Government Office for Development and European Cohesion Policy, Managing Authority for European Structural Funds and the Cohesion Fund, has issued a grant-award decision for the programme Scholarships for shortage occupations. The objective is to include 4000 young people into scholarship schemes in the period 2014-2020, namely 2,800 participants from the cohesion region Vzhodna Slovenija and 1,200 participants from the cohesion region Zahodna Slovenija. EUR 13.8 is available under the programme with the European Social Fund contribution standing at EUR 11 million. Slovene Human Resources Development and Scholarship Fund published the relevant call for proposals on 16 February 2016.
By granting such scholarships we want to encourage secondary school children to decide to study for shortage occupations, namely occupations with an identified gap in the market. The collected data and analyses needed for preparing professional starting points, the state of current labour market supply and demand and expected trends in education show that most shortage occupations at the national level pertain to secondary vocational and technical education levels.
Scholarships under this programme will be awarded for secondary vocational and technical education in the fields of computer science, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, chemistry, as well as in the field of catering and other programmes identified in the Scholarship Policy (full list of shortage occupations).
Scholarships aim to encourage enrolment in these programmes, to provide an adequate number of young people with the knowledge necessary for individual industries and their development, and:
- provide adequate staff meeting the demand of employers,
- encourage enrolment in types and fields of education that promote economic development and improve employability,
- improve employment opportunities in the fields that traditionally employ foreigners,
- encourage enrolment in secondary vocational and technical education programmes for which there is little interest and which could be terminated,
- promote vocational and technical education.
The call for proposals for scholarships for shortage occupations was first published by the Slovene Human Resources Development and Scholarships Fund in the 2015/2016 school year, followed by a new call for proposals for the 2016/2017 school year. The call for proposals is available on the dedicated Fund website www.sklad-kadri.si, and on the website www.eu-skladi.si.