Linking Labour Migration and VET Policies in Kosovo: A View from the Edge of Europe

In terms of skill formation, as in many other ways, Kosovo constitutes a specific case when compared with other European countries (in transition) due to distinctive lines of development: the legacies of the Yugoslav welfare state, the parallel, underground education system in Kosovo during the 1990s, the massive interventions by transnational actors in the aftermath of the Kosovo conflict of 1999, and the recent developments in the context of an independent state Kosovo. Kosovo’s population has a strong history of migration, and migration is an essential part of the Kosovar nation (e. g. Sauer & Kllokoqi 2017). The dynamics in recent migration flows (in 2014/2015 more than 2% of Kosovo’s population applied for asylum in Germany, and in 2017 more than 1.5% of Kosovo’s population was granted a working permit in Germany) have resulted in spill-over effects for various policy fields, such as for the vocational education and training (VET) sector. As a result, various migration driven initiatives (e. g. in the health/social care or construction sector) have been addressing reform activities in skill formation along elements of the German dual VET system. Falling back on existing analysis in the field of welfare policies (e. g. Sauer 2015, Cocozzelli 2010, Percival & Sondorp 2010) the paper emphasises cross border policy learning and analyses the link between migration and VET policies in Kosovo. We will conduct two case studies to identify enabling factors for reforms in skill formation in Kosovo against the backdrop of recent labour migration dynamics. Literature: Cocozzelli, Fred (2010): War and social welfare. Reconstruction after conflict. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Percival, Valerie & Sondorp, Egbert (2010): A case study of health sector reform in Kosovo. In: Conflict and Health 4 (7), pp. 1–14. Sauer, Michael (2015): Welfare State Development in South-Eastern Europe. A Comparative Analysis of Labour Market and Long-Term Care Policies in Serbia and Croatia. Berlin: LIT-Verlag. Sauer, Michael & Kllokoqi, Selatin (2017): Circular Migration as a Policy Tool to Foster Development in Kosovo. In: Europäisches Zentrum für Wohlfahrtspolitik und Sozialforschung (Hrsg.): “Bridge Building: Knowledge Exchange in Social Welfare Policy and Research -Innovative Approaches in Labour Market Policy and Health and Long-Term Care in Eastern Europe.