Montenegro 2024

Key takeaways

In 2024, initial VET in Montenegro remains widely accessible and continues to attract young learners, supported by a strong regulatory framework and ongoing curriculum updates. These reforms have sustained learner interest and helped maintain relevance. However, access to continuing VET is less consistent. Although somewhat better than in many countries, participation remains uneven, with most licensed adult education providers concentrated in central regions. This geographic imbalance limits opportunities for adults in the north and south. Licensing requirements for providers may also restrict the system’s overall flexibility and capacity. Dropout remains a concern, particularly in three-year programmes, where more than one in ten students leave without completing their studies.

Practical learning opportunities are a strong feature of Montenegro’s VET offer, especially for young learners. However, those in shorter programmes often face difficulties in core subjects like mathematics, science, and reading. Adult learners, though stronger on average, frequently lack key competences. While practical training is prioritised, providers face ongoing challenges in securing dependable workplace partners and offering the necessary support. Nonetheless, Montenegro’s VET system has shown adaptability, responding to evolving labour market needs and wider socio-economic shifts.

The organisation of the system shows both strengths and gaps. Leadership in VET schools is underdeveloped, with no formal requirement for management experience and limited access to structured training. Stakeholder involvement in governance exists but is uneven, and coordination between education and labour market actors remains modest. Progress on infrastructure continues, though many schools still lack adequate materials and modern facilities. While Montenegro benefits from a solid base of internationally comparable data, monitoring graduate outcomes and adult skills remains challenging. Public education spending is relatively high as a share of GDP, yet much of it goes to salaries and administration, leaving little room for innovation. Efforts to attract private sector contributions are ongoing, but further investment and stronger leadership are essential for sustained progress.

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

In 2024, access to VET in Montenegro still depends on the type of programme. Initial VET (IVET) remains widely available and has become even more appealing to students than in 2023 due to a process of modernisation of curricula and improving programme quality, led by the Ministry of Education, Science and Innovation and the Centre for Vocational Education. A well-regulated licensing system has also helped maintain consistent standards across providers.

Continuing VET (CVET), on the other hand, is less accessible – especially outside central Montenegro. Of the 115 adult education providers licensed by the Ministry, most are private institutions, followed by secondary schools and a smaller number of higher education institutions. Because the majority are based in the central region, adults living in the north and south face more limited options. While Montenegro performs slightly above the international average in access to CVET, further investment is needed to expand its reach and make it a more competitive option for adult learners.

Montenegro has also continued to strengthen its approach to lifelong learning in 2024. Alongside formal VET, adults can access a range of training opportunities through active labour market policies (ALMPs) coordinated by the Employment Service. These include training courses, public works, and employment subsidies, and help adults build occupational skills and professional qualifications. Montenegro continues to outperform many countries in this area. Progress has also been made in recognising non-formal and informal learning: in the VET sector especially, adults can now obtain qualifications aligned with national and European frameworks.

There are also signs of improvement in the flexibility of learning pathways. Modular programmes and recognition of prior learning allow learners to move more easily between education levels or between formal and non-formal routes. Despite this, completion remains a concern in some programmes. Students in three-year VET tracks continue to face higher risks of dropping out or repeating years, compared to those in four-year programmes. More than one in ten students in three-year tracks do not complete their studies. A more targeted approach will be needed to support these learners and help them complete their education successfully.

In 2024, initial VET in Montenegro remains accessible and continues to grow in popularity, backed by curriculum reforms and a strong regulatory framework. Opportunities for adult learning have expanded, particularly through labour market programmes and recognition of prior learning. However, regional gaps in CVET provision and persistent dropout risks in shorter VET programmes point to areas where more tailored support and broader access are still needed to ensure that the system meets the needs of all learners.

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

Montenegro continues to strengthen its efforts to equip young learners with skills for today’s labour market. Performance in this area is slightly above the international average, but challenges remain—especially for students in three-year programmes, many of whom struggle with basic competences in mathematics, science, and reading. To address these gaps, key competences such as mother tongue, foreign languages, mathematics, and digital literacy are now integrated into the VET curriculum, with further improvements underway.

Adult learners in Montenegro tend to have stronger foundational skills than their younger counterparts. Still, many lack the basic competences needed to access more innovative or in-demand sectors of the economy. National authorities are working to strengthen the link between learning and work by embedding practical training in the curriculum, combining classroom and workplace experience. While this approach is widely supported, providers often face difficulties in securing suitable employer partners and offering adequate support for learners in work-based settings.

Career guidance remains a strong feature of Montenegro’s VET system, helping students make informed choices about education and employment. However, employers continue to report a lack of practical experience among graduates, particularly those from three-year vocational or higher education programmes. Despite efforts to bridge this gap, more consistent engagement from businesses and targeted investment in training placements are still needed.

The VET curriculum is increasingly aligned with sustainability goals. Environmental topics are being introduced into several programmes, and a small number of qualifications, such as the Environment Protection Technician, are already focused on green jobs. These efforts are supported by a national implementation plan for greening VET through sector-specific guidance and curriculum reform. However, the role of CVET in advancing green skills remains limited.

In contrast, the development of digital skills presents a more pressing challenge. Montenegro’s performance in this area declined in 2024, due in part to lower access to ICT equipment and a drop in the proportion of young people and adults with basic digital competences. Addressing this gap will require renewed focus on infrastructure and training for both learners and teachers.

Montenegro’s VET system continues to focus on delivering relevant skills for learners of all ages. While progress has been made in embedding key competences and greening the curriculum, challenges persist in basic skills development, digital readiness, and practical training. Stronger engagement with employers, expanded access to work-based learning, and renewed investment in digital infrastructure and teacher training will be essential to ensure quality learning outcomes and better prepare graduates for a changing 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

In 2024, Montenegro’s VET system continues to face two major challenges: limited leadership experience among school heads and uneven resource allocation in both initial and continuing VET. Heads of VET schools are not required to have previous management experience, and opportunities for continuous professional development are limited. Although some training is provided after appointment, there is no structured, long-term approach to building leadership capacity. Recent changes in school leadership following political appointments have added further instability to this area. At the same time, international mobility has improved, supported by programmes such as Erasmus+, INTERVET WB, and the Regional Challenge Fund.

Material shortages are also becoming more pronounced. More school leaders now report a lack of educational resources or outdated equipment, and system performance in this area has declined since 2023. While the current VET Strategy (2020–2024) includes goals for improving infrastructure and equipment, progress remains limited and uneven across schools.

Montenegro has a strong policy and institutional framework for accountability and quality assurance. Schools carry out internal self-evaluations and participate in external assessments, with support from national agencies. However, recent monitoring results point to a weakening in the actual use of evaluation data. Fewer school principals now report sharing student performance data or using it to inform improvement strategies, and the application of core quality procedures has become less consistent compared to the previous year.

Stakeholder cooperation remains modest. Although mechanisms for employer and social partner involvement exist—such as educational councils and working groups—collaboration is often limited in practice. To improve coordination, the VET Strategy calls for more active engagement, particularly at the local level, and increased co-financing of dual education programmes by employers. In terms of resources, despite allocating a relatively high share of GDP to education, most funding still goes towards salaries and administration. This leaves limited room for innovation or infrastructure investment. A new policy goal aims to increase private funding for skills development to 30% by 2030, with the hope of building more sustainable partnerships with the private sector and civil society.

In 2024, Montenegro’s VET system shows clear strengths in its institutional framework and commitment to transparency, but struggles persist in leadership development, stakeholder cooperation, and resource distribution. While student and staff mobility are on the rise, gaps remain in tracking graduate outcomes and in responding to infrastructure and material needs. Ongoing reforms—along with stronger partnerships and smarter use of funding—will be essential to improve system organisation and responsiveness.

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 Montenegro.

Due to an increase in the availability of internationally comparable data since 2023, in 2024, the monitoring results of Montenegro are considerably more internationally comparable than those of most other countries in the Torion Process sample. However, they also remain more susceptible to bias in international comparison. This is largely due to uneven availability of international indicators: while data are readily accessible for some policy areas, they are lacking in others. Montenegro also tends to assess the performance of its VET system more critically than most countries participating in the Torino Process.