballingen in 1866, a small town in Baden-Württemberg.
The delegation of Nepal visited the Office for Dual Education and NOKS today to be informed about the implementation of the dual education model, challenges and good practice examples.
The steps taken in Serbia during the implementation of the dual education model are a positive example of practice from which the delegation of Nepal, as they said, can learn how to improve the dual education system in their country more effectively.
Director of the Office of Prof. Dr. Gabrijela Grujić presented to the guests from Nepal the role of the education system and the private sector in dual education in Serbia. Speaking about the legal solutions and their application, Grujić emphasized the importance of the pilot project in the implementation phase in order to monitor the effects in practice and harmonize the solutions with the needs of schools, colleges and the economy.
Assistant director Dr. Vesna Fabian spoke about the national qualifications framework and the role of sector councils. The delegation of Nepal consisted of representatives of several institutions, including the Nepalese Ministry of Social Development, the Council for Technical Education and Vocational Training, then representatives of the Embassy of Switzerland in Nepal and Belgrade and others.
Dual Education Open Doors Day – “A step towards practical knowledge” was celebrated today in the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Serbia gathering a large number of young people and their parents who wanted to learn more about the benefits and offer of the dual education model for the next school year.
Director of the Office for Dual Education and National Qualifications Framework Prof. Gabrijela Grujić stated that in addition to representatives of educational institutions, representatives of 31 companies from the territory of the City of Belgrade, which implement a dual model of education in cooperation with 22 secondary schools, have also been here today.
– Gathering a large number of schools and companies applying the dual model of education makes this event an excellent opportunity for young people and their parents to learn about the advantages of the dual model and the ways in which work-based learning, realised in a real working environment, provides a quality basis for building a successful career – Mrs Grujic said.
The head of the Centre for Education, Dual Education and Education Policy of the Serbian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Mirjana Kovačević, M.Sc., and Deputy Mayor of Belgrade Vesna Vidović spoke about the model of dual education at the event. Mrs Kovačević and Mrs Vidović assessed the meeting as successful and expressed the hope that this was only the first in a series of events of this format that would be organized throughout Serbia in order to promote dual education.
Director of the Office for Dual Education and NQFS Dr Gabrijela Grujić presented today the advantages of the dual education model at the Technical Faculty “Mihajlo Pupin” in Zrenjanin, and the promotion was attended by the mayor Simo Salapura.
Director Grujić said that the visit to the Technical Faculty in Zrenjanin was initiated by the students, which speaks volumes about the interest of young people in the dual model of education.
“Since the establishment of the dual education model, Zrenjanin was among the first cities showing the interest in what this model has to offer. We have gathered today as a unique team engaged in the improvement of this new platform, which will provide not only the quality assurance in education, but also the sustainability and innovation of the economy in the future”, Mrs Grujić said.
The aim of the promotion was to inform the participants about the advantages of dual education, past experiences and examples of good practice in the implementation of the Law on Dual Education and the Law on the Dual Model of Studies in Higher Education. The event was preceded by a working meeting held in the Zrenjanin City Hall, during which further cooperation between the City and the Office was discussed.
Mayor Simo Salapura said that Zrenjanin was the right place to discuss the topic of dual education, especially considering the coming investments, number of new jobs being created and profiles and experts and skilled workforce expected by employers.
Dean of the Technical Faculty “Mihajlo Pupin” prof. Milan Nikolić pointed out that the topic of dual education was of particular importance for Zrenjanin.
Director of the Regional Chamber of Commerce of the Central Banat District, Predrag Stankov, says that in the school year 2022/23, dual education is implemented in two schools in Zrenjanin, “Uroš Predić” and the Technical School, and that so far about 200 students have gone through the dual education system. As he has underlined, the companies that work in Zrenjanin and are part of the dual education system are “Draxlmaier”, “Novares”, “Šinvoz”, “Agrorit”, “Točak auto”, and as he says, “Essex” and Mlekoprodukt will join the group.
“With the amendments to the Law on Dual Education, we will ensure the quality of the educational process by connecting theory and practice and by increasing the number of hours young people spend in the modern real working environment of companies”, Director of the Office for Dual Education and the National Qualifications Framework, Prof. Gabrijela Grujić said today in Leskovac.
At the public debate on the Draft Law on Amendments to the Law on Dual Education, attended by the Minister of Education Branko Ružić and the Mayor of Leskovac Goran Cvetanović, Mrs Grujić spoke about the most important changes foreseen in the Draft.
“Increasing the number of hours young people spend in companies also increases the chances that after finishing school they will get employment in that same company or start their own business based on the knowledge they have acquired. The competences that young people will acquire in this way will provide them with a certain and successful career, while on the other hand it will provide companies with sustainability and innovation. It is also significant that, according to the changes foreseen by this Draft, employers will be able to count on a simplified procedure in order to enter the dual education system. Our goal is to improve the existing solutions and ensure a significantly higher quality of education.” Mrs Grujić said.
Director Grujić has pointed out that the important changes foreseen in the Draft are the introduction of the evaluation of the quality of work-based learning, but also the granting of the status of a training centre for schools.
“The school and the employer will implement the “Work-based learning programme” together in order to ensure the monitoring of which learning outcomes can be realized in companies. In addition, the introduction of the status of a training centre in the education system is extremely important, so that they can bring new, developmental dimension in the connection of education and the economy. New solutions give employers the opportunity to join the Alliance, in order to achieve all learning outcomes, if they do not have the conditions to achieve them individually. Alliances will also enable small businesses to join the dual education system.
The public debate will be held from March 17 to April 6, 2023. The most important changes envisaged by the Draft are: the possibility of increasing the number of hours of work-based learning, namely 60 percent for three-year educational profiles and 40 percent for four-year ones; simplification of accreditation for employers for work-based learning; formation of combined classes; evaluation of the quality of work-based learning; defining the competence and role of the Office for Dual Education and NQFS; introducing the status of a training centre for schools; introduction of Training Alliance of Employers; legal basis for financial support for dual education.
Today’s event, hosted by the Higher Business School of Vocational Studies in Leskovac, was attended by representatives of the Ministry of Education, the Office for Dual Education, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Serbia, the City of Leskovac, and numerous schools and companies from this part of Serbia.
