The project “Promotion of Student Competences and VET Through Skills Competitions” is co-financed by the European Social Fund, and the holder of the project is the Agency for Vocational Education and Training and Adult Education. The value of this project is a total of HRK 49.919.843,34 / EUR 6.625.501,80, of which 85 % is co-financed from the European Social Fund and 15 % from national funds.

The project is funded under the Call to the Agency for VET and Adult Education to submit proposals for operations as a direct allocation of funds under Priority Axis 3 – “Education and Lifelong Learning”, from Operational Program “Effective Human Resources” 2014-2020. “, published by the Ministry of Labour.

Main goal

Vocational competitions are recognized at national, European and global levels as an important mechanism for promoting the excellence and attractiveness of vocational education. The project “ Promotion of Student Competences and VET Through Skills Competitions” will respond to the challenges in the vocational education system in Croatia, such as low social perception of quality and relevance of vocational programs, will provide financial support for the necessary modernisation of national vocational student competitions, increase participation of Croatian representatives in international skills competitions and raise the reputation of vocational education through systematic strategic promotion through competitions.The aim of the project is to promote the importance of student competences and vocational occupations by improving the existing system of vocational competitions and strengthening the competences of school staff and students through participation in a modernized system of competitions at national and international level. The project started in February 2018, and the implementation lasted until September 30, 2023.

Achieved results

The achieved results and indicators of this ESF project include the following activities:

• a survey for vocational schools, teachers, principals and students about existing model of works and student competitions was conducted on a sample of 58 students, 500 teachers and 120 principals of secondary vocational schools in the Republic of Croatia
• an Expert Working Group was formed to analyze the existing model of professional competitions and vocational fairs and to develop a new model of competitions and vocational fairs and two documents were prepared – Analysis of the existing model of vocational competitions and the New model of competition of vocational school students.
• two study visits were organised to national competitions in Skills – The Finals (Netherlands) and Taitaja (Finland), as examples of good practice in the area of competition;
• following the work of the Expert Working Group, 44 working groups were formed for the preparation of technical description documents and task models for disciplines of vocational competitions in the Republic of Croatia. Technical Description and Task Model documents were developed, published and implemented in 44 disciplines
• the media campaign “Skills are everywhere around us” was conducted
• the website worldskillscroatia.hr was created
• 130 educational workshops for students and teachers of vocational subjects about the WorldSkills Croatia competition were organized
• in March 2019, the National Competition of Vocational School Students – WorldSkills Croatia 2019 was organised (for the first time in accordance with the new competition model):
  • 44 vocational disciplines
  • 220 members of judging committees
  • 34 host schools
  • 568 competitors
  • 436 mentors
  • 24 business entities (event partners).
• the National Competition of Vocational School Students – WorldSkills Croatia 2021 was organised:
  • 43  vocational disciplines
  • 156 members of judging committees
  • 29 host schools
  • 303 competitors
  • 296 mentors
  • 30 business entities (event partners).
• the National Competition of Vocational School Students – WorldSkills Croatia 2022 was organised:
  • 40 vocational disciplines
  • 157 members of judging committees
  • 27 host schools
  • 357 competitors
  • 336 mentors
  • 43 business entities (event partners).
• the National Competition of Vocational School Students – WorldSkills Croatia 2023 was organised:
  • 46 vocational disciplines
  • 186 members of judging committees
  • 28 host schools
  • 405 competitors
  • 400 mentors
  • 48 business entities (event partners).
• continuous participation of the Agency’s representatives in the international associations WorldSkills International and WorldSkills Europe has been ensured
• provided support for the participation of WorldSkills Croatia Team in:
  • European competition EuroSkills in Budapest 2018 with a total of 13 competitors and 11 experts in 11 disciplines; the Medallion of Excellence award was won in the Hotel Reception discipline, while the Best of Nation award was received for the discipline Fashion Design and Technology.
  • World competition WorldSkills Kazan 2019, with a total of 9 competitors and 10 experts in 10 disciplines.; the Medallion of Excellence and Best of Nation awards were won in the Hotel Reception discipline, while the Medallion of Excellence award was received in the Network Systems Administration discipline
  • European competition EuroSkills in Gdańsk 2023 with 10 competitors competing in 8 disciplines, including two team disciplines; in the discipline of Hotel Reception Management,
  • the Medallion of Excellence was won, while for the discipline of Fashion Design and Technology, a bronze medal was achieved.
• a new information system for competitions – WSC SINAS system (Central Information Competition System) was developed

The project’s website: https://www.worldskillscroatia.hr.