Conference Paper

Over the last decade most EU countries introduced market-based reforms in their schooling systems to create incentives for improvement in schools’ performance and to improve signalling between education and labour markets which should lead to better matching between supplied and demanded human capital. Such quasi-market reforms were also implemented in the education systems of CEECs, although to a lesser extent, partly initiated by the need to harmonize their educational policies with those of the EU countries in the prospect of the future EU membership. The aim of this paper is to investigate the extent to which transition economies have followed the ‘Western’ trend as well as the success of their reforms in order to identify areas where the effectiveness of the CEECs schooling systems in terms of ‘producing’ relevant human capital could be further raised. In doing so, I concentrate on Macedonia where educational reforms started in the second half of 1990s with a low awareness inside the relevant government institutions about the need for and the aims of these reforms and without any long-term vision. Though, schooling system reforms are an important element (and requirement) of the Macedonian accession to the EU. Hence, at the end of the paper I give guide for further reforms to education policymakers in Macedonia.