The Slovak Chamber of Trade and Industry (Trenčín branch) has been helping an Azerbaijani business association understand better how it can contribute to creating a successful vocational education and training (VET) system in Azerbaijan.
Farid Malikov, executive director of the Partnership for Economic and Social Initiatives (PESI) in Azerbaijan, an independent think tank on the market economy and social welfare, travelled to Slovakia for five days of training organised under the BSO Exchange programme, developed by the EU4Business East Invest 2 project.
Addressing skills shortages
As part of the training, the Slovak Chamber in the city of Trenčín demonstrated to him how it anticipates future labour markets, measures graduate employability, helps them find jobs, systematically monitors their trajectories and addresses shortages of skilled professionals.
Mr Malikov aims to employ the experience acquired during this BSO Exchange to empower PESI to engage more in VET policymaking in Azerbaijan.
Azerbaijan is in the process of restructuring its VET system to face the challenges of the market economy. Its State Program on the Development of Vocational Education has improved the capacity of VET to meet labour market needs and aims to involve more stakeholders in VET policymaking.
Objectives of the BSO Exchange traineeships are to:
- empower SME associations and related BSOs in EaP countries and increase their capacity in promoting a conducive business environment
- ensure their increased and sustainable capacity in providing better specialised services to SME members
facilitate long-term partnerships and trade between SMEs and business associations in both EU and EaP countries.