Tunisia 2024

Key takeaways

VET in Tunisia performs well in terms of accessibility and attractiveness. Young learners show greater interest in VET compared to their peers in other countries, and adults actively pursue continuing vocational education and training (CVET) for skill development and socio-economic advancement. However, access remains limited for vulnerable groups, including the long-term unemployed and those with low educational attainment. Graduation rates in VET are low, progression to higher education is limited, and dropout rates remain high. Although legal provisions aim to facilitate transitions from VET to general education, challenges such as delays in implementing the vocational baccalaureate persist. Horizontal transition opportunities have improved since 2023, supported by progress in recognising non-formal learning.

The quality and relevance of learning in Tunisia’s VET system are comparable to other countries in some areas, but gaps remain. Young learners struggle with key competencies, particularly language and communication skills. Adults generally display stronger basic skills, though their performance in this area has slightly declined since 2023. Tunisia’s tradition of work-based learning supports graduate employability, but the alignment between VET programmes and labour market needs is average. While many graduates secure jobs, their skills often fall short of employer expectations. Digital skills are increasingly included in curricula, though this progress reflects slower advancements in other countries rather than significant improvements in Tunisia.

Management and organisation within Tunisia’s VET system face persistent challenges, particularly due to gaps in reliable data that hinder informed decision-making. Weaknesses in participatory governance, public accountability, and quality assurance are compounded by limited stakeholder involvement and resource constraints. Administrative hurdles and mismatches between solutions and learner needs further complicate reform efforts. Despite these issues, Tunisia demonstrates relative strength in the capacity of VET staff in leadership roles and in internationalisation efforts. However, resource limitations and infrastructure maintenance remain critical concerns, with authorities highlighting the need for comprehensive changes in public financing of VET.

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

VET in Tunisia performs well in international comparison in terms of accessibility and attractiveness, both for initial vocational education (IVET) and CVET. Young learners continue to find VET more appealing than their peers in other countries, and adult learners are particularly eager to engage in CVET. This interest is driven by the desire of adults to update their skills and improve socio-economic opportunities through practical, hands-on learning. However, access to VET remains weaker for the unemployed and those seeking opportunities through active labour market policies. Since 2023, there has been a notable improvement in horizontal permeability, allowing learners greater flexibility to move between VET and general education pathways.

However, access to learning opportunities does not always translate into successful outcomes. Graduation rates remain low, progression to higher education is limited, and dropout rates remain high. The prospects of learners for horizontal transition have improved since 2023, supported by progress in recognising and accrediting non-formal and informal learning. This marks a shift from 2023, when no formal framework for recognition existed. Despite this, vertical transitions from VET to higher education remain a significant challenge, partly due to delays in implementing reforms like the vocational baccalaureate, which was still not operational during the latest monitoring period.

Once enrolled in VET, learners often find their chosen pathway rigid and difficult to navigate. While horizontal transitions are becoming more accessible, the overall rigidity of pathways continues to limit the flexibility of the system for learners. The recognition, validation, and accreditation of non-formal and informal learning have seen progress since 2023, which reflects improvements in the policy framework in this area. However, challenges persist in operationalising broader policy plans, such as improving graduation rates and ensuring transitions to higher education. Without further reforms, these issues will continue to hinder the ability of learners to fully benefit from VET and improve their socio-economic standing.

Addressing the remaining challenges, especially in vertical transitions and operationalising reforms like the vocational baccalaureate, will be critical to improving outcomes and expanding opportunities for learners.

Tunisia’s VET system provides broad access and remains an attractive option for both young and adult learners. Many adults see CVET as a valuable opportunity to update skills and improve socio-economic prospects. However, access remains limited for the unemployed and those relying on active labour market policies. Since 2023, horizontal permeability has improved and transitioning between VET and general education became easier. Despite these advances, graduation rates remain low, dropout rates high, and progression to higher education restricted. Delays in implementing reforms, such as the vocational baccalaureate, continue to hinder vertical mobility. Increasing graduation rates, strengthening pathways to higher education, and ensuring learners can fully benefit from VET opportunities remain key priorities.

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

VET in Tunisia shows mixed outcomes in terms of adaptability, flexibility, and alignment with socio-economic developments. While it matches other countries in some areas of quality and relevance, it falls behind in others. Noteworthy developments since 2023 include progress in integrating digital skills into curricula and improvements in graduate employability. However, the inclusion of long-term themes such as sustainability and green skills has declined, revealing a growing gap in addressing societal challenges.

Young learners continue to face challenges in acquiring key skills, particularly in language and communication, with no improvement observed since 2023. This remains a concern both in international comparisons and within Tunisia’s own monitoring framework. In contrast, adult learners tend to demonstrate stronger basic skills and key competences than the international average. However, their performance has slightly declined, partly due to narrower monitoring criteria introduced in 2024, which may underreport the impact of adult learning programmes.

Tunisia benefits from a strong tradition of work-based learning, which supports graduate employment. However, the alignment between VET programmes and labour market needs remains average compared to other countries. Progress in adapting to societal changes since 2023 has been limited, and graduates’ skills often do not fully meet employer demands. Although Tunisia’s relative standing in incorporating digital skills has improved, this reflects slower progress in other countries rather than significant advancements within Tunisia.

The integration of long-term themes into Tunisia’s VET curricula, such as sustainability, green skills, and climate change awareness, remains limited. Since 2023, these areas have seen a decline, reflected in lower performance scores for greening initiatives. While some steps have been taken to address ecological and environmental issues, their contribution to broader sustainability goals is still minimal.

Despite these challenges, Tunisia prioritises innovation and excellence by enhancing programme content and promoting social inclusion. Recent investments aim to address participation and graduation challenges, reflecting a commitment to improving outcomes for both young and adult learners in the years ahead.

VET in Tunisia demonstrates strengths in certain areas but continues to face challenges in others. Adult learners generally possess stronger foundational skills than younger learners, though monitoring results indicate a slight decline in this area since 2023, which may reflect a reduced impact of adult education programmes. Digital skills have become more prominent in VET curricula, showing improvement in international comparisons. However, this progress is modest and reflects slower advancements in other countries rather than significant national gains. Language and communication skills remain a challenge for young learners, with limited improvement observed. Nevertheless, progress has been made in supporting horizontal transitions and promoting ecological awareness in adult learning. These initiatives reflect ongoing efforts to increase flexibility and inclusiveness within Tunisia’s VET system, aiming to address both current and emerging needs in 2024 and beyond.

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

In 2024, Tunisia, like many other Torino Process countries, continues to face challenges in obtaining reliable and comparable data for monitoring its VET system. Other areas affected by somewhat weaker performance in international comparison include accountability and quality assurance. These declines reflect not only Tunisia’s challenges but also the more significant progress made by other countries, on average.

Despite these setbacks, the professional capacity of school leaders remains a relative strength. Slight improvements in performance in support of participatory governance relative to 2023 are the result of decline in average performance in other countries, rather than to positive developments on national level. Factors such as insufficient stakeholder involvement, limited transparency, and top-down decision-making contribute all play a role. Although Tunisia’s performance in ensuring material, financial, and human resources for VET operations has improved relative to other countries, there are resource constraints which can impede progress.

Tunisia has shown a slight improvement in its relative performance in internationalisation since 2023, but this progress reflects challenges faced by other countries rather than significant national achievements. Efforts in this area remain largely driven by public bodies, with limited participation from VET providers. The system continues to face major issues, including inadequate infrastructure and poor resource maintenance. Financial and human resource allocation is particularly weak, with performance scores well below international averages. National authorities have emphasised the urgent need for comprehensive reforms in public financing to address these persistent shortcomings.

VET in Tunisia continues to face challenges, including declines in data availability, quality assurance, and leadership capacity since 2023. While there have been relative improvements in participatory governance and resource allocation, these are driven more by international trends than by national advancements. Despite these difficulties, Tunisia is working to address funding shortages and resource gaps, with a focus on targeted reforms. Priorities include increasing public financing for VET and introducing more effective evaluation mechanisms for leadership and governance. These steps will be critical to strengthening the system’s capacity to deliver quality education and meet labour market demands.

Promoting access and participation in opportunities for lifelong learning

Supporting quality and relevance of lifelong learning

Index of 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 Tunisia.

Tunisia’s monitoring results for 2024 face a higher risk of bias than many other Torino Process countries due to a limited reliance on quantitative evidence. However, self-assessments provided by Tunisia appear more self-critical than those of many peers, suggesting a balanced approach despite the lower use of objective data. While there has been some progress in improving the international comparability of Tunisia’s monitoring data, the country continues to rank among the lowest performers in this area. The limited availability of data meeting international standards hampers the reliability of monitoring results and reflects ongoing challenges in aligning national data systems with global benchmarks. Strengthening data quality and comparability remains crucial for improving the robustness of Tunisia’s system monitoring and enhancing its ability to benchmark performance internationally.