ETF is supporting the government of Belarus in sustaining the reform process in education and training.
The ETF's work in 2012 continues to focus on supporting capacity development in the area of policy making based on evidence throughout a new round of the Torino process. The main achievement of the ETF work in Belarus in 2011 was the engagement of Belarusian partners in the Torinet Initiative aiming at increasing soundness and efficiency of policy development in vocational education and training through increasing collection and use of evidence. Belarus took part in the Torino Process launched by the ETF and carried out a self-assessment of the VET system. As a follow up of the Torino Process and at the initiative of the Ministry of Education, a specific strategic plan has been designed, which aims at boosting the cooperation among the different actors involved in education and training to achieve common objectives such as raising attractiveness, better match demand and offer of skills and offer equal access and equal employment opportunities. The Ministry of Education has put a lot of effort into strengthening cooperation between vocational education stakeholders and employers both in policy development and at school level, but there is still room for better information exchange and communication. The latest legislative initiatives, such as the Code of Education of the Republic of Belarus, promote to create a unified national system of education and to improve coherence between all levels of education. The launch of a National Qualification Framework to support transparency and coherence between qualifications is under consideration. In the framework of these developments in the field of education and training, the ETF main objective for 2012 is to contribute to strengthening the evidence base and analysis of human capital development (HCD) in Belarus, through the Torino Process 2012 and Torinet. ETF will also facilitate a debate on the relevance of a Belarussian qualifications framework engaging different stakeholders, facilitating exchange of international good practice and assisting the Belarusian partners in developing their own methodologies and approaches in the areas of VET and evidence based policy making.
Belarus also participates in ETF’s Regional projects on ‘Lifelong learning in Eastern Europe’, ‘Sustainable Development’ and the ILP LEARN. Belarus is also involved in the finalisation of the SME policy assessment which is facilitated by the European Commission, OECD EBRD and ETF. Upon request of the EC services, the focus will be on providing advice to the EC and national stakeholders with a scrutiny of EU experience and policy developments relevant for Belarus with a view to laying ground for possible future interventions.