2024

National Project for the Creation of an Electronic Platform for Individual Learning Accounts

The Ministry of Education, Research, Development and Youth of the Slovak Republic will create a platform for individual learning accounts, providing citizens with access to a wide range of educational programs and initiatives. The tool for creating this platform will be a new national project titled "Individual Learning Accounts System – Part I: Electronic Platform for Individual Learning Accounts (EPIVU)" („Systém individuálnych vzdelávacích účtov – časť I: Elektronická platforma individuálnych vzdelávacích účtov (EPIVU)“).

The goal of this initiative is to develop a dynamic and interconnected platform that allows citizens access to a broad spectrum of educational programmes and initiatives. EPIVU will serve as a central hub where individual educational needs, course and programme offerings, and initiatives focused on personal and professional development converge.

Individual Learning Accounts (ILAs) are designed to finance the education of every citizen. These accounts provide individuals with the opportunity for further education, allowing them to freely choose the content, location, and form of their learning. Additionally, ILAs enable the accumulation of funds from multiple sources, ensuring access to the payment of educational costs from the age of 16, regardless of current education level or social conditions.

The total allocated funding for the project is nearly 2.3 million EUR. The project will be supported by the European Regional Development Fund under the Slovakia Programme and its priority Skills for Better Adaptability and Inclusion (4P3).
 

National project ‘Individualised and Comprehensive Approach Focusing on Counselling/Career Guidance’ 

In February 2024, the national project Individualised and Comprehensive Approach Focusing on Counselling/Career Guidance (Individualizovaný a komplexný prístup so zameraním na poradenské činnosti/Poradenstvom k zamestnaniu) was launched. It is implemented through Offices of Labour, Social Affairs and Family as an active measure on the labour market and it aims to improve access to employment for disadvantaged job applicants and young people. The national project will be implemented between January 2024 and December 2028.

The project focuses on increasing employment chances for disadvantaged job applicants and NEET (not in employment, education, or training) young people applying for jobs. The main aim of the project is to ensure the availability of individualised approaches and counselling, including career guidance.

The national project aims to increase the employability of disadvantaged and young job applicants, increase work motivation, increase their competitiveness in the labour market and improve so-called soft factors influencing employability. During the project implementation, professionally trained counsellors will increase their individualised approach and counselling skills, as well as ICT skills, to ensure the availability and accessibility of counselling for all identified target groups. 

2023

National Strategy for Research, Development, and Innovation 2030

In May 2023, the Government‘s  Research and Innovation Authority introduced the National Strategy for Research, Development, and Innovation 2030 (Národná stratégia výskumu, vývoja a inovácií 2030), which aims to increase the competitiveness of the economy and the quality of life through the support of research, innovation, and talent. The Action Plan for the National Strategy for Research, Development, and Innovation 2030 (Akčný plán národnej stratégie výskumu, vývoja a inovácií 2030), which was published alongside the strategy, defines the schedule of tasks required to meet the goals of the national strategy in this area.  The reform also includes measures focusing on the development of the educational system’s quality.

The action plan describes the following measures in lifelong learning and transversal skills:

• Support of international mobility of researchers,
• Creation of a unit for talent development and integration,
• Introduction of a series of programmes to establish cooperation with talent from abroad,
• Strengthening of lifelong learning managing capacity at the Ministry of Education, Research, Development, and Youth of the Slovak Republic,
• Institutionalisation and support of language education of foreigners,
• Creation of an educational scheme for employees of public research and development organisations and municipalities on PPP for the development of research and innovation ecosystem,
• Creation of a new Action Plan for Open Science for 2023-2024,
• Increased funding of European Partnerships,
• Support of citizen science and popularisation of research in the form of mini-grants.

2022

Action plan for the Strategy of lifelong learning and counseling for the years 2022-2024

On April 21, 2022, the Government of the Slovak Republic approved the Action Plan for the Strategy of Lifelong Education and Counseling for the years 2022-2024 (Akčný plán k Stratégii celoživotného vzdelávania a poradenstva na roky 2022 – 2024). The task of this document is to elaborate and specify the measures approved in the Strategy for the given period of the coming years 2022-2024. 

The action plan contains a plan of activities for the specified time period, which is based on the defined thematic areas of the Strategy and the measures proposed in them. Each measure contains a proposal for a set of activities aimed at achieving the goals of the given measure, as well as the overall goals of the Strategy, output indicators, institutions involved in their implementation, and an indication of possible financial resources. Financing of the activities is planned to a large extent from EU funds from the program period 2021-2027 through the Slovakia Programme. 

The action plan also includes measures to support professional training and education of adults. Arrangements were made for

• the implementation of the programme of lower secondary vocational education with an integral part of completing elementary school and the creation of an educational program for obtaining lower secondary education - second chance education,
• support for capacity building of Centres of Excellence in vocational education and training
  the introduction of short educational study programmes and their incorporation into the quality system of universities,
• the creation of a comprehensive system for tracking high school and university graduates in Slovak conditions, including its institutional security,
• supporting civic education of adults by creating the concept of the Regional Center for Lifelong Education and Counseling at VÚC and supporting entities providing civic education,
• improving the quality of lifelong guidance: create and introduce a quality standard for career guidance providers, introduce accreditation for career guidance providers, introduce accreditation of career advisers, create a National Skills Framework for career management and develop information tools to support lifelong guidance,
• individual education accounts as a tool for individualized support of individuals in further education (retraining) and a pilot scheme for strengthening the motivation of adults to participate in education.