Skills Lab Network Joint Research projects making their mark

By Will Bartlett, Imane El Ouizgani, Ivana Prica

While the first generation of Skills Lab Network ‘joint research projects’ are working steadily towards the publication of their collective results in early 2025, we can already see evidence of their potential longer-term impact and added value. We spoke to one of the research teams to find out more about their experiences and the benefits of carrying out such a collaborative project.

Background

The first generation of six projects supported by the Skills Lab Network and bringing together researchers from different countries to carry out comparative research on skills anticipation and demand are presented in this Catalogue of Joint Research Projects 2022-2024. These were approved in June 2023, following an open call and are currently in the process of finalising and peer-reviewing their output papers.

One of the approved joint research projects has been led by Will Bartlett of the London School of Economics (UK) along with research partners Dr. Imane El Ouizgani (Ibn Zohr University, Morocco) and Dr. Ivana Prica (University of Belgrade, Serbia). It has been working to investigate the nature and extent of skills mismatch and skills gaps among young graduates in the labour markets of the Western Balkans and North Africa, focusing in particular on Morocco and Serbia.

“We have used a specially designed survey of the skills of graduate employees in each country backed up by a set of face-to-face interviews with key informants,” explains the research team. Although the survey sample size is relatively small with 100 responses in Serbia and 200 in Morocco, it needs to be understood as a pilot study. “We hope our analysis and findings will support our search for more substantial funding to carry out future research at a larger scale.”

Presentation of findings at an international conference in Zagreb

There has already been considerable interest in the initial findings of the joint research project. Notably, in September 2024, the team were invited to present their findings at the Public Sector Economics 2024 Conference, organised by the Croatian national Institute of Public Finance and the University of Zagreb’s Faculty of Economics and Business.

The research team tells the story: “Our paper was presented by team member Dr. Ivana Prica from the University of Belgrade within a session on ‘Education and Labour Markets’. The presentation was well received by the audience, especially our main finding that in both Morocco and Serbia university graduates tend to be simultaneously overeducated and underskilled in relation to labour market needs.”

In answer to audience questions, the team explained about the pilot nature of the research and the reasons they focused on the two selected countries as “representative cases” of the two regions of North Africa and the Western Balkans to facilitate comparative analysis.

Summarising the event, the team highlights that: “Our participation in the conference was a great opportunity to showcase our project to a specialist audience and receive constructive comments for the improvement of the paper that has already been submitted to the Public Sector Economics journal and is currently undergoing revision prior to final submission.”

The added value of the ETF Skills Lab Network support

“Our participation in the ETF Skills Lab Network provided vital support for the development of our project,” enthuses the research team. “Indeed, we would not have developed the research proposal in the first place if it had not been for the call for projects issued by the ETF. The matchmaking element of the call enabled the Moroccan and Serbian partners to find one another and to initiate a collaborative and fruitful research activity, which also included two different opportunities for our team members to meet in person during the course of the research.”

The team also highlights the benefits of the mentoring element provided by the network through the opportunity to meet with other experts and discuss findings along the way. “This support was inspiring and was provided at just the right time, offering useful suggestions for improving the quality of the research design [and] extremely useful feedback and comments on our draft research papers that greatly contributed to improving their quality.”

“Overall, we are immensely grateful to the ETF Skills Lab Network for supporting our research project and enabling us to produce research outputs, which we are proud to be able to deliver to a wider audience.”