Serbia 2023

Key takeaways

In Serbia, most young people choose vocational education, but this does not necessarily reflect its appeal. Rather, it highlights limited access to general education options. Adult learning, especially for women, faces greater challenges in terms of access and participation. However, policies linked to active labour market initiatives have been relatively effective in providing learning opportunities. Once enrolled, learners typically find an environment that supports their progress, completion, and movement between vocational and general education pathways. There does not appear to be significant discrimination in these transitions based on gender, socio-economic background, risk status, or country of origin.

The quality and relevance of skills gained through VET in Serbia vary by learner group. While young learners receive education that is slightly above average for Torino Process countries, adults tend to have stronger essential skills and competences needed for participation in information-rich societies. National authorities emphasise strong links between learning and work, supported by work-based learning and effective career guidance. Despite this, employability outcomes have not improved as expected, indicating the need for better support in this area. Although VET provides consistent quality across age and gender, disadvantaged youth and migrants seem to receive lower quality education, highlighting areas for improvement.

Serbia has more internationally comparable data than many other countries, but there is room to improve how this data is used. The VET system includes a wide range of quality assurance and accountability measures, though their effectiveness could be examined more closely. National authorities report active involvement of the private sector and other stakeholders in VET governance. There is also a strong focus on maintaining high professional standards when appointing school leaders, a challenge for many Torino Process countries. While Serbia is committed to staffing and financial investments in VET, improving the material resources available to providers remains a challenge, requiring more targeted funding.

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

Young people in Serbia are more likely to choose vocational education than their peers in other countries. While access to vocational education is strong both nationally and internationally, this does not necessarily mean it is more attractive. Instead, it reflects the limited availability of alternative general education pathways at the secondary level. According to national data, 74% of fifteen-year-olds attend secondary vocational schools, while only 23% are enrolled in general education.

The monitoring data suggests that learners, regardless of age, are in an environment that supports their progress and successful graduation. However, it is crucial to ensure students are not advancing without proper checks on their learning outcomes. Support for progression and graduation should not come at the expense of maintaining adequate assessment standards.

The VET system also offers flexibility, allowing students to transition between different educational pathways. Whether moving from one level to another or between vocational and general education, students can shape their education to match their interests and goals. While transitions between consecutive pathways are more common, some opportunities exist for switching between parallel pathways as well.

Adult learning faces more challenges, including limited access and lower participation, especially among older adults and women. However, adult education in Serbia is slightly more accessible than in other countries in the Torino Process, particularly due to learning opportunities provided through active labour market policies.

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

The quality of basic skills and key competences provided through VET in Serbia varies by learner group. Young learners acquire basic skills that are slightly below average compared to other countries. According to data from the OECD’s Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), which includes vocational students, Serbian students score an average of 448 points in mathematical literacy, well below the OECD average of around 500. Learning outcomes for youth in VET also fall behind those of adults, with students in three-year vocational programmes performing the weakest.

National authorities report strong links between learning and work due to the integration of work-based learning into VET curricula. Over 10,000 students are enrolled in 65 dual education profiles across 150 secondary vocational schools. This dual education system has even been extended to higher education to strengthen connections between academia and industry. Career guidance is also seen as effective in helping students make educational and professional choices.

However, VET graduates are not as employable as expected. Data from the National Employment Service and the Chamber of Commerce shows that employers still struggle to hire people with the necessary occupation-specific skills, knowledge, and work experience. There is a need to better translate the strengths of work-based learning into stronger labour market outcomes.

The inclusion of forward-looking themes, like the digital and green transitions, shows mixed progress. Serbia places more emphasis on the green transition than many countries, reflecting its focus on sustainability. However, integrating digital skills remains a challenge. National authorities highlight the need to strengthen digital competences to improve both learning and employability.

Serbia prioritises excellence in VET, especially in areas like teacher development and programme content. Since 2019, thousands of teachers have received training focused on outcome-based teaching, improving overall quality. VET in Serbia is also open to innovation, such as regional training centres and expanding dual education. However, ensuring all learners equally benefit from these innovations remains a challenge.

Learning quality in VET in Serbia varies by learner group. Young students acquire basic skills at a level below the average of other countries and lower than the skills of adults. PISA data shows that learners in VET programmes score lower in mathematical literacy compared to their international peers, particularly those in three-year vocational tracks. Despite strong links between education and work, many VET graduates face challenges in finding employment due to gaps in job-specific skills and limited work experience. While VET raises awareness of green skills, students struggle to develop digital competences, and not all learners benefit equally from innovations in the system.

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

Decision-makers in Serbia have access to reliable data on vocational education, more so than in many other countries. This data comes from trusted sources like the Qualifications Agency, the Unified Education Information System, and the Statistical Office of Serbia. However, there is still room to improve how this data is used. Strengthening the systems for collecting and using large-scale data, especially related to European qualification registers, could help make more informed decisions in vocational education.

The private sector and other stakeholders play an active role in shaping vocational education in Serbia through bodies like the Council for Vocational Education and Adult Education and twelve sectoral councils. These groups help ensure that vocational qualifications meet industry needs and align with European Union standards. Serbia also has several quality assurance systems in place, supported by tools like the National Qualifications Framework. However, not all participants in vocational education benefit equally from these systems yet.

Serbia places a strong focus on having qualified staff in leadership roles. Over 1,600 school principals have received training from the Institute for the Improvement of Education. Unlike many other countries, Serbia reports fewer challenges in maintaining professionalism across its network of VET providers. The country also has a strong tradition of international cooperation, adopting quality practices from abroad and participating in Erasmus+ and other EU programmes, which help plan for the long-term international development of VET.

Despite these strengths, there are still challenges in providing enough resources to VET providers. Serbia invests a lot in financial and human resources for VET, but schools still lack adequate teaching materials and digital infrastructure. Efforts are being made to address these gaps, including new rules to ensure schools have the necessary equipment and staff.

Promoting access and participation in opportunities for lifelong learning

Supporting quality and relevance of lifelong learning

Index of system performance

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 Serbia.

Among the countries participating in the Torino Process, Serbia has the most internationally comparable results on average, and these results are less prone to bias as many are based on quantitative data instead of self-assessment responses. However, Serbia tends to rate the performance of its VET system more positively than other countries do in this round of Torino Process monitoring.