EU4Skills: Better Skills for Modern Ukraine

Description What is done in the programme or project and why, what results are pursued, who benefits from the activities and who are involved in the implementation.

EU4Skills (7/2019 – 6/2023) is a multilateral project whose main objective is to support the reform and modernisation of vocational education and training in Ukraine in close cooperation with the Ukrainian Ministry of Education and Science (MoES). The project will contribute to the effectiveness and quality and attractiveness of vocational education and training by updating standards and curricula as well as by training teachers and school management. The project will support the MoES in developing EMIS, among other things, and provide up-to-date information on the skills needs of the labour market and employers, and will create policies for stronger participation of employers in the development of vocational training. The project will focus on the seven pilot areas selected by the Ukrainian Ministry of Education and Science, Chernivtsi, Lviv, Mykolaiv, Poltava, Rivne, Vinnitsya and Zaporižja, as well as the 21 pilot schools. The project is funded by the EU (EUR 16 million), Germany (EUR 2 million), Finland (EUR 2 million) and Poland (EUR 1 million). The funding will be channelled through GIZ, which has overall responsibility for the implementation of the project in the light of the agreement with the EU in June 2019. Estonia is also involved in the project, but channels its own contribution directly to HarNo, which brings Estonian expertise to the project. In addition to Harno and GIZ, the project is implemented by the Polish Solidarity Fund and the National Board of Education and its subcontractor Omnia Education Partnership. In addition, the project is closely linked to a separate programme to finance the reform of vocational education and training infrastructure implemented by KfW (Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau) with EU funding. The additional funding (EUR 1,5 million) will be directed at the unforeseen risks named in project performance report #3 (1– 6/2021) and other additional needs. In particular, the aim is (1) to expand activities beyond pilot schools by strengthening the competence and capacity of regional methodological centres under the MOES to support educational institutions in the region in implementing the vocational training reform, and (2) to enable pilot schools to purchase essential equipment, the availability of which has been significantly delayed through the KfW sub-project, jeopardising the implementation of competence-based teacher training in accordance with project contracts and the needs of educational institutions.