Serbia - Nonformal Education

In 1999-2000 about 2,200 adult learners in Serbia were enrolled in basic education programs through 18 publicly funded institutions where a total of 197 teachers provide instruction and the student to teacher ratio was 13. In the late 1990s adult vocational and technical education programs at the secondary level existed in Serbia through part time studies within regular upper secondary schools; no special upper secondary schools existed where only adults were enrolled. Additionally, some community open universities provided informal training to adults in Serbia. A significant shortage of education and training opportunities for adults in Serbia was acknowledged.

A May 2001 description of Serbian education published by the European Training Foundation observed, "Adult education and training has suffered significantly during the last few years. It is estimated that in recent years only 1 percent of the adult population received training." Although traditionally adult education schools had existed in Serbia, most of the participants were young dropouts between the ages of 15 and 18 rather than older adults seeking retraining. Workers Universities had previously offered short and long courses to adults looking for additional training or developing new skills, but in 2001 only 10 of these were still operating. Employment Offices also had customarily provided training to job seekers and employees, yet financial and size constraints in 2001 were prevented them from serving all those interested in benefiting from their training services. Courses in the state-sponsored Employment Offices generally focused on computing, project management, management skills, and job-seeking tactics. Finally, training centers established within private enterprises also existed, though little information was publicly available concerning their capacity to adequately train employees who sought instruction there. As already noted, one of the Minister of Education's priorities in 2001 was to improve the course offerings and training possibilities open to adult learners in Serbia so as to better match job skills with those needed in the economy.