CARDS: EDUCATION PROJECT WHICH SUITS MARKET PRESENTED

ZAGREB, April 16 (Hina) - Croatia and the European Commission's Delegation in Croatia on Wednesday presented the Vocational Education and Training Technical Assistance (VET) project, whose aim is to lay foundations for the development of a modern education system capable of suiting the labour market needs. #L# The VET project, worth EUR600,000 is financed from the EUR60 million-worth CARDS programme for 2001. The main goal of the project is to lay foundations and the development of a modern, flexible and high-quality system of vocational education and training which will suit the labour market needs in Croatia and the society as a whole," the European Commission Delegation's chief, Jacques Wunenburger, said. CARDS, a EU technical and financial assistance programme, is intended for countries of South-eastern Europe which are in the Stabilisation and Association Process. Croatia and the European Union signed the Stabilisation and Association Agreement in October 2001. The VET is aims at solving an important issue of the Croatian society so that the offer and demand on the labour market may be adjusted to decrease unemployment, especially with the young population, Wunenburger said. Almost 34% of the total number of unemployed in Croatia are young people, Education Minister Vladimir Strugar said, warning that "education must not be a generator of unemployment". But young people arrive on the labour market every year, whom nobody needs, while the same market cries out for profiles which lack in Croatia. "Knowledge opens jobs ... so I am certain that this is the right way," the director of the Employment Bureau, Sanja Crnkovic Prozaic, told reporters, citing the example of Denmark, where the labour market and the education system were closely cooperating. Denmark's Aalborg Technical College heads the implementation of the VET project. A representative of this school, Karl Axel Skjolstrup, spoke about this. "No country in this age can afford not to reform" the education process, especially human resources, he said. Denmark does this every ten years, he added. The VET programme, which should last for more than 21 months, should adjust into the system of primary, secondary and tertiary education. All partners should cooperate, i.e. teachers who need additional education, employers, unions and ministers. (hina) lml