Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia

Section for statistics of Education, Science and Culture

Milana Rakića 5, Belgrade, Serbia

The Adult Education Survey (AES) covers adults’ participation in education and training (formal - FED, non-formal - NFE and informal learning - INF). The 2022 AES focuses on people aged 18-69. The reference period for the participation in education and training is the twelve months prior to the interview.

Information available from the AES is grouped around the following topics:

• Participation in formal education, non-formal education and training and informal learning
• Volume of instruction hours
• Characteristics of the learning activities
• Reasons for participating
• Obstacles to participation
• Access to information on learning possibilities and guidance
• Employer financing and costs of learning
• Self-reported language skills

For further information see the 2022 AES legislation (http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/education-and-training/legislation) and the 2022 AES implementation manual (http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/education-and-training/methodology).

- Classification of Learning Activities (CLA, 2016 edition)
- International Standard Classification of Education 2011 (ISCED 2011)
- Classification of Occupations 2008 (ISCO 08)
- Classification of economic activities Rev. 2 (NACE Rev. 2)

AES covers all economic sectors.

Definitions as well as the list of variables covered are available in the 2022 AES implementation manual (http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/education-and-training/methodology).

Individuals, non-formal learning activities.

Individuals aged 18-69 living in private households.

The entire territory of the Republic of Serbia, excluding Kosovo and Metohia (UN governed territory under UNSCR 1244/1999).

Fieldwork of AES 2011 was between 20/08/2011 and 31/12/2011 and for 2016 wave 15/10/2016 up to 20/01/2017 and for 2022 wave 15/11/2022 up to 10/01/2023.

Not applicable.

Number, EUR.

The fieldwork period for the 2022 AES: 15/11/2022 up to 10/01/2023.

At European level:

Basic legal act: Regulation (EU) 2019/1700

Implementing act: Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2021/861

At national level:

- Official Statistics Law

- Resolution on the Programme of official statistics

- Regulation on the Plan of official statistics for the current year

* The above documents are available at SORS website: http://www.stat.gov.rs/en-US/o-nama/dokumenti.

Not applicable.

Data confidentiality is stipulated by:

- Official Statistics Law (Official Gazette of RS, number 104/2009), Articles 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, and 49

(http://www.stat.gov.rs/media/2322/zakon_o_statisticie.pdf) 

- Rulebook on statistical data protection in the Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia

(http://www.stat.gov.rs/media/2343/rulebook-on-statistical-data-protection-in-sors.doc)

- Guidelines on measures of data and information protection in the Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia

(http://www.stat.gov.rs/media/2341/guidelines-on-measures-of-data-and-information-protection-in-the-sors.doc)

Not applicable.

Calendar of releases is available at SORS website on the last day of October every year for the forthcoming year (http://www.stat.gov.rs/en-US/calendar).

All SORS releases are launched at 12.00. Any divergence from the defined time schedule is announced in advance and explained in the Calendar.

Calendar of releases is available at SORS website: http://www.stat.gov.rs/en-US/calendar.

The data obtained through statistical surveys are released at the internet presentation (http://www.stat.gov.rs/en-US/), in the database (http://data.stat.gov.rs/?caller=SDDB&languageCode=en-US), in statistical releases and publications (http://www.stat.gov.rs/en-US/publikacije/). 

The results of official statistics are available at the same time to all users on impartial basis; any privileged access by external users before their release is not allowed.

Every 6 years.

Press releases was published in the last quarter of 2023.

(https://publikacije.stat.gov.rs/G2023/PdfE/G20231293.pdf)

http://www.stat.gov.rs/oblasti/obrazovanje/obrazovanje-odraslih-i-celozivotno-ucenje/

For 2022.

No national online database.

Not applicable.

Eurostat will publish both aggregated data on their website and provide access to anonymised micro-data.

Anonymised micro-data on national level will be provided on users' request.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

This quality report.

Not applicable.

National quality reports are available on Eurostat's website.

The SORS quality management system is relied on the Serbian official statistics mission and vision, as well as on the European Statistics Code of Practice – CoP and the Total Quality Management – TQM principles, which together make the common quality framework of the European Statistical System (ESS).

For more information, please see the documents at http://www.stat.gov.rs/en-US/o-nama/sistem-upravljanja-kvalitetom.

Not applicable.

The main users are policy makers at European and national level, social actors, researchers, students, enterprises, international organisations.

On biennial basis (once in two years), by the means of web interview, implemented is the User Satisfaction Survey. The survey results are available at SORS website: http://www.stat.gov.rs/en-US/o-nama/sistem-upravljanja-kvalitetom.

The survey is fully compliant with national and international regulations.

Not applicable.

All steps of the survey were fully followed, and everyone involved (methodologists, interviewers, controllers, IT colleagues) made a maximum effort to obtain quality data. No major deviations were noted. All the questions that came up during the process were addressed to get the best out of the survey.

Sampling error for the indicators was calculated in the SPSS software using the Complex samples procedure.

The sample is based on three-stage stratified random sampling design. Primary sampling units are enumeration districts, second stage units are households, and the third stage units are persons. Stratification was done according to the type of settlement (urban and other) and by territory at the NUTS 2 level (four Regions).

The major component of the weight is the reciprocal value of the product of the probabilities of selection at every stage in each sampling stratum and represents design weight. The second component of the weight takes into account the level of non‐response for the household and person. After the completion of the interviews response rates were calculated and used to adjust the design weights for the non-response. Then, the poststratification was done according to gender and age groups (18-24, 25-29, ..., 65-69), at the NUTS2 level by type of settlement.

See table 13.2.1 “Sampling errors - indicators for 2022 AES key statistics” in annex “RS - QR tables 2022 AES (excel)”.

See items 13.3.1 - 13.3.5 below.

The sample frame is Population Census 2011. See also item 18.1.

See table 13.3.1.1 “Over-coverage - rate” in annex “RS - QR tables 2022 AES (excel)”.

Not applicable.

The corrections we made in the questionnaire itself in order to reduce measurement errors refer to the variables from chapter 1.5 "WANT" and "NONEED". Instead of directly asking respondents to place themselves in one of the four categories defined in the WANT variable, the interviewer should ask the WANT_A or WANT_B question, followed by the NONEED_A and NONEED_B questions, depending on the answer to the question about participation in education and training asked earlier in the interview.

In the case of unit non-response: considering the sampling frame, which is not a register of persons characteristics of households, and persons are unknown and cannot be used for adjustment.

In the case of item non-response: this occurs when some individuals respond to some questions but not others, leading to missing data for specific questions.

See table 13.3.3.1 “Unit non-response - rate” in annex “RS - QR tables 2022 AES (excel)”.

See table 13.3.3.2 “Item non-response rate” in annex “RS - QR tables 2022 AES (excel)”.

All questions and variables were coded following the instructions from the AES manual. There are no significant points to be emphasized.

Not applicable.

A press release was published in the last quarter of 2023.

A press release was published in the last quarter of 2023.

Not applicable.

2022 AES data were transmitted within 8 months after the end of the fieldwork.

See table 14.2 “Project phases - dates” in annex “RS - QR tables 2022 AES (excel)”.

Not applicable.

No problems regarding data comparability with other countries.

See table 15.1 “Deviations from 2022 AES concepts and definitions” in annex “RS - QR tables 2022 AES (excel)”.

No additional variables related to COVID-19 were collected.

Not applicable.

See table 15.2 “Comparability - over time” in annex “RS - QR tables 2022 AES (excel)”.

Not applicable.

See table 15.3 “Coherence - cross-domain” in annex “RS - QR tables 2022 AES (excel)”.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

AES results for a given data collection round are based on the same microdata and results are calculated using the same estimation methods, therefore the data are internally coherent.

Not available.

No revisions are planned for AES.

Not applicable.

The adult education survey (AES) is a sample survey. The sample frame is Population Census 2011. The basic set consists of all households and persons living in the territory of the Republic of Serbia for one year and more. Persons living in collective households and staff of diplomatic and consular missions have been excluded. The type of sample is a three-stage stratified sample. Units of the first stage are the census circles, units of the second stage are households, and the units of the third stage are individuals. Population circles as primary units are stratified according to the type of settlement - the city and other, and according to the territory that administrative districts comprise. Census circles with 19 and fewer households are excluded from the frame. The sample for AES 2022 were 7000 households.

See also table 18.1 “Source data” in annex “RS - QR tables 2022 AES (excel)”.

Every 6 years.

The AES 2022 was conducted in the period November 2022 - January 2023, via a telephone survey (CATI method). Data processing was done by using SQL, while for data entering we used the Statistical Office’s locally developed internal program called IST.

The process of coding was according to methodological recommendations given by Eurostat (code book, checking rules). The list of classifications used in coding is part of the methodological and organizational instruction. The observation period for adult participation in education and training is 12 months preceding the survey. Participation in the survey is voluntary. The questionnaire follows the model provided by Eurostat, designed for this survey and same for all countries. Training of the interviewers was successfully done shortly before the beginning of the survey.

See also table 18.1 “Source data” in annex “RS - QR tables 2022 AES (excel)”.

Data processing and validation has been successfully done in SPSS, and validated by Eurostat.

Weighting was done by multiplying the initial weight with households and individuals adjustment for nonresponse and poststratification.

Not applicable.

See also table 18.5.1 “Imputation - rate” in annex “RS - QR tables 2022 AES (excel)”.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

None.