VET Decentralisation in Ukraine: Momentum for Action

Vocational Education and Training (VET) Decentralisation in Ukraine: Momentum for Action

A Green Paper by the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine for use by the Ukrainian Parliamentary Commission on education and by the Ukrainian regions in the period 2017–2018.

Short description:

In 2015 Ukraine set in motion a programme for administrative territorial reform and chose VET as the first sector to undergo a major process of decentralisation. This would have radical and far-reaching implications for the governance and financing of VET at the national, regional and sub-regional levels. The existing system was highly fragmented and the most urgent issue was perceived to be the preparation of new legislation that would enable it to be modernised, rationalised and optimised.

The ETF was asked to produce a Green Paper to be read and discussed as a key input in the drafting of a general bill for educational reform. More precisely, the goal of the Green Paper was to clearly lay out the following points for the parliamentary commission on education and the EU Delegation:

• the main challenges facing VET in Ukraine;

• the decisions that reformers would have to make;

• the available policy options, with a discussion of the benefits and drawbacks of each one.

This document is the final version in English of the Green Paper. Not only has it been used by policy makers and legislators in Ukraine, it has thoroughly informed the feasibility study of the Delegation of the EU to Ukraine in preparing budget support for the VET sector.

The Green Paper does not contain a formal vision for the new VET and skills system, or human capital development (HCD) sector as a whole, instead the government has created a series of separate visions. The first one, for the secondary school sector, has already been published. With support from the ETF, the government is now in the process of developing a vision for VET.