Budget: Total budget of the contract 132.663 € (global price)

Period: Implementation period 5 months

Beneficiary: Ministry of Education and Science

Implementing partners: Ars Progetti SPA Consortium, Italy / Archidata S.r.l., Italy

 

1. Introduction

The Multi-Annual Operational Programme “Human Resources Development 2007 – 2013” (OP HRD) is currently the most important document with reference to the current EU financial support (IPA) in the areas of education and training. The strategic objective of this document is to foster the development of human resources focusing on the creation of more and better employment which will finally also support both the growth and the competitiveness of the Country. The Programme is focusing on three priority fields: (1) employment, (2) education and training and (3) social inclusion. The field of education and training is further divided into three sub-priorities: (a) modernisation of the Vocational Education and Training (VET) system, (b) strengthening of the Adult Education (AE) system and (c) support to equal access to quality education. In the past there has been a lot if investments in this area, and it has to be ensured that these investments will lead to substantial and sustainable reforms, including the Twinnings in VET and AE which have been just finalised.

The evaluation of the former and current assistance in this area which will be carried out on behalf of the Ministry of Education and Science (MES) will help to assess the impact of past and on-going activities and their sustainability in relation to the resources invested and the capacities of the beneficiaries` institutions.

2. Objectives of the evaluation

The overall objective of this assignment is to support the process of efficient programming, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the Operational Programme for Human Resource Development with focus on Priority Axis 2 “Education”. Within this overall objective, the evaluation should especially help to answer the questions, whether the implemented activities have been targeted to the identified needs in the Lifelong learning (LLL), VET and AE system, if the expected results could be achieved, which are the lessons that can be learned are which best practice can be seen. Furthermore, the evaluation will elaborate clear recommendations on how the programme implementation in the areas of LLL, VET and AE can be optimized in the future.

3. Evaluation activities

In order to answer to the evaluation questions the following three activities will be performed within the evaluation project:

• Activity 1:

Mapping and summarising of the provided financial support in the area of Lifelong Learning and in particular Vocational Education and Training and Adult Education

Within this activity all relevant programmes of the last years that have been implemented in the country with support of other countries and supranational organizations in the field of LLL, VET and AE will be identified and analysed. The findings of this activity will be subject to a mapping report.

• Activity 2:

Conducting evaluation of the provided support in the area of Lifelong Learning and in particular Vocational Education and Training and Adult Education

For a representative sample of programmes that have been implemented in the country the evaluation will perform an in-depth analysis in order to draw conclusions and recommendations on the future asset of programmes to be run in the field of LLL, VET and AE. Relevant criteria for assessing the chosen sample of programmes will be relevance and quality, effectiveness and efficiency, impact, sustainability and contributions to the set horizontal priorities.

• Activity 3:

Preparation of an Operational Paper for the future development of the institutional set-up in Vocational Education and Training and Adult Education Sectors

In addition to the recommendations of the evaluation with view to future strategies, programmes and projects in the field of LLL, VET and AE, and based on the evaluation findings the project will particularly focus on the future of the structures that have been created in the ongoing IPA-funding period for VET and AE. The results of activity 3 will be summarized in a specific Operational Paper.

4. Duration of the evaluation

The evaluation project starts on 13 January 2014 with a preparatory phase, in which all relevant information material and monitoring data is collected and structured. In a second phase all evaluation and analytical tasks will be performed. The project activities will finish on 12 May 2014 with the submission of the evaluation report to the Ministry of Education and Science (MES).