Bosnia and Herzegovina 2024

Key takeaways

In 2024, VET in Bosnia and Herzegovina remains difficult to access and less appealing for many prospective learners, particularly adults. This is true across the country and regardless of the VET sub-system. Initial VET has become more accessible, but participation in continuing VET remains low. While training is available through both public and private providers, adults often enrol only when required by employers. Financial barriers and limited flexibility contribute to low participation in lifelong learning. Once enrolled, learners benefit from a generally supportive environment. Dropout rates are low, and progression to higher levels of education is relatively smooth. However, flexibility within the system is still limited. Learners who wish to move between vocational and general education may encounter obstacles, which can restrict individual choice and reduce the appeal of VET.

VET continues to face challenges also in delivering high-quality education. Many learners – especially those enrolled in three-year programmes – struggle with basic literacy and numeracy. Adult learners, while often equipped with basic skills, lag behind their peers in other countries when it comes to specific competences, including digital and foreign language skills. Despite efforts to expand work-based learning and the availability of career guidance, graduate employability remains low. Long-term unemployment is relatively common, even among those completing practical programmes. Efforts are under way to increase the relevance of VET through closer cooperation with employers and curriculum updates. Green competences are gradually being integrated into training programmes, but digital skills have seen a slight decline since 2023. While the system can adapt to labour market trends, there are delays in how quickly it responds to immediate needs.

In terms of system organisation, institutions have improved the availability of internationally comparable data. However, data systems remain a weak spot. Stakeholder involvement—particularly from the private sector—is moderate and often linked to external projects. Collaboration with higher education institutions is improving, and work on quality assurance, particularly for adult education, is moving forward. Leadership at VET institutions is generally strong, but staff recruitment and development practices remain inconsistent. Financial resources for VET are sizeable, but the learning materials are often outdated, IT resources are limited, and spending varies considerably across regions.

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 2024 Torino Process monitoring results for Bosnia and Herzegovina suggest a modest improvement in access to initial VET across all parts of the country compared to 2023. However, access to continuing VET and other adult learning opportunities remains limited. While adult education is available through both public and private providers, working-age adults tend to enrol only when required by their employers. This reflects a broader global trend in which IVET is generally more accessible and appealing than CVET.

Adults in Bosnia and Herzegovina continue to face significant obstacles to participation in learning tailored to their needs. Lifelong learning programmes are often expensive, with most of the cost falling on learners themselves - a factor contributing to persistently low participation rates.

Those who do enrol in VET benefit from a supportive learning environment. Dropout rates are low, and learners can progress from one level of education to the next with relative ease. This has improved further in 2024, supported by a policy framework to recognise, validate and accredit non-formal and informal learning. However, movement between vocational and other types of education remains limited. Once inside the VET system, learners may struggle to explore alternative pathways, which reduces overall flexibility.

In 2024, Bosnia and Herzegovina has made progress in expanding access to initial vocational education, while participation in adult learning remains low due to financial barriers and limited flexibility. Although learners in VET benefit from strong support and smooth progression, adults face challenges in accessing programmes that meet their needs. Work on recognising non-formal and informal learning has improved internal progression, but further efforts are needed to make lifelong learning more accessible, affordable, and adaptable for all age groups.

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

In 2024, Bosnia and Herzegovina continues to face challenges in delivering quality vocational education to both young and adult learners. Many students in VET struggle with basic literacy and numeracy, especially in three-year programmes where functional illiteracy remains common. While most adults have basic skills, their proficiency is generally lower than that of adults in other countries participating in the Torino Process. Employers also report gaps in digital, foreign language, and social skills—key areas for workplace readiness.

Work-based learning is being developed across the country, but its implementation is uneven. Despite these efforts, the employability of VET graduates remains a concern. Bosnia and Herzegovina lags well behind the international average on this measure, and long-term unemployment is relatively frequent—even among graduates of practice-oriented, three-year IVET programmes. Although career guidance services in VET are well developed, turning education into sustainable employment opportunities remains a major challenge.

Formazione Professionale in Laboratorio Tecnico

To improve the quality and relevance of VET, steps have been taken to increase cooperation with industry and expand practical learning opportunities. Green competences are gradually being introduced into curricula, but progress in digital skills has been limited. In fact, the share of learners with ICT skills has declined slightly since 2023. Overall, there is a need for better alignment between immediate responses to current challenges and long-term strategic planning to ensure VET meets both present and future labour market demands.

In 2024, Bosnia and Herzegovina continues to face difficulties in ensuring quality learning and strong employment outcomes for VET graduates. Basic skills gaps remain widespread, and graduate employability is well below the international average. While there are positive steps—such as stronger links with employers, progress on green skills, and solid career guidance—digital skills have declined, and short-term responses are not yet well aligned with long-term needs. Closing these gaps will be essential to make VET more effective and responsive for all learners.

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, the VET system in Bosnia and Herzegovina shows mixed results when it comes to organisational efficiency. Institutions responsible for collecting, managing, and using data are relatively effective, and the availability of internationally comparable evidence has improved slightly since 2023. However, participation in international assessments remains limited. Broader involvement could help strengthen a culture of evidence-informed decision-making and improve transparency across the system.

Stakeholder engagement in VET decision-making—particularly from the private sector—is moderate and often linked to international initiatives such as the EU’s Erasmus+ programme. That said, cooperation between VET and higher education agencies is improving in 2024, and there are policy plans to support this trend. Progress is also being made in public accountability and quality assurance, particularly in relation to adult learning programmes. Still, the VET system could benefit from greater international exposure—especially at the level of schools and practitioners.

Technical Assistance for VET Education Workshop

Leadership within VET institutions is a strength, with skilled professionals in key positions. However, challenges remain in managing human resources at other staffing levels. For example, recruitment procedures for school leaders are not standardised, and there is a lack of consistent training opportunities for both teachers and leadership staff. These issues continue to hold back wider education development, although conditions for teaching and learning have slightly improved in 2024.

Financial resources for VET are generally substantial, but learning materials often fall short. Many textbooks are outdated, IT equipment is insufficient, and spending across regions is uneven. These issues point to the need for more effective—or better coordinated—resource allocation. While recent efforts to improve infrastructure and digitalisation are encouraging, further investment is especially needed in smaller towns and rural areas.

In 2024, VET in Bosnia and Herzegovina continues to improve in areas like leadership, data use, and collaboration between sectors. At the same time, gaps remain in stakeholder engagement, recruitment practices, and the professional development of staff. Unequal access to up-to-date learning materials and technology continues to affect quality, particularly outside major urban areas. Better resource allocation, stronger training systems, and greater international engagement—especially among providers—will be essential to strengthen the overall performance, transparency, and responsiveness of VET across the country.

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 Bosnia and Herzegovina.

In 2024, the results of Bosnia and Herzegovina are more internationally comparable than the average across other countries in the Torino Process sample. Data availability has also improved since 2023. The results are less prone to subjective bias than in many other countries, as a smaller share of indicators is based on self-assessments. In addition, Bosnia and Herzegovina tends to take a more self-critical approach when rating the performance of its VET system. The country’s score on this dimension falls below the international benchmark for neutral self-assessment, suggesting a more cautious or realistic appraisal of its own progress.