Using the Copenhagen Process to Facilitate National Qualification Framework Strategies in South Eastern Europe

This article presents and discusses a perspective on the implications of the Lisbon Process for education and training in a selected group of partner countries of the European Union — the Western Balkans (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro). It presents the reflections of a member of staff of the European Training Foundation responsible for managing the six country regional project underway since 2003 on developing strategies for national qualification frameworks. The reflection aims to assess the potential contributions of a major strategy of the European Union on the reform processes underway in the social and economic transitions in the Western Balkans. It draws on the broader experience of the Foundation in supporting reforms in vocational education and training systems. Qualification reform is taken as an illustrative example of the use, relevance and constraints of EU ‘processes’ in accompanying education and training reform. Although the Copenhagen process partially provides a broad structure and there is a shared history between the countries of the region, each country is sufficiently different in its local contexts to suggest that the manner and pace of adoption will diverge. The emphasis on further development to suit local circumstances essentially gives partner countries an approach or set of tools with which they can shape and form their own initiatives with some confidence that the result will be in line with general European trends.