Getting things moving is a big part of Dr. Madlen Serban’s job. As the director of the European Training Foundation – an organisation seeking to promote and support coordinated training and vocational education reform across countries in the EU neighbourhood – Serban is adamant real change is achievable, despite a tight budget and resources to work with.
“The EU is a big donor in external relations which should be better known,” she says. “I think the impact of our work will improve in the next few years. Education and training is increasingly important for the EU and our contribution will have a significant effect, be it in Central Asia or closer to home.”
Of course, words are easy. But actually being able to get a huge variety of organisations, businesses and governments to not only talk to each other but move with each other, is a big part of Serban’s job. This is not an easy role, by any means and you quickly gauge Serban is not just an effective communicator but an effective diplomat. “For me, performance is key. We’re an organisation that is very much orientated to results and to give the maximum value to taxpayers, especially when the administration is under huge scrutiny.”
The Torino process
Shortly after taking up her appointment with the ETF, Madlen Serban realised a major need for documenting the state of vocational education and training and employment in the ETF’s 29 partner countries. So the ETF launched the so-called Torino Process, an exercise in gathering information to effectively analyse and identify precisely what needs her organisation had to address in order to put in place an effective programme.
“We had to recruit and deploy experts from multiple disciplines to handle complex and multidimensional topics in a team environment, in order to create new knowledge, insight and solutions.” Not easy when the needs and outcomes are so diverse.
Peer learning and peer review are important tools – but Serban is careful not to make assumptions about the countries and the people the ETF works for. This methodical approach is typical of Serban (she trained originally as an engineer) while being able to wear multiple professional hats at the same time.
Bridge builder
A good example of the ETF’s work is in Turkey. A mutual learning project has been hugely successful for Serban and her team. This was not about a Brussels-backed organisation going into a region and dictating what it thought education and adult learning should be doing. Rather, it sought to give participants the freedom to create their own agenda, focusing on their own priorities and learning much from other near-neighbour countries like Romania and Bulgaria in the process.
“When we meet different authorities we go to great lengths to build good communication and networks. There are often a lot of decisions and actions to implement. It’s often about looking for a country context to strike for change or to identify an issue that is important for that client. ”Schooling is a good example, she says. But partnerships should be done not just through policy formulation – the easy part, often – but through implementation. “Through implementation, evaluation and monitoring. For example, in a school this sort of partnership change should be done by the teachers and the head and other social partners. The schools should not live in isolation from the community it serves.”
Effective work
A second big part on the ETF professional agenda is to strengthen cooperation between education and business. “In many countries the education system and the business sector do not work well together, and we try to build bridges also through the Torino process,” she says.
This can be anything from entrepreneur programmes – particularly important because entrepreneurs often create jobs – but also mapping systematically good practice, competence and ideas, which are all encouraged to be shared. It’s also about ensuring different sectors share experience with each other – few countries can deal with the expansion of information, ideas and experience on their own.
Serban views much of the ETF work as a facilitating one. Business and education sectors do need support in talking to each other, establishing a dialogue. “We want to empower all the actors to be reliable partners and, frankly, it’s not enough to say, okay, let’s go and co-operate. If it’s a shared action together, with mutual and common interest driving all the action, then that is something that is likely to be far more sustainable in the long run.”
The benefits of a highly skilled and motivated workforce are obvious. But this is a pipeline that begins in education. “We try to persuade them [business] to enter into a social dialogue with the decision makers in education and training. In this respect, it’s a good example of how we build systems, policies and choices – an inclusive approach for all.”
Measuring the effectiveness of her agency though is not always straightforward, which she admits can be frustrating. “But what we can do is talk to our clients and ask hard questions about how much value they feel they get from us. Or how many requests the Commission makes to get more information from us, or the interest and inputs we get for our progress reports.”
Meanwhile, the newly-enlarged EU is moving out of recession better equipped to build partnerships for future growth in the EU neighbourhood not just through flexible labour markets but also education, research and entrepreneurship. Under Madlen Serban, the ETF will continue to play a vital role. She knows change always takes time. But from where she stands, the pace is accelerating.