In 2022, the Swedish Government tasked seven national authorities, all with some responsibilities relating to managing skills supply and lifelong learning, to work together to improve the governance of Sweden’s skills system. The Swedish National Agency for Higher Vocational Education (Myndigheten för Yrkeshögskolan) was made responsible for the administrative co-ordination of the co-operation between the seven authorities. In this context, the Swedish Public Employment Service (Arbetsförmedlingen), in co-operation with the six other authorities (Swedish National Agency for Higher Vocational Education, Swedish Council for Higher Education, Swedish Higher Education Authority, Swedish National Agency for Education, Swedish Agency for Economic and Regional Growth and the Council for the European Social Fund in Sweden), has requested technical support to strengthen the governance of Sweden’s skills.
Strengthening the Governance of the Swedish Skills System
The project "Strengthening the Governance of the Swedish Skills System" aims to support Sweden with strengthening the multi-level skills governance system in the country, and thereby reduce the problem of skills mismatches in the long term.
The project is funded by the European Union via the Technical Support Instrument and implemented by the OECD Centre for Skills and the OECD Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities, in cooperation with the European Commission.
Project background
The challenge
Strengthening the governance of the Swedish skills system is essential for reducing skills mismatches and shortages in Sweden, especially where they are most pronounced such as in education, health care, social work, information and communication technology (ICT), industry and construction, as reflected in the Country Specific Recommendations 2019 and 2020 adopted by the Council of the European Union.
Given the number of actors involved in the development of skills in Sweden, including ministerial departments, national public agencies, local and regional authorities, social partners and other non-governmental stakeholders, technical support will be particularly beneficial in boosting their collective capacity to take co-ordinated action and achieve sustainable results in this complex policy area.
Project relevance
The project is aligned with Sweden’s priority of strengthening the governance of its skills system, as reflected in the 2022 Government task.
The project is also closely linked with the following European priorities and initiatives:
- The European Skills Agenda, in particular actions 1 (A Pact for Skills), 2 (Strengthening skills intelligence), 3 (EU support for strategic national upskilling action) and 6 (Skills to support the twin transitions).
- The European Pillar of Social Rights, in particular principles 1 on education, training and life-long learning, 2 on gender equality, 3 on equal opportunities, 4 on active support to employment and 8 on social dialogue and involvement of workers.
- The European Strategy for data, in particular pillar D (Common European data spaces in strategic sectors and domains of public interest), whereby the European Commission will support the establishment of a Common European skills data space to reduce the skills mismatches between the education and training system on the one hand and the labour market needs on the other.
Key outputs and activities
The project will involve a range of activities including interactive consultations with Swedish stakeholders, peer-learning on skills governance from other countries, and capacity-building for Swedish officials, resulting in the following key outputs.
The project will be finalised by January 2025 and its results presented at a public concluding event in Sweden.
