Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2013, published 103rd ILC session (2014)

Human Resources Development Convention, 1975 (No. 142) - Montenegro (Ratification: 2006)

Formulation and implementation of education and training policies. Cooperation with the social partners. The Committee notes the Government’s detailed and comprehensive report received in connection with its 2009 direct request. The Government includes detailed statistical information on activities carried out in 2012 in connection with vocational guidance for high school and university students in different cities of the country. The Committee notes the creation of several centres for vocational guidance in Pljevlja, including the establishment of the University of Montenegro’s Career Development Centre, which has the goal of improving the link between work and learning at university level. The Council for Qualifications, created in 2011 in accordance with the Law on National Vocational Qualifications, is composed of ten sectorial committees responsible for analysing sectorial labour market trends and identifying and suggesting the development of new qualifications to meet labour market needs. The Committee notes with interest that the Council for Qualifications is composed of government representatives, employers and workers, along with representatives of universities. Social partners also participate in other institutional bodies in the field of vocational education and training, such as the National Council of Education. The Government indicates that as a result of the education reform of the last few years, a greater involvement of the social partners in vocational education was achieved. The Montenegrin Vocational Education Development Strategy for the period 2010–14 was prepared by a working group composed of government, employers’ and workers’ representatives. However, the Government recognizes that the country’s vocational education system is confronted with the difficulty of properly predicting employment needs, which change faster than education cycles, and with budgetary constraints resulting from the impact of the crisis on research and development funding. The Committee invites the Government to include in its next report detailed information on the programmes and measures implemented with the cooperation of the social partners, indicating the manner in which it ensures effective coordination between vocational guidance and vocational training policies and programmes, on the one hand, and employment and the public employment services, on the other. The Committee also invites the Government to provide extracts from reports, studies and inquiries and statistical data relating to current policies and programmes of vocational guidance and training (Part VI of the report form).

Coverage by the vocational training system of vulnerable groups. The Committee notes the Government’s indications on the negative impact of the crisis on public and private sources of funding for education and research, but the Government also recognizes the aspiration of the society to embrace the needs and capacities of all vulnerable groups to create a socially inclusive education system. In this regard, existing education and training programmes addressed to Roma and Egyptian communities have been recently reformed in order to enhance their efficiency. Moreover, the Committee notes the First Employment Programme addressed to young people with tertiary education and no work experience which supports first job opportunities by financing 60 per cent of trainees’ salaries. The Government indicates that 75 per cent of the Programme participants in 2010 are still working with the same employer and that 362 persons benefited from the Programme in 2012. The Government further indicates that the participation of persons with disabilities and women in the Public Work Programme has proportionately increased compared to the unemployment rate of these groups. The Committee invites the Government to provide up-to-date information on the measures taken to encourage vulnerable groups of workers, such as women, workers belonging to ethnic minorities, persons with disabilities, older workers and those working in the informal economy to develop and use their vocational skills. Please also supply any available information on the evaluation of these measures.

Article 4. Lifelong training. The Committee notes that the Montenegrin Vocational Education Development Strategy for the period 2010–14 intends to set up a vocational education system in cooperation with the social partners to produce qualified workers. The strategy mainly seeks to facilitate a faster vocational education response to labour market needs, to ensure high quality vocational education and enable adequate conditions for lifelong training. Furthermore, the National Strategy for Employment and Human Resources Development for the period 2012–15 sets as one of its objectives the promotion of lifelong learning and raising awareness of its importance. The Committee invites the Government to continue to report on the impact of the measures taken to implement adult education and training and lifelong learning reforms so as to introduce employment-oriented approaches, in particular measures targeting low-skilled workers and the long-term unemployed.