Education-Employment Linkage Index: Feasibility Study
The KOF Education-Employment Index (KOF EELI) is an index developed by the KOF Swiss Economic Institute's research division on Education Systems aimed at measuring how strongly the education and employment systems are linked for a specific VET program.
We need a good way to measure VET systems, and standard tools like curriculum comparison and test scores don't make sense for career-oriented education. This study develops an education-employment linkage index (the KOF EELI) that evaluates how strongly the education and employment systems are linked for a specific VET program. Linkage tells us how well the program will prepare its graduates for the local labor market, whatever that may be.
The feasibility study covers 20 countries identified as top-performers in an earlier phase. We compare their KOF EELI scores, as well as the dimensions, subdimensions, and features that make up their scores. We can identify the strong and weak points of each system, especially the six focus countries with in-depth case studies.
We conclude that strong VET systems are characterized by employers' involvement in setting qualification standards, deciding when to update curricula, and setting the examination form. In addition, students in strong VET systems spend most of their time in the workplace instead of the classroom.
This project was funded by the Center on International Education Benchmarking (CIEB), part of the National Center on Education and the Economy (NCEE).