It is up to experts to make a decision regarding the change of course Serbian education system should take and the European Union is ready to provide advisory and financial support for this process, said Head of the EU Delegation to Serbia Michael Davenport in his opening speech at the conference “Education tailor-made for economy – dual education”.
Davenport said he was happy to know that when it came to education development Serbia was drawing from European countries’ experience, notably Germany.
“My own country, the UK, also learned in recent years that Germany had rather positive experience in this field,” Ambassador Davenport said at the conference organised by Njuzvik magazine with the support from German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ).
He noted that education was among EU’s top priorities and the area receiving the biggest chunk of investment.
“There is no successful economy without a well-trained work force,” said Davenport and added that the EU had invested 75 million euros in education in Serbia, of which 25 million went to secondary vocational education.
German Ambassador Axel Dittmann said dual education model could not be merely copy and pasted, but should be developed in accordance with individual needs of the country.
He pointed out that Germany was ready to help Serbia to develop this system which, according to him, was more than necessary in order to achieve economy growth.
Dittmann also said that German companies doing business in Serbia were satisfied with the quality of work force they had hired; the quality of secondary vocational education in Serbia, however, needed to improve.
A year ago, we launched the initiative whose central element was dual education. I believe we cannot simply copy and paste the concept, but Serbia could certainly use its basic approach to improve education, Davenport said.
As an important task on Serbia’s EU path, Dittmann cited improvement of the rule of law, independent justice and fight against corruption.
The conference “Education tailor-made for economy – dual education” was also supported by Serbian Chamber of Commerce, German-Serbian Business Association and “Hemofarm” company.
