Bosnia and Herzegovina 2023

Key takeaways

In Bosnia and Herzegovina, prospective learners may find vocational education and training (VET) difficult to access and less appealing, no matter which part of the country and VET sub-system they are in. This is true especially for continuing VET (CVET) that caters to the needs of adult learners. More needs to be done to make VET and lifelong learning in general more attractive and accessible for this group of learners. Despite these challenges, VET across the country is relatively effective in supporting those who are already enrolled. Dropout rates are low, and learners have a possibility to move smoothly between different levels of education and training. However, the system could benefit from a greater flexibility in supporting student choice after enrolment, for instance by allowing learners to switch more easily between VET and general education if they choose.

VET in Bosnia and Herzegovina faces challenges in delivering quality education, particularly for young learners. Adults, while often possessing foundational skills, still lag behind their peers in other countries due to gaps in the specific competencies and specialised skills that employers seek. Despite work-based learning being a priority in both initial and continuing VET, and despite career guidance being satisfactory, these efforts have not yet substantially improved graduate employability. On a positive note, VET policies across the country are open to adapting to strategic like sustainability and digitalisation. While VET programs are responsive and can update to reflect new job market trends, there is often a delay in how effectively and swiftly these updates address immediate issues and labour market changes.

Bosnia and Herzegovina shows a mix of strengths and weaknesses in the organisational efficiency and performance of its VET systems. The country has a decent ability to handle administrative and big data, but this area remains the weakest point of policy and practice, similar to other countries. The involvement of the private sector and external stakeholders in VET decision-making is moderate, and quality assurance arrangements and practices could be improved. Although leadership positions are filled with skilled professionals, the management of human resources could be more effective. While financial resources for VET are substantial overall, the adequacy of material resources for learning and training is modest. This indicates possible issues with the allocation and utilisation of resources.

Access to learning

Monitoring in the area of access to and participation to learning helps countries assess the extent to which initial VET, continuing VET and other learning opportunities are accessible and attractive to all learners, regardless of their individual backgrounds or reasons for participating. The data also reflects how well learners can expect to progress through and graduate from these learning opportunities.

Opportunities for lifelong learning: access and participation

The Torino Process monitoring results for Bosnia and Herzegovina suggest that VET in all parts of the country struggles with access and attractiveness. A closer look reveals that IVET and CVET face distinct challenges. Although CVET programs are available through both public and private institutions, working-age adults usually only enrol when required by their jobs. This trend mirrors the global pattern where IVET tends to be more appealing and accessible. However, both VET subsystems have limited success in encouraging learner participation, which indicates that there is significant room for improvement.

Adults in Bosnia and Herzegovina face significant challenges in participating in educational programs tailored to their age group. Unfortunately, this is not confined to VET but affects various adult learning opportunities as well, including those linked to active labour market policies. Although participation in non-formal education is somewhat higher, the area is held back by poorly developed systems for recognising prior learning. Overall, the cost of lifelong learning programs is high and often shouldered by learners, which contributes to the low rate of participation.

Learners who do enter VET programs, however, can expect to receive strong support. Dropout rates are low, and learners are able to move smoothly from one stage of education to another if they wish to do so. However, they may find it difficult to transition to parallel educational tracks or apply their skills in different contexts. This limited flexibility in moving between VET and other educational pathways suggests that once learners are within the VET system, they may face significant barriers to exploring alternative opportunities.

The Torino Process is a regular review of national systems of vocational education and training as well as adult education. It is designed to analyse the ways in which national VET systems (including adult education) address the challenges of human capital development in a lifelong learning perspective. It was established by the European Training Foundation (ETF) in 2010 and has been carried out in partner countries in Southeastern Europe, Turkey, Eastern Europe, Central Asia and the Southern and Eastern Mediterranean ever since.

Monitoring in the context of the Torino Process describes the extent to which countries deliver on their commitments to learners in support of their learning through life (lifelong learning - LLL) in three major areas of policy and system performance: access to learning, quality of learning, and system organisation.

Quality of learning

Quality and relevance of learning is the area of monitoring that identifies how successfully the VET system provides basic skills and key competences to both young and adult learners. It highlights the relevance of VET programmes to the world of work and how effectively VET graduates transition into the labour market. Additionally, it monitors efforts to promote excellence across key domains, including pedagogy, professional development, programme content, governance, and social inclusion, as well as the openness of the VET system to innovation in response to the evolving needs of learners and labour markets.

Lifelong learning outcomes: quality and relevance, excellence and innovation

There are challenges in delivering quality education to both young and adult learners in VET. Many VET students struggle with basic literacy and numeracy, particularly in three-year programs where functional illiteracy is common. While adults tend to possess basic skills, their proficiency in these areas is often lower than that of adults in other countries participating in the Torino Process, on average. Employers particularly note gaps in foreign language, digital, and social skills.

Work-based is at varying stages of development across the country. However, employability of VET graduates remains a concern everywhere. Bosnia and Herzegovina significantly lags behind the international average in terms of the employability of its VET learners. Long-term unemployment is relatively common even for those who have completed pragmatically oriented, 3-year IVET programmes. Although career guidance in VET is robust, translating learning into viable careers is still a challenge.

Efforts are being made to improve the relevance and quality of VET, such as through increased industry collaboration and enhanced practical training. Bosnia and Herzegovina is gradually integrating green skills into curricula, though more progress is needed in the area of digitalisation. Overall, VET across the country could benefit from better alignment between responses to short-term challenges and strategic, long-term needs.

Bosnia and Herzegovina faces significant challenges in delivering quality education and ensuring employability for VET graduates. Despite efforts to enhance industry collaboration and practical training, many students struggle with basic skills, and long-term unemployment remains common among VET graduates. While some progress has been made, particularly in integrating green skills and providing career guidance, gaps in digital skills and alignment between short-term and long-term needs persist. To improve outcomes, the VET system must focus on bridging these skill gaps and better aligning educational programs with the evolving demands of the labour market

System organisation

System organisation is the area of monitoring that captures performance across various domains of management and administration. It examines whether practitioners and leaders have access to data and evidence to support informed decision-making, the level of stakeholder involvement in VET governance, the quality and capacity of staff in leadership positions, and the degree of internationalisation. Additionally, monitoring the allocation of human and financial resources to the VET system helps assess whether these resources effectively support teaching, training, and learning.

System organisation: management and resourcing

The VET system in Bosnia and Herzegovina shows mixed results in terms of organisational efficiency. Relevant institutions are relatively effective in collecting, managing, and using data, though this remains the weakest area. Gaps in participation in international assessments and limited data on enrolment rates hinder evidence-based decision-making and reduce transparency.

Engagement from the private sector and other stakeholders in VET decision-making is moderate and largely driven by international projects, such as ERASMUS+ of the EU. However, collaboration, especially between VET and higher education agencies, remains insufficient. Public accountability and quality assurance practices need improvement, and the VET system could benefit from greater international exposure on the level of practitioners and providers.

The leadership of VET providers is strong, with skilled professionals in key roles. However, challenges remain in human resource management on lower levels of staffing. Also, for school leaders, the recruitment process is not standardized. Inadequate training for teachers and school leaders negatively impacts overall education development.

While financial resources for VET are substantial, the materials available for learning are often inadequate. Many textbooks are outdated, IT equipment is lacking, and there are disparities in spending across regions, underscoring the need for better or at least better coordinated resource allocation. Recent efforts to improve infrastructure and digitalisation are promising, but additional investment is necessary, especially in smaller cities and localities.

VET in Bosnia and Herzegovina is well-performing in some areas of monitoring while facing significant challenges in others. These include gaps in data collection and use, limited engagement from stakeholders, and insufficient collaboration between VET and higher education. The lack of reliable recruitment standards and staff development practices, coupled with outdated learning materials and inadequate IT resources, further hampers the effectiveness of VET across the country. Addressing these issues through better resource allocation, coordination, and targeted investment is essential for improving the quality and relevance of VET.

Promoting access and participation in opportunities for lifelong learning

Supporting quality and relevance of lifelong learning

Index of system performance

System performance

International comparability of performance results

In addition to messages about system performance, the Torino Process monitoring delivers information about the international comparability of results of each country, the extent to which these results may be susceptible to bias, and how self-critical a country is when it reports about its policy and system performance for external monitoring purposes. This is possible because the monitoring methodology foresees keeping accurate records about the availability, origin and type of evidence used to calculate the monitoring results for each country, including Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The monitoring results of Bosnia and Herzegovina are more internationally comparable than the results of other countries in the Torino Process sample, on average. This finding reflects the extent to which the monitoring results of the country are based on internationally comparable evidence. The results are also at a lower risk of subjective bias than the international average, as fewer of them are based on self-assessment responses. Bosnia and Herzegovina also tends to self-appraise the performance of its VET system somewhat more critically. The score of the country on this metric is below the average mark that signifies neutral self-assessment.