3 December 2002: Meeting of the Directors General of Public Employment Services from EU Member States and Candidate Countries

21 November 2002: seminar "Public Employment Services as a factor in the imeplementation of the European Employment Strategy and Guidelines"

31 October 2002 – From 24 to 26 October the World Association of Public Employment Services (WAPES), the Slovakian Employment Service and the European Commission organised a seminar in Bratislava, Slovakia, on “How to adapt the Public Employment Services of the Candidate Countries to the challenge of EU accession”. The aim of the seminar was to prepare Public Employment Services (PES) in the Candidate Countries for their role in the context of EU membership on issues related to the establishment of EURES, new methods of counselling and management of job vacancies. The seminar was attended by representatives from the European Commission and the EU Member States, the future EURES managers from the Candidate Countries’ PES and representatives from Albania and the countries of the former Yugoslavia. The participants from the Employment Service of Slovenia were job-placement specialist Mrs Valerija Okorn and information technology specialist Mrs Irena Hribar Rajterič. The participants at the seminar were familiarised with PES priorities in the European Employment Strategy and the role of the EURES Network in this framework.

23 October 2002 – As part of the RegDatInfo project, on 17 October a workshop entitled “Regional Data Information Styria - Northern Slovenia - Western Hungary” was held in Bad Radkersburg, Austria. The workshop was organised by the EU-Regionalmanagement company, which is also in charge of the RegDatInfo project covering the Austrian province of Carinthia, northern Slovenia and western Hungary. The workshop was attended by three analysts from the Employment Service of Slovenia: Mrs Blanka Štravs from the Maribor Regional Office, Mrs Branka Škulj Nussdorfer from the Velenje Regional Office and Mrs Liljana Čeh from the Ptuj Regional Office. The aim of the workshop was to review data on the labour market and economy of the individual countries from the point of view of comparability, availability and validity. The representatives from the ESS took an active part in assessing the data on unemployment. The RegDatInfo project was born out of the need to ensure an information system with internationally comparable demographic and economic data, data on employment and unemployment.

22 October 2002 – The sixth meeting of vocational counsellors of Austria entitled “Vision of Education Counselling 2005 – vocational training and representation of interests” took place on 14 and 15 October in Eisenstadt, Austria. The meeting was organised by the Austrian Ministry of Education, Science and Culture. At the invitation of the organisers two vocational guidance experts from the Employment Service of Slovenia – Mrs Lenca Tomaževič Savnik from the Ljubljana Regional Office and Mr Peter Prosenc from the Maribor Regional Office – attended the meeting. They presented a paper at the meeting entitled “Counselling for education at the Employment Service of Slovenia” in which they explained a historical overview and general information on education counselling in Slovenia, the development of the concept of information and counselling services at the ESS, counselling and information work for young people and adults, expectations of clients, the limits of vocational and education counselling and the profile of a vocational counsellor in the ESS. The seminar was also an opportunity for debate, dialogue and establishing contacts with colleagues from different parts of Austria, and getting to know about their working methods and organisation in the area of vocational guidance.

18 October 2002 – A seminar entitled “Introducing newcomers to EURES”, organised as part of the Danish presidency of the EU in cooperation with the European Commission, was held in Helsingor, Denmark, from 10 to 12 October. The seminar was attended by EURES managers from EU Member States and from Norway, Iceland and Switzerland. For the first time representatives from Public Employment Services in EU Candidate Countries were also invited. The seminar was attended by Mrs Sonja Pirher from the Employment Service of Slovenia, assistant to the Director General, and Mrs Valerija Okorn from the job-placement department. Representatives from the Candidate Countries first of all had the opportunity to attend the regular meeting of EURES managers, and then applied themselves to topics relevant to preparations to join the EURES Network of European Employment Services. The findings and conclusions of the seminar form the basis for the continuation of the ESS preparations for joining the EURES Network.

16 October 2002 - The Luxembourg Labour and Employment Minister visits the Employment Service of Slovenia

14 October 2002 – From 7 to 11 October the ESS hosted representatives of the vocational guidance department of the Serbian employment service. The main purpose of the visit was to exchange experience on the directions in which vocational guidance is developing in the two countries and primarily to offer the Serbian delegation the opportunity to visit the Slovenian Vocational Information and Counselling Centres (VICCs) and learn about their work. The information, advice and examples of good practice acquired will be of assistance in preparations of the Serbian employment service for the establishment of similar centres in their country. They were informed about work of the ESS Vocational Guidance Department, the National Resource Centre for Vocational Guidance (NRCVG) in Ljubljana and the expansion of the VICC network throughout Slovenia. The Serbian visitors were received by the ESS Director General Mr Jože Glazer. They were informed about the operation of the entire ESS and in turn they described the Serbian employment service and its vocational guidance department. Practical experience on working with different groups of clients was exchanged with the Slovenian counsellors. They also visited Slovenia's Small Business Development Centre.
Staff members of the Serbian employment service at a reception by the ESS Director General

4 October 2002 – On 28 and 29 September the ESS expert on vocational orientation, Mr Saša Niklanović, took part in the second meeting of the project group of the Virtuorientation project within the EU Leonardo da Vinci programme, which was held in Graz, Austria. The Velenje School Centre from Slovenia is heading the project. In addition to ESS the participating partners include the Slovenian Centre for Vocational Education and Training, the Slovenian company PIA, the Berufsförderung Institut (BFI) from Graz, Austria, the company EuroProfis from Prague, the Czech Republic, and the ITC Enrico Tossi school centre from Italy. The pilot project has been running since the start of 2002 and will end in early 2004. Its main objective is to set up a web site providing an interactive multimedia package for the target group of young people who are completing their education or are about to join the labour market. The second meeting of the project group was used to define the basic contents of the package which will assist and guide young people independently making decisions on their future schooling and choice of profession.

23 September 2002 – Hosted by the Employment Service of the Republic of Slovenia, the 5^th conference of directors general of public employment services from Central Europe will take place in Maribor, Slovenia, from 26 to 27 September 2002. The participants will be the representatives of public employment services from the eight Central European countries: Austria, the Czech Republic, Croatia, Hungary, Germany, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia. Mr. Frank Kavanagh, the representative of the EU Employment and Social Affairs Directorate-General (DG Employment & Social Affairs) will take part in the conference as well. The main objective of the conference is to exchange experience, knowledge and good practice particularly regarding clients' satisfaction in public employment services. The participants will also present the topical situation and changes in individual public employment services and agree on future types and topics of mutual co-operation.

10 September 2002 – From 2 to 4 September, two ESS experts on vocational guidance, Mr Saša Niklanović and Mrs Zlata Šlibar, attended a regular conference of the Euroguidance Network, held in Tallinn, Estonia. Entitled Mobility in Europe: Challenges for the Euroguidance Network, the conference was attended by more than 40 participants from most European countries. The Euroguidance network operates under the auspices of the European Commission and brings together the National Resource Centres for Vocational Guidance from all over Europe. One of them is the Slovenian centre which operates within the ESS.

12 July 2002 - In the second edition of Newsletter this year, the World Association of Public Employment Services published three examples of work with companies in different social-economic contexts - Australia, Brazil and Slovenia. The Slovenian article is focused on various ways in which the Employment Service of Slovenia establishes contacts and co-operates with employers. The whole Newsletter is available on the WAPES web site: www.wapes.org.

27 June 2002 – From 15 to 20 June several staff members of the Employment Service of Slovenia – Mavricija Batič, deputy director general, Sonja Pirher and Damjana Košir, assistants to the director general, and Tone Furlan, head of the information department – visited the Swedish National Labour Market Board (AMS). The purpose of the visit was to learn about the way the implementation of EURES network activities is organised within the AMS and to discuss further bilateral co-operation between the Swedish and Slovenian employment services. The participants visited the AMS central office, the International Labour Office in Stockholm, the Vaxjo Labour Office (which performs tasks of the International Labour Office as well) and the Lassebo Labour Office. The information, experience and advice they acquired are helpful in the introduction of the EURES system in Slovenia.

23 June 2002 – From 10 to 14 June, three staff members of the Employment Service of Slovenia – Metka Barbo Škerbinc and Jana Pavlič of the insurance department and Ana Rode of the department for the employment of foreigner workers – visited the Swedish National Labour Market Board (AMS). The visit took place as part of the Twinning project “Institution Building for the Implementation of the Acquis with respect to Free Movement of Workers and the Coordination of Social Security Schemes” within the Phare Consensus programme. At the AMS they learned about the contents and organisation of work on the co-ordination of social security schemes within the EU, documents and procedures, practical examples, IT support and communication with related institutions in Sweden and other EU Member States. They also visited the Unemployment Insurance Fund and Uppsala International Labour Office. The information and experience they gained will significantly assist in preparing Slovenia for the free movement of workers and the co-ordination of social security schemes within the EU.

17 June 2002 – From 6 to 9 June two staff members of the Employment Service of Slovenia, Toni Koren, the director of the Sevnica Regional Office, and Uroš Pešec, the director of the Celje Regional Office, took part in a professional meeting of the Serbian Labour Market Service (Zavod za tržište rada), held in Zlatibor, Serbia. The meeting, entitled Labour Market in Transition, had an international dimension and was attended by approximately 600 participants. Representatives from the World Bank, the Baltic states, Russia, Sweden, Germany, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Macedonia, Romania and Slovenia related their experiences in implementing active employment policy measures and dealing with the problem of redundant workers. Serbian representatives described their strategy and activities for tackling the problem of unemployment in Serbia.

14 June 2002 – At the invitation of the Swedish employment service (AMS) director general of the Employment Service of Slovenia, Jože Glazer, took part on 5 and 6 June in an international conference held in Dublin, Ireland, as part of the Work Life and EU Enlargement project. The conference was organised for candidates for EU membership. A representative of the Slovenian Ministry of Labour, Family and Social Affairs also attended. The Work Life and EU Enlargement project, which was explained at the conference, is a form of assistance to candidates for EU membership provided by the Swedish government and is being carried out by the AMS in collaboration with European partner institutions. The project is aimed at increasing know-how and the exchange of experience, as regards the adaptation to demographic changes within the EU, improving working life, work conditions and the work environment, and attending to the quality of work. Slovenia is participating in the project in the field of job creation, as well as occupational health and safety in small companies and risk assessment. At the conference the ESS Director General described the role of the ESS in the process of industrial restructuring and collaboration with the AMS on setting up the EURES system in Slovenia. The conference was also an opportunity to establish and strengthen direct contacts with the representatives of public employment services from EU member states and candidate countries present at the conference.

10 June 2002 – On 30 and 31 May, ESS representatives, including Mr. Joco Klopčič working in the field of international activities, Mrs. Lučka Žižek, the director of the Kranj Regional Office, and Mrs. Vlasta Stojak, the director of the Ptuj Regional Office, took part in a workshop entitled Cooperation of PES with Non-Governmental Service Providers. It was held in Sopron, Hungary as part of the cooperation between Central European public employment services. The workshop, which was organised by the Hungarian and Austrian employment services, was also attended by representatives from the Croatian, Czech, German and Slovak employment services and a representative from the European Commission. Participants from individual countries described cooperation between public employment services and non-governmental service providers on the labour market, and at separate workshops they discussed organised support to specific target groups of unemployed people and cooperation with private job agencies. Two ESS representatives described the application of active employment policy in Slovenia with attention to relevant Slovenian documents and European guidelines, the employment programmes carried out with the assistance of external providers, the manner of working with these providers and the monitoring of programmes. They described the programmes intended for employers and the results of the Phare Twinning project related to co-operation with employers.

6 June 2002 – From 28 May to 1 June two staff members of the Employment Service of Slovenia, Zlata Šlibar and Saša Niklanović, took part at the annual conference of the IAEVG (International Association for Educational and Vocational Guidance), which was held in Warsaw, Poland. The conference, under the title Counsellor – profession, passion, calling, was organised by the Polish Ministry of Labour, the Polish Employment Service and the Association of Polish Educational and Vocational Counsellors and was attended by approximately 460 participants from 36 countries from Europe, Africa, the Americas, Asia and Australia. At the conference, one of the Slovenian representatives described the development of vocational guidance in Slovenia, the founding of the first Vocational Information and Counselling Centre in Ljubljana in 1999 within the Phare programme and the current situation in this field. The other representative of the Slovenian Employment Service participated in a session of the IAEVG Board of Directors and, as a member, in the sessions of a project group for the formulation of Counsellor Qualification Standards (CQS). Familiarity with the experiences of other countries will assist the future improvement of work methods for vocational guidance in Slovenia.

6 June 2002 – From 28 to 30 May an ESS representative took part at the final meeting of the Young Business Net project for Central European region, held in Budapest, Hungary. The project is being carried out under the auspices of the London-based WYE (Wandsworth Youth Enterprise) and is jointly funded by the Phare programme and the British National Lottery Community Fund. Its purpose is to provide comprehensive assistance to young people, in particular to the unemployed and marginalised, at the beginning of their business careers. At the final meeting the partners discussed the results of the project and the plans for the future. Experiences were described not only by the WYE, Great Britain, the Budapest Youth Enterprise Centre (BYEC), the Neuman Youth Enterprise Centre of Eger and the Cegléd Youth Enterprise Centre of Cegléd, all in Hungary, and the Business Support Centre (BSC) of Kranj, Slovenia, but also by business incubators operating in collaboration with these centres and by young entrepreneurs from Great Britain, Hungary and Slovenia that became self-employed with the help of the project. The Employment Service of Slovenia was involved in the project by promoting entrepreneurship among young unemployed people in Slovenia.

30 May 2002 – On 23 and 24 May a representative from the Employment Service of Slovenia took part in a workshop entitled The PES role in the recruitment process of companies, which was held in Rabat, Morocco, by the organisation of the World Association of Public Employment Services (WAPES). The workshop was attended by representatives from 17 countries (Algeria, Belgium, Cameroon, Canada, Congo, France, Great Britain, Kenya, Macedonia, Mali, Mexico, Morocco, Norway, New Zealand, Sweden, Tunisia and Slovenia) and of the International Labour Organisation (ILO). The participants familiarised themselves with various models and examples of good practice of work with employers from different countries. The discussions mainly focused on the issue of the relationship between employment services and employers, methods and instruments for more effective job broking, and better organisation of employment services for more successful work with employers. The conference was an opportunity for the Slovenian representative to exchange information and experience with professionals from other countries, to describe the work carried out by the ESS and to acquire new ideas for improving the job placement services of the ESS and its relations with employers. The ILO representative particularly praised the ESS work.

30 April 2002 – A Employment Service of Slovenia representative participated in a meeting of the European NRCVG network in Brussels on 22 and 23 April. The network exists under the aegis of the EU Leonardo da Vinci programme. Participants at the meeting discussed progress in the construction of an internet portal intended to provide information on educational opportunities in Europe. The Slovenian National Resource Centre for Vocational Guidance – which operates jointly with the ESS and is a member of the NRCVG network – also takes part in the construction of the portal.

19 April 2002 – A representative from the Employment Service of Slovenia participated in a study visit to Brussels from 8 to 11 April. The purpose of the visit was to find out about the role and operation of European Union institutions. The Slovenian delegation also included representatives from the Ministry of Labour, Family and Social Affairs, the Health Insurance Institute, the Pension and Disability Insurance Institute, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and the Employers and Labour Unions Association. The participants also visited the Directorate-General for Enlargement, the Directorate-General for Employment and Social Affairs, the Swedish representation to the EU and the Slovenian mission to the EU. The visit took place within the framework of the Twinning project "Strengthening Institutional Capacity to Adopt the Acquis Communautaire with respect to Free Movement of Workers and the Coordination of Social Security Schemes within the European Union" as part of the Phare Consensus programme.

11 March 2002 – A representative from the Employment Service of Slovenia took part in a professional visit to the Vocational Education and Rehabilitation Centre (Berufliches Bildungs- und Rehabilitionszentrum) in Kapfenberg, Austria on 7 March. Together with representatives from the Slovenian Institute for Rehabilitation and the Human Resources Development and Training Fund from Maribor, she had the opportunity to become acquainted with the operation of the centre, the various education programmes that the centre is carrying out, models for financing education and target groups for the programmes. Other activities included conversation about co-operation in international projects and knowledge exchange, a discussion with a specialist in occupational medicine and visits to lectures and workshops.

11 March 2002 – Staff from the Employment Service of Slovenia, representing two vocational information and counselling centres, attended “BeSt 2002 – The Job and Education Fair” in Vienna on 7 March. The visit to the fair was an opportunity to gather various kinds of information material on educational institutions, particularly in Europe, and to establish contact with representatives from universities abroad. The material will be especially useful for counselling activities involving Slovenian students that are making decisions on further education abroad or are seeking information regarding opportunities for scholarships for study abroad.

7 March 2002 – A seminar entitled “Studienmöglichkeiten in den pre-accession countries – Hier eröffnen sich Horizonte” was organised from 25 to 29 February by the German Employment Service in Oberursel, Germany. A representative from the Employment Service of Slovenia, in the area of vocational guidance, participated in the seminar. The Slovenian system for employment, education and vocational counselling was presented, as well as the current socio-economic situation in Slovenia, particularly with regard to its accession to the European Union. The seminar was attended by representatives from four European countries applying for membership of the European Union – Poland, Slovakia, Romania and Slovenia – as well as vocational counsellors from the German Employment Service that have the most frequent contact with the above mentioned countries. The representative from the Employment Service of Slovenia also took the opportunity to meet with German colleagues at the local employment office and at the vocational information centre in Frankfurt, and exchanged experience with them in the area of vocational counselling and providing information via the Internet.

28 January 2002 – On 17 and 18 January two members of staff from the Employment Service of Slovenia working in the field of vocational information and counselling took part in the regular meeting of the Euroguidance Network within the framework of the EU Leonardo da Vinci programme. The meeting was held in Brussels. Slovenia's National Resource Centre for Vocational Guidance, which operates within the Employment Service, is incorporated in the network. At the recent meeting of the network participants from European countries addressed, among other topics, the role of National Resource Centres for Vocational Guidance in the design of a common portal to ensure access to information on opportunities for education and employment in Europe. There was also a presentation made of the conference of the International Association for Educational and Vocational Guidance, which will take place at the end of May 2002 in Warsaw, Poland. It is expected that representatives of the Employment Service of Slovenia will actively participate in this conference.

3 January 2002 – Representatives from the Employment Service of Slovenia in the field of vocational orientation visited the Regional directorate for education in Trieste, Italy on 14 December 2001. The purpose of the visit was to become better acquainted with the system of vocational orientation in secondary schools in the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region. ESS representatives also toured the Vocational information centre located there, which operates at the Directorate's facilities. The visit offered an opportunity to compare operations with similar Vocational Information and Counselling Centres in Slovenia. Agreements were also concluded on further cooperation and exchange of experience in the field of vocational orientation in 2002.

3 January 2002 – Between 12 and 14 January a staff member of the Employment Service of Slovenia took part in a conference in Madrid on the European dimension of vocational training. The Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport and the Spanish National Resource Centre for Vocational Guidance organised the conference in the scope of the activities of the Euroguidance Network, into which the NRCVG Slovenia is also incorporated. Representatives of the National Resource Centres for Vocational Guidance from various European countries participated in the conference, as well as representatives from the fields of education and employment and social partners from the host country. Participants listened to, among other things, a report on vocational guidance in the light of European strategy for education and lifelong learning as well as presentations of expected innovations and improvements in the network's operation in 2002.

Current news in 2001 - With an emphasis on the workshop “Employment for Older Job Seekers” (the first part) in Velenje, Slovenia, and on the Agreement on co-operation between German and Slovenian Employment Services

Current news in 2000