Azerbaijan

Prioritise the expansion of adult education opportunities, in a lifelong learning perspective, and the collection of evidence on participation in order to improve employability, close the mismatch gaps and ensure more equity. This improvement should cover the content and methods of training as well as their relevance to the labour market needs.

This could include reinforced involvement of public providers in adult education, and better coordination of the involvement of private providers. Developing interactive and participatory methods will be relevant in gaining the interest of young people in learning and development of skills.

Strengthen the quality and effectiveness of early career guidance and counselling services at general and VET institutions, including building career education into the curriculum, linking it to students' overall development and offering guidance in career planning throughout secondary schools. Employers and non-governmental organisations (in addition to the State Agency for Vocational Education and the Labour Market Observatory) should be involved with the development of trades and the promotion of VET and career guidance.

Enhance coherence and adjust the youth employment policies so that they include services and training offers that are more user-friendly and appealing for young people, thus making the focus on youth an integral part of the country's mainstream labour market policy.

In particular, improve youth support measures by tailoring them to the specific needs of different groups, in particular disadvantaged young people. Furthermore, invest in the professional development of staff from the state employment service, to prepare them for the complex task of target group outreach and diverse needs and expectations.

Make regular use of analytical tools such as tracer studies with graduates and employer surveys that would provide data for more robust planning and show if the training is relevant to the labour market.

The shift to more targeted policy-making will require capacity building with regards to data collection and analysis.

Improve and streamline the professional standards for VET teachers and masters and introduce career and professional development schemes for VET personnel.

Azerbaijan could consider allowing practitioners from the world of work to enter teaching without formal teaching qualifications. Furthermore, it is recommended to carry out activities to enhance the prestige of the teaching profession, including creation of a promotion and career development system. Sharing expertise and best practice among teaching personnel as well as companies needs to be further stimulated.

Apply a comprehensive and coherent approach to address this issue by fostering the conditions conducive to a multi-level and multi-stakeholder governance ecosystem that steers skills development to answer efficiently the real socio-economic needs and foster attractiveness for young people and enterprises.

The national authorities need to create incentives and dedicated policy mechanisms for the involvement of employers in the VET policy cycle. This should range from policy planning to implementation and monitoring, including development of VET standards and curricula in accordance with the real needs of the labour market as well as active participation in the governance of the VET system.

Review the VET financing system by diversifying its resources, developing a costing approach and improving the distribution of funds, their management and monitoring.

This will include establishment of the Vocational Education Development Fund, which will manage and allocate funds among VET institutions in a transparent manner. The planning should take into account the various sources of funds, both public and private (including VET private providers' and donors' contributions), in order to bridge the current gap between strategies and actual achievements, ensure more visibility and transparency, and make the policy more credible.