International Tempus Project AGRIVOC

Reshaping of Agricultural Vocational Studies in the Western Balkans
Project coordinator in Institute for forage crops Dr Jasmina Radović, Principal Research Fellow
Financed by: European Union

AGRIVOC project is focused on the improvement of vocational studies in the area of agriculture (plant protection, animal husbandry, viticulture and winemaking, field husbandry) and nutrition technology. The aim of the project is to make an advance of knowledge and practical capability of the students for work in agriculture and food business, as well as in the related fields through upgrading the curriculum and the methods of learning and development of vocational programs of training. In the past ten-year period of the reform of high education as part of the Bologna process, vocational studies in the countries of western Balkans were put in the second plan and did not take as much of the attention as the academic studies. In this respect, vocational study programs were not properly reformed, so even today they are characterized as mostly theoretical contents without enough of practical training in realistic working environment. With respect of the nature of the vocational studies and the fact that these programs are intended for the education of students directly for the needs of job market, negligence of these studies in the reform process and the lack of practical training in realistic working environment resulted in the low rate of employability of the students, failure of interest for this type of studies, as well as the lack of appropriate profiles on the job market.