Re-vitalizing VET and Continuing Education through Best Practices: The Albanian Case

Recent studies related to education, training, and employment in Albania argue about the skills gap about the main sectors of the Albanian economy as the former basis of the once-centralized economy, i.e., Vocational Education Training (VET) and Continuing Education (CE) lost their momentum and eventually collapsed due to the eventual failure of industrial production in the early 1990s. Nevertheless, thanks to concerted efforts over the past two decades on the part of international donors and governmental initiatives, VET and CE are projected to play an important role in the economic development of the country amidst various challenges ranging from funding, certification, market relevance to the legal framework, to name a few. This paper intends to first provide a short description of the current situation about VET and CE and, then, promote theoretical models such as the application of Post-Secondary VETs and the creation of a National VET Fund and a VET levy as well as the analysis of two successful cases studies: Murialdo Social Center-Fier and Skills for Jobs (S4J). It further concludes by highlighting the importance of such successful models in a knowledge-based economy, thus filling the current skills gap and securing sustainable economic growth.