Qualified Labour Force and VET: Key Factors for Turkey’s Competitiveness

1. Qualified Labour Force and VET: Key Factors for Turkey’s Competitiveness Sustainable Competitiveness: Supportive Business Environment for Industry Istanbul Chamber of Industry – 7th Industry Congress Arjen Vos Istanbul, 4 December 2008

2. Content of presentation • Global Competitiveness Indexes • EU benchmarks and labour market trends • Challenges for Turkish education and training • ETF support to Turkey

3. I. Global competitiveness indexes (1) • International Institute for Management Development (IMD) • Analyzes the ability nations to create and maintain an environment in which enterprises can compete • 55 economies • Four pillars, 20 sub-sectors, 323 criteria • Economic Performance • Government Efficiency • Business Efficiency • Infrastructure

4. Breakdown of competitiveness (IMD)

5. Global competitiveness indexes (2) • World Economic Forum (WEF) • The rankings are drawn from a combination of publicly available data and the results of the Executive Opinion Survey including 11,000 business leaders • 125 economies • TheGlobal Competitiveness Index measures the set of institutions, policies, and factors that set the sustainable current and medium-term levels of economic prosperity

6. Breakdown of competitiveness (WEF) • Three sub-indexes, nine pillars and 89 indicators • Institutions • Infrastructure • Macro-economy • Health and primary education • Higher education and training • Market efficiency • Technological readiness • Business sophistication • Innovation

7. Composition of the three sub-indexes (WEF) • BASIC REQUIREMENTS • Institutions • Infrastructure • Macro-economy • Health and primary education Key for factor-driven economies • EFFICIENCY ENHANCERS • Higher education and training • Market efficiency (goods, labour, financial) • Technological readiness Key for efficiency-driven economies • INNOVATION AND SOPHISTICATION • Business sophistication • Innovation Key for innovation-driven economies

8. Income thresholds for stages of development Stage of Development GDP per capita (in US$) Stage 1: Factor-driven < 2,000 Transition from stage 1 to stage 2 2,000–3,000 Stage 2: Efficiency driven stage 3,000–9,000 Transition from stage 2 to stage 3 9,000–17,000 Stage 3: Innovation-driven stage > 17,000

9. GDP per capita < $2000 GDP per capita $3000 - $9000 GDP per capita > $17,000

10. Turkey’s Competitiveness 2008

12. Weighting of sub-indexes (WEF)

13. II. EU benchmarks for education and training

14. Past and likely future trends by sector (EU-25+)

15. Past and likely future sectoral structure (EU-25+)

16. Past and likely future occupational structure (EU-25+)

17. Past and likely future occupational change (EU-25+)

18. Turkey

19. III. Turkey’s Progress in Education & Training • Improving matching of labour market and strengthening labour market institutions, in particular at regional and local levels • Increasing the involvement of social partners • More investments in education and training • Increased access to education • New content and ways of teaching have been introduced in basic education • VET reforms have been well developed and disseminated • The Vocational Qualification Authority can sustain reforms and develop national qualification system • Active participation in EU international mobility programmes

20. Turkey’s Challenges in Education & Training • Create attractive opportunities in higher education in order to increase access • Increase the status and attractiveness of VET by focussing on quality and facilitation the transition to work • Make potential links between schools and business more productive • Develop lifelong career guidance mechanisms to facilitate better career choices of students • Promote continuing vocational training within a lifelong learning strategy framework • Decentralisation needs a thorough analysis and discussion on added value of the different levels of responsibility

21. IV. The role of ETF in Turkey • Support to awareness raising about EU discussions and questioning its relevance for Turkey • Support to EC in commenting on E&T 2010 reports from Turkey • Support to EC Delegation and ministries in design and implementation of EU projects related to E&T/HRD • Support to policy learning for implementing VET strategies to MoNE and other key stakeholders (Decentralisation, NQF, Apprenticeships, VET Teacher Training, Social partnership) • Support to MYK in drafting an implementation strategy for the national qualification system • Support to capacity building through ETF peer learning project And to ask questions, questions and questions………………

22. Conclusions • Economic growth and global competitiveness go hand in hand with education and training investments • Demand for higher skilled is likely to increase at faster pace than medium skilled, but there will be a need for low and medium skilled in the next decades • Progress in education and training reforms has been achieved in Turkey, but many challenges remain • Strategies and structures are in place, but quality needs to be improved • Social partners and companies are committed to education and training, BUT • More public and private investments in education and training are needed! It will pay off!!

23. Thank you for your attention ! ETF: www.etf.europa.eu e-mail : avo@etf.europa.eu European Commission, DG Education and Culture: http://www.europa.eu.int/comm/dgs/education_culture/index_en.htm DG Employment http://ec.europa.eu/employment_social/employment_strategy/index_en.htm