- 2017Design
- 2018Approved/Agreed
- 2019Implementation
- 2020Approved/Agreed
- 2021Implementation
- 2022Implementation
- 2023Implementation
- 2024Implementation
Background
The continuing reform of VET and apprenticeship that started in 2015 aims to raise the attractiveness and quality of VET, including improving the relevance of practical training and raising the number of apprentices.
Description
The 2017 Act CXCII amending the 2 011 Act on VET and adult training opened up the way for establishing sector skills councils (SSCs) from July 2018. The 2017 ACT CXCII and the governmental Decree No 213/2018 (XI.22.) reinforced the role of employers in education and training.
Sector skills councils are platforms of cooperation between all VET actors to align VET curricula to the needs of the economy. To be representative, at least 51% of their members are economic stakeholders from the same sector. Thirteen SSCs in various sectors (such as engineering, tourism and catering, commerce, information technology) were set up in 2017. The main role of the SSCs is to prevent and overcome skills gaps and make proposals for better matching VET qualifications with skills for jobs. SSCs are coordinated by the Hungarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Hungarian Chamber for Agriculture for their relative sectors. The main responsibilities of the councils include:
- making suggestions for improving the quality of training programmes leading to qualifications included in the national qualification register (HuQR) and other adult training programmes;
- defining the content of the vocational and examination requirements set for any given occupational qualification listed in the HuQR before the publication of the relevant regulation establishing the qualification;
- supporting the development of school-based VET for young people and...
The 2017 Act CXCII amending the 2 011 Act on VET and adult training opened up the way for establishing sector skills councils (SSCs) from July 2018. The 2017 ACT CXCII and the governmental Decree No 213/2018 (XI.22.) reinforced the role of employers in education and training.
Sector skills councils are platforms of cooperation between all VET actors to align VET curricula to the needs of the economy. To be representative, at least 51% of their members are economic stakeholders from the same sector. Thirteen SSCs in various sectors (such as engineering, tourism and catering, commerce, information technology) were set up in 2017. The main role of the SSCs is to prevent and overcome skills gaps and make proposals for better matching VET qualifications with skills for jobs. SSCs are coordinated by the Hungarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Hungarian Chamber for Agriculture for their relative sectors. The main responsibilities of the councils include:
- making suggestions for improving the quality of training programmes leading to qualifications included in the national qualification register (HuQR) and other adult training programmes;
- defining the content of the vocational and examination requirements set for any given occupational qualification listed in the HuQR before the publication of the relevant regulation establishing the qualification;
- supporting the development of school-based VET for young people and adults;
- supporting the professional development of VET teachers;
- supporting the development of qualifications expressed in learning outcomes, in line with the European qualifications framework and the Hungarian qualifications framework;
- appointing experts for developing training activities;
- analysing and forecasting skills needs by sector to develop short and medium-term plans for training activities.
In 2019, the SSCs formulated their proposals related to the structure of vocational qualifications and their contents. The national qualifications register (HuQR) included more vocational qualifications (759) compared to international practice and to what the domestic economy expected and did not fit the scope of activities defined by employers. VET qualifications taught in the school system are over-specialised in many cases.
The VET 4.0 strategy states that the HuQR has to be rationalised taking into account the demands of the economy, with the aim to have a transparent training system and to meet the demands of the fourth industrial revolution. SSCs formulated their proposals by focusing on those activities where there is no need to have a formal vocational education. As a result of this rationalisation, the number of formal qualifications should be adjusted to those accessible in the countries of the European Union. The outdated picture of the professions has to be updated and the number of qualifications decreased. Profession descriptions have to be transparent for all relevant stakeholders: employers, young people and their parents and adults looking for retraining and further training possibilities. The first step of this development was that the SSCs updated the content descriptions of the professions with the aim to further rationalise the HuQR.
Experts delegated by the sectoral skills councils, in consultation with the SSC members, have been carrying out an analysis of the labour-market-relevance of vocational qualifications and prepared proposals for qualifications standards and programme curricula in formal VET and adult education linked to qualifications included in the national register of vocational occupations.
A booklet with all the necessary information on the new types of qualifications (occupations and sectors concerned), as well as the VET institutions, types and duration of programmes that deliver these qualifications, was prepared and released in 2020. Its aim is to facilitate career choice and familiarise both learners and their families with the new VET offer.
At the end of 2020, SSCs prepared sectoral reviews for amending or creating new qualifications (basic vocational occupations, in the national context). By 31 December 2020, altogether 162 programme requirements had been registered.
The SSCs have made proposals for teacher training courses within the company environment. The system is still being developed.
One of the major tasks for the future is the introduction of validation in VET. Several workshops were held during the year.
Based on the new National register of vocational occupations (Szakmajegyzék), SSCs operate in 19 sectors, with the active participation of about 330 stakeholders. The difficulties caused by the COVID-19 pandemic did not hinder the work of the SSCs; their work carried out during 2021 ended with significant professional results.
The updated booklet presenting the basic vocational occupations - with the title Information booklet on basic professions with the recommendation of the SSCs 2021/22 - is accessible and can be downloaded from the homepage of IKK Zrt. (Innovative Training Support Centre Plc).
SSCs have been carrying out professional inspection of the programme requirements (PKs). In 2021; 137 have been commented by the SSCs, of which 42 were registered. Currently 475 programme requirements have been registered and approved.
Approval of additional proposals for teachers' further training within company environments remains in progress. The SSCs have been constantly developing proposals for company placements, practical tasks, training periods, project tasks and to measure the fulfilment of given training actions.
In the revision of the Programme and outcome requirements (KKKs), the reconciliation roundtable (set at county level by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry) started to elaborate a digital competence reference set and to update DigComp levels. This work can help specify the contents of the Programme and Outcome Requirements linked to digital competence. Digital levels per occupations show the digital competence elements and digital knowledge levels in a given sector, needed to fulfil the scope of activities in the given occupation.
One of the main tasks of the SSCs in 2022 was to examine elements of the VET system in operation (focus areas: career guidance-enrolment, sectoral foundation education-sectoral basic exam, specialised education, final examination), both in terms of processes and the documents that underpin the education system. For this examination, it was essential to develop closer cooperation with other education stakeholders as well as the regional chamber network. Close cooperation has been established with the county sectoral working groups, whose members have been invited to attend the SSCs meetings to learn about each other's activities and their common issues with the SSCs (the role of the SSCs in VET, the situation of the county VET and the importance of cooperation between VET actors).
In order to build up contacts with dual training placements and chambers of commerce, external meetings were held in several SSCs, where education actors - VET centres, dual training places and economic stakeholders (SSCs members) - exchanged experiences and gained direct insights into the dual training system of certain companies (e.g. AUDI, Pick Zrt., Unicon Zrt.). Interactive conversations helped to explore good practices used at county level related to VET and to collect opinions on the functioning of the existing system.
In 2022, within the framework of the dual VET sectoral monitoring sub-task, the SSCs have prepared an expert analysis by sector, which formulated the current state of play of the operation of the VET institutional system and proposals for improvement in each area.
Since 2022, SSCs are involved in the process of commenting on the programme requirements for vocational training . In 2022, close to 100 programme requirement (PKs) proposals received were subjected to an expert consultation process. Under the amended procedure of March 2022, the SSC or the expert involved by the SSC examined the real economic needs of the vocational qualification defined in the programme requirement.
As part of the comprehensive expert activity supporting the operation of the SSCs, a VET Methodology Guide was produced in 2023, aiming to collect good practices and good practice examples on sectoral basis in three focus areas:
- training programme
- project assignment
- portfolio
The information and practices needed to produce the guide were gathered through a series of expert roundtables in all 19 sectors. The 'Good Practices' have been summarised in the guide and can be shared with schools and dual placements as recommendations, thus facilitating the daily work of actors and the dissemination of good practices in VET.
The content of the Information booklet on the basic vocational occupations (vocational qualifications), prepared on the recommendation of the SSCs was reviewed, supplemented and amendments were proposed in cooperation with the IKK Nonprofit Zrt. The booklet was republished in 2023 to facilitate career choices and to provide information on the basic vocational occupations in the given sector.
The booklet was republished in 2024 to facilitate career choices and to provide information on the basic vocational occupations in the given sector.
In 2024 the mandate of the chairpersons and members of the SSCs was required by law to be renewed after 2 years. Following the renewal, 19 new chairs have been appointed to the SSCs and the members of the SSCs have been renewed, with new members including higher education. The aim of the reform is to make higher education work more intensively alongside VET, in line with the needs of the economy.
The SSCs have continuously commented on the PKs received for the sector concerned. In October 2024, a total of 600 PKs are available on the IKK Nonprofit Zrt. website.
As in 2023, the series of round tables on good practices continued in 2024 as well.
Bodies responsible
- Hungarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry
- Hungarian Chamber of Agriculture (NAK)
- Ministry of Culture and Innovation
- Ministry for Agriculture
Target groups
Other
Thematic categories
Governance of VET and lifelong learning
This thematic category looks at existing legal frameworks providing for strategic, operational – including quality assurance – and financing arrangements for VET and lifelong learning (LLL). It examines how VET and LLL-related policies are placed in broad national socioeconomic contexts and coordinate with other strategies and policies, such as economic, social and employment, growth and innovation, recovery and resilience.
This thematic category covers partnerships and collaboration networks of VET stakeholders – especially the social partners – to shape and implement VET in a country, including looking at how their roles and responsibilities for VET at national, regional and local levels are shared and distributed, ensuring an appropriate degree of autonomy for VET providers to adapt their offer.
The thematic category also includes efforts to create national, regional and sectoral skills intelligence systems (skills anticipation and graduate tracking) and using skills intelligence for making decisions about VET and LLL on quality, inclusiveness and flexibility.
This thematic sub-category refers both to formal mechanisms of stakeholder engagement in VET governance and to informal cooperation among stakeholders, which motivate shared responsibility for quality VET. Formal engagement is usually based on legally established institutional procedures that clearly define the role and responsibilities for relevant stakeholders in designing, implementing and improving VET. It also refers to establishing and increasing the degree of autonomy of VET providers for agile and flexible VET provision.
In terms of informal cooperation, the sub-category covers targeted actions by different stakeholders to promote or implement VET. This cooperation often leads to creating sustainable partnerships and making commitments for targeted actions, in line with the national context and regulation, e.g. national alliances for apprenticeships, pacts for youth or partnerships between schools and employers. It can also include initiatives and projects run by the social partners or sectoral organisations or networks of voluntary experts and executives, retired or on sabbatical, to support their peers in the fields of VET and apprenticeships, as part of the EAfA.
High-quality and timely skills intelligence is a powerful policy tool, helping improve economic competitiveness and fostering social progress and equality through the provision of targeted skills training to all citizens (Cedefop, 2020). Skills intelligence is the outcome of an expert-driven process of identifying, analysing, synthesising and presenting quantitative and/or qualitative skills and labour market information. Skills intelligence draws on data from multiple sources, such as graduate tracking systems, skills anticipation mechanisms, including at sectoral and regional levels. Actions related to establishing and developing such systems fall under this thematic sub-category.
Modernising VET offer and delivery
This thematic category looks at what and how individuals learn, how learning content and learning outcomes in initial and continuing VET are defined, adapted and updated. First and foremost, it examines how VET standards, curricula, programmes and training courses are updated and modernised or new ones created. Updated and renewed VET content ensures that learners acquire a balanced mix of competences that address modern demands, and are more closely aligned with the realities of the labour market, including key competences, digital competences and skills for green transition and sustainability, both sector-specific and across sectors. Using learning outcomes as a basis is important to facilitate this modernisation, including modularisation of VET programmes. Updating and developing teaching and learning materials to support the above is also part of the category.
The thematic category continues to focus on strengthening high-quality and inclusive apprenticeships and work-based learning in real-life work environments and in line with the European framework for quality and effective apprenticeships. It looks at expanding apprenticeship to continuing vocational training and at developing VET programmes at EQF levels 5-8 for better permeability and lifelong learning and to support the need for higher vocational skills.
This thematic category also focuses on VET delivery through a mix of open, digital and participative learning environments, including workplaces conducive to learning, which are flexible, more adaptable to the ways individuals learn, and provide more access and outreach to various groups of learners, diversifying modes of learning and exploiting the potential of digital learning solutions and blended learning to complement face-to-face learning.
Centres of vocational excellence that connect VET to innovation and skill ecosystems and facilitate stronger cooperation with business and research also fall into this category.
VET standards and curricula define the content and outcomes of learning, most often at national or sectoral levels. VET programmes are based on standards and curricula and refer to specific vocations/occupations. They all need to be regularly reviewed, updated and aligned with the needs of the labour market and society. They need to include a balanced mix of vocational and technical skills corresponding to economic cycles, evolving jobs and working methods, and key competences, providing for resilience, lifelong learning, employability, social inclusion, active citizenship, sustainable awareness and personal development (Council of the European Union, 2020). The thematic sub-category also refers to establishing new VET programmes, reducing their number or discontinuing some. It also includes design of CVET programmes and training courses to adapt to labour market, sectoral or individual up- and re-skilling needs.
European priorities in VET
VET Recommendation
- VET agile in adapting to labour market challenges
- VET as an attractive choice based on modern and digitalised provision of training and skills
Osnabrück Declaration
- Resilience and excellence through quality, inclusive and flexible VET
Subsystem
Further reading
Country
Type of development
Cedefop, & ReferNet. (2025). Sector skills councils (SSCs): Hungary. In Cedefop, & ReferNet. (2025). Timeline of VET policies in Europe (2024 update) [Online tool].
https://www.cedefop.europa.eu/en/tools/timeline-vet-policies-europe/search/28277