Skills Development and Innovation Support Project

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The objective of the Skills Development and Innovation Support Project for Macedonia is to improve transparency of resource allocation and promote accountability in higher education, enhance the relevance of secondary technical vocational education, and support innovation capacity in the country. The project consists of the following components: 1) improving transparency of higher education; 2) modernization of secondary Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET); 3) improving the innovative capacity of enterprises and collaboration with research organizations; and 4) project management and monitoring and evaluation. The first component aims at improving both the transparency and efficiency of the quality assurance and finance mechanisms in the higher education sector, and consists of the sub-components of quality assurance in higher education, higher education financing reforms, and development of a national technology transfer office. The second component finances activities targeted toward building the foundation of a modern and efficient secondary TVET system, and consists of the sub-components of quality and labor market relevance of TVET provision, and grants for school-industry collaboration. The next component is focused on supporting the efforts of the FYR Macedonia Fund for Innovation and Technological Development (FITD) to build the institutional capacity to stimulate innovative activities, and consists of the sub-components of FITD capacity building, and pilot of financial instruments to be delivered by FITD. The final component consists of the sub-components: project management, and monitoring and evaluation.