The government of North Macedonia has committed to promoting economic growth, creating new jobs, and ensuring a higher standard of living for all its citizens. European Union membership is at the heart of an ambitious package of reforms, to which education and training are expected to contribute by supporting a transition to a more productive economy that makes the most of the potential of digital technologies and builds on regionally and globally competitive domestic companies.
This ETF assessment comes at an important point as the country prepares for the next multiannual cycle of reform implementation along the lines of these priorities, which includes preparation for EU support through the next generation of the Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance (IPA) in 2021-2027. The report is expected to help with the prioritisation of reforms and the design of actions by providing input to policymakers in the domain of education and training. The assessment findings complement the monitoring of the Economic Reform Programme from a sector point of view.
The assessment process included an extensive phase of desk research based on responses to a standardised questionnaire, the National Reporting Framework (NRF), and the preparation of an issues paper with an overview of themes to be discussed in the present report, which were then finalised in consultation with the ETF country and thematic teams responsible for North Macedonia. An advanced draft of the ETF assessment was circulated to national stakeholders and international partners and discussed at a consultation meeting in Skopje in March 2019 to verify the fndings and recommendations (see Annex 3 for further details).
Like other ETF assessments, this paper is not meant to be exhaustive. The national report of North Macedonia covers a broad selection of problems around human capital development and use, while the focus here is on challenges which the ETF recommends addressing as a matter of priority.