Sectorial Meetings The Establishment of the Israeli Qualifications Framework as a mechanism to fostering the development of Israeli Human Capital July - September 2018 The Experts Missions took place in Tel-Aviv and Jerusalem during October and November 2018, and included meetings with all sectors involved in the twinning project:The Council for Higher Education (CHE)IDF Ministry of Labour Ministry of EducationIsraeli Central Bureau of Statistics- ICBSThe Italian experts’ mission is organized to map all the sectorial qualifications and achieve the following results:To understand the general architecture of the sectorial training system.To identify the list of the different training “providers” (technical units within the sector, training centers, academies, other bodies/units), as well as their nature and status at national level.To identify the list of different qualifications awarded in the sector, taking into account the awarding institution, the level of the qualification, professional and educational rights, etc.To map the quality assurance elements of the qualifications.The Italian experts met with their Israeli counterparts in the different Ministries, and were given an overview of each sector's qualifications system, as well as going in-depth into each qualification's characteristics. The final results will be used to draft a skeleton of the Israeli NQF's architecture. October - January 2018/2019STE missions took place to expand the knowledge on the qualifications and the mapping previously conducted on the involved sectors. The information collected on the sectorial training systems were useful to define the first draft of a working document on the general architecture of the Israeli NQF (Annex II). It includes a proposal on the methodology to develop the Israeli NQF (activities and roles). It is based on the aim and the objectives of the Israeli framework, as identified by the participating national authorities. The draft document will be shared with all the members of the working group, in order to collect their contribution in the identification of the pillars on the architecture of the Israeli NQF.January - April 2019The overall assessment of the activities carried out during the third project quarter is that the cooperation between the MS experts and the staff of the MOE has worked well not only in terms of defining the NQF, but also to involve the vast number of stakeholders from other Ministries and Institutions which shall be involved in the adoption and use of the NQF. Designing an NQF structure based on EU and International standards and best practices by taking into account the specificities of the Israeli institutional and socio-economic context was the focus of all activities. At all the missions carried out both the BC and the MS experts were well prepared, engaged and dedicated. In all cases the previous agreement on the agenda and the allotted time for comments and open discussion enabled the project partners to focus on the desired results and the intervened Israeli stakeholders to raise their voice. April - July 2019In these sectorial meetings, cooperation between the MS experts and the staff of the MOE has worked well. Not only in terms of defining the NQF, but also to engage the vast number of stakeholders from other Ministries and Institutions which shall be involved in the adoption and use of the NQF. Designing an NQF structure based on EU and International standards and best practices by taking into account the specificities of the Israeli institutional and socio-economic context was the focus of all activities. At the missions carried out both the BC and the MS experts were well prepared, engaged and dedicated. In all cases, the previous agreement on the agenda and the allotted time for comments and open discussion enabled the project partners to focus on the desired results and the intervened Israeli stakeholders to raise their voice. The sectorial missions consisted of in-depth discussion of the model of the proposed architecture for the Israeli National Qualification Framework; the sectorial meetings took place over three days between May 13th-15th with the Ministry of Defense together with the Ministry of Labor, the Ministry of Education and the Council for Higher Education. At their behest, the discussion the Council for higher Education explored several proposed models consisting of a model-based approach to classify the sectorial qualifications that were presented during the mapping process. A new proposal for the leveling of the qualifications was developed and will be presented at the High Steering Committee Mid-July, the new model is based on the input and feedback received during the sectorial meeting. July - October 2019 The overall assessment of the activities carried out during this project quarter, is that the cooperation between the MS experts and the staff of the MOE continues to collaborate well at the current stage in which more operational inputs and supports at both ends are required. The focus of all activities was to design an NQF structure based on EU and International standards and best practices by taking into account the specificities of the Israeli institutional and socio-economic context. At the carried out missions the BC and the MS experts were well prepared, engaged and dedicated. In all cases, the previous agreement on the agenda and the allotted time for comments and open discussions enabled the project partners to focus on the desired results and the intervened Israeli stakeholders to raise their voice. October 2019 - January 2020The expert missions during the reporting period consisted of sectorial meetings and technical discussions, in addition to STE missions. The overall assessment of the activities carried out during this project quarter, is that the cooperation between the MS experts and the staff of the MOE continues to go well at the current stage in which more operational inputs and supports at both ends are required. The focus of all activities was to design an NQF structure based on EU and International standards and best practices by taking into account the specificities of the Israeli institutional and socio-economic context. At the carried out missions the BC and the MS experts were well prepared, engaged and dedicated. In all cases, the previous agreement on the agenda and the allotted time for comments and open discussions enabled the project partners to focus on the desired results and the intervened Israeli stakeholders to raise their voice. The involvement of the Inter-ministerial WG contributed to the engagement of the Israeli Government, even if a more active role is expected by the WG, especially regarding the following steps leading to the adoption of the NQF. Since the Working Group does not have the mandate to take decisions related to establishment of a National Qualifications Framework within this reporting period, the Twinning team managed to launch the activities of the Inter-Ministerial Steering Committee, which now has met three times (17/07/2019 and 03/09/2019 and 31/12/2019). The RTA team and STE experts were present at the meetings of the Committee. January - April 2020It is becoming increasingly clear that all components are intertwined and addressing complex questions with a very large impact on the NQF and for the above reasons BC has requested the extension of the project for an additional year to allow them to continue with the necessary activities to establish the Israeli National Qualifications Framework with the support of the twinning teamIn addition to the above, this period saw the devastating outbreak of the coronavirus this has led to additional delays in the implementation of all activities since the beginning of March 2020, activities under this implementing period as well as the next one are currently postponed, BC staff have been put on holidays until 30/4/2020 while either MS and BC has entered lockdown and stopped the mobility of experts needed for this project.During the reporting period one expert mission took place between the Ministry of Labor and the Ministry of Education, the mission involved experts and professionals from MIUR and CIMEA regarding specific qualifications and the levelling of professional qualifications issued by the Ministry of Labor in Israel, the BC participants asked to review certain and similar qualifications in Italy as well as discuss the learning outcomes of such qualifications.Also during the reported period several experts form the EU attended the stakeholder's consultation session which took place on the 14th of January 2020. The event commenced with the opening remarks of Mr. Emanuele Giaufret Head of EU Delegation to Israel, EUD, as well as Mr. Gianluigi Benedetti the Italian Ambassador to the State of Israel. April - July 2020During the reporting period restrictions on travels were in place due to the Coronavirus emergency. Following the return of the BC's civil servants, who were on an extended leave until after Passover holiday, MoE requested to continue the Twinning activities during the lockdown and explored the possibilities of tele-working and webinars, as option for the future activities under this action. The team is pleased to report the full transition of all the activities and meetings, which are now conducted online, using several online conference meeting platforms such as Zoom, BlueJeans and the ETF Open Space.The Twinning team continued the activities of the project, directed by the EUD, MS and BC. In details, the team organized online meetings with STEs and BC stakeholders by open webinars on the effects of COVID-19 epidemic on digitalization and recognition of qualifications, with a specific focus on school-leaving qualification and access to higher education. Stating from the provisions of the Lisbon Recognition Convention, STEs showed how EU and non-EU countries reacted to the emergency in order to ensure didactic and training activities and to issue quality assured qualifications. As usual, webinars were organized on the specific topics raised by the BC stakeholders and the Twinning team is currently planning a series of webinars which aims to respond to the objectives of the previously planned study visits (which were supposed to take place in April and May). The webinars will engage experts from Germany, Ireland and Estonia (countries that were suggested by the BC's working group as a destination for the two study visits), allowing the BC stakeholders to explore the National Qualifications Frameworks of all the mentioned countries. The new European Union experts will be engaged by a side letter in the next days, after the extension of the contract was signed.During the reporting period and following the third election round, a government in the BC has officially been formed by an alliance between the two major parties, In this context, a new Ministry was formed - the Ministry for Higher and Complimentary Education [MC1] which will include ), The Division for External Relations and the Department for Evaluation of Foreign Academic Degrees (DEFAD) which is subordinate to it (in charge of the implementation of this Twinning project) and the Council for Higher Education, parts of the Youth Administration, the Division for Adults Education, and the Division for Jewish Culture.Currently the transition of those Units into the new Ministry is still in procces.During the reporting period two webinars took place on the 22nd and 23rd of June, titled:EFFECTS OF COVID-19 ON HIGHER EDUCATION: DIGITALIZATION AND RECOGNITION on 22/06/2020.IMPACT OF COVID-19 ON FINAL SCHOOL LEAVING QUALIFICATIONS AND TRANSITION FROM SCHOOL TO HIGHER EDUCATION on 23/06/2020.The webinar involved experts and professionals from CIMEA offering their competences and extensive knowledge on the issues of digitalization and shift to online operations and remote working and learning. July - October 2020As underlined in the previous Quarterly Report, following the return of the BC's civil servants who were on an extended leave until after Passover holiday due to the spread of the first wave of the Coronavirus (COVID-19 Epidemic) the team is pleased to report the full transition of all the activities and meetings, which are now conducted online, using several online conference meeting platforms such as Zoom, BlueJeans and the ETF Open Space.However, due to the surge of numbers of COVID-19 patients in BC a second lockdown was announced on the 25th of September and will last till the 18th of October before some of the restrictions are rescinded.During the reporting period restrictions on travel and a second lockdown for a second wave of the pandemic Coronavirus are still in place, the MoE requested that the Twinning activities continue to take place during the lockdown. Movement restriction were introduced in BC on the 15/09/2020 and were later increased to a full lockdown which began on the 24/09/2020 and is still lasting, but the project did went on using tele-working and webinars. The Twinning team agreed not to compensate on any activity of the project and, as directed by the EUD, MS and BC, the team organized online meetings with STEs and BC stakeholders by open webinars, including one webinar on the effect that COVID-19 epidemic had on the process of recognition, evaluating and issuing school-leaving certificates as well as qualifications in the higher education sector. The purpose of the webinar was to engage back the BC stakeholders and relevant forums in order to return to the normal work-load and to share difficulties and solutions to problems.It is important to mention here that the recently signed extension allowed the project to complete the activities which could not take place due to the outbreak of the Coronavirus.In order to compensate for the sectorial study visits, the Twinning team is planning for a series of webinars on the NQF of Germany, Ireland, Estonia.During the reporting period 5 missions took place over the Project's Zoom platform, as follows:STEs mission on Quality Assurance and Learning Outcomes (Council of Higher Education) (13-07-2020).STEs mission on Quality Assurance and Learning Outcomes (Ministry of Labour) (15-07-2020).STEs mission on the NQF of Estonia (First session 27/07/2020). STEs mission on the NQF of Estonia (Second session 14/09/2020).STEs mission for Legislative Recommendations (22/09/2020) on the basis the Draft Government Resolution for the establishment of the National Qualifications Framework in Israel. In Addition to the above, the Twinning team met the Practical Engineer Committee (10/09/2020) in response to the IMSC request to involve stakeholders and other active Forums in the Twinning project and in the establishment of the Israeli NQF.The BC Working Group met twice during the reporting period: one meeting was dedicated to the lessons learnt from the legal seminar held in February in Rome for the BC legal representatives. Another meeting took place to discuss the project's indicators, as mentioned in the Twinning contract.Due to the importance of the topic, the Working Group referred the issue to the Inter-Ministerial Steering Committee and assigned Mr. Haim Portnoy from the Israel's Central Bureau of Statistics (ICBS) to prepare a draft proposal to produce statistics for the Israeli National Qualification Framework project.