Reforming vocational education and training in Ukraine continues – HAMK in collaboration with the Finnish National Agency for Education project
The contract to reform vocational education and training was awarded to a consortium headed by HAMK. The goals are to modernize and digitize the contents of vocational education, modernising and digitalising the content of VET, improving the competence of educational institutions and teachers and supporting the recovery of people who have suffered from the war. The project contributes in its part to Ukraine’s path towards EU membership.
The Finnish National Agency for Education has prepared the project in collaboration with the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine and is being implemented in 2024–2026 with funding from the Ministry for Foreign Affairs’ development cooperation appropriations. The project has a total budget of EUR 2.2 million. The aim of the project is to improve the capacity of VET institutions to offer VET that corresponds to the current and future needs of the Ukrainian labour market.
“Finland has previously been involved in the development project of Ukrainian vocational education together with Germany, Poland, Estonia, and the European Commission. There are also plans to start a new and broader Team Europe Initiative (TEI) project to develop Ukrainian vocational education during 2026. The current Bridge2Skills project acts as a bridge project for Finland between these two multinational projects,” says Hanna Autere, the project manager of the Finnish National Agency for Education.
“It is a great honour for us to serve as the Finnish National Agency for Education’s partner in this project, which will provide us with an opportunity to develop VET in Ukraine at the practical level”, says Leading Senior Specialist Maaret Viskari from Häme University of Applied Sciences.
Focus on training teachers and management and developing qualifications
The Bridge2Skills project is being implemented in three regions (Volyn, Kyiv and Ternopil) at a total of ten pilot institutions. The project is divided into three sub-projects:
- Sub-project 1: Training of VET institution managers
- Sub-project 2: Training of VET teachers
- Sub-project 3: Development of vocational qualifications
Finnish higher education institutions involved in the implementation
The project is being implemented in cooperation with the Finnish National Agency for Education and representatives of Finnish universities of applied sciences. The Finnish National Agency for Education is responsible for the project activities related to the development of VET at the system level and for overall project management. The Finnish National Agency for Education also organised a call for tenders for the implementation of training programmes for the managers of educational institutions and VET teachers in October–November 2024. The contract was awarded to a consortium headed by Häme University of Applied Sciences and JAMK University of Applied Sciences, which also includes Hyria Education Ltd and a local partner in Ukraine, Osvitoria NGO.
Ukraine is the largest recipient of Finnish development assistance
Supporting VET in Ukraine is now more important than ever for ensuring the availability of skilled labour for the country’s reconstruction. The Government of Ukraine has a clear vision of what kind of reform and support is needed for developing vocational skills. The goal is to build a VET system that is flexible, strong, inclusive and sustainable and promotes the recovery, sustainable economic development and EU rapprochement of Ukraine.
Ukraine is Finland’s largest development assistance partner and recipient of humanitarian aid during the latter’s current government term. The Bridge2Skills project takes into account the cross-cutting objectives of Finnish development policy, including gender equality, non-discrimination, sustainable development and climate resilience. Education has been identified as one of the strengths of Finnish development policy, and through its development cooperation Finland promotes the realisation of high-quality, i
More information:
Hanna Autere, Opetushallitus, hanna.autere@oph.fi
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