Open call: Technical Support Instrument

Introduction

The European Commission’s Directorate-General for Structural Reform Support (DG REFORM) launched two Flagship Technical Support Projects, to be implemented in 2024. The two Flagship Projects provide technical support to Member States in the field of skills and regional development.

The Flagship Project on Fostering skills development systems aims to support Member State efforts, at both national and sub-national level, to advance skills development through wide-reaching reforms. As part of this Flagship, Member States were able to apply for support to adapt their education and training systems, strengthen skills governance arrangements, develop methodologies and tools to monitor labour shortages and anticipate skills needs, and implement talent attraction and retention strategies, among other possible measures.

The Flagship Project on Overcoming barriers to regional development aims to support the efforts of the regional authorities, the EU outermost regions and other regions facing constraints such as islands, to define and implement appropriate processes and methodologies to address the development challenges in an integrated manner and by taking into account good practices and lessons learned from other regions.

The Flagships was launched as part of an annual call for requests from EU Member States. Funding for such projects was provided by the European Commission’s Technical Support Instrument (TSI), the EU programme that provides tailor-made technical expertise to EU Member States to design and implement reforms across a number of policy areas.

How to apply

EU Member State authorities (i.e., public bodies) interested in applying for one of these Flagship projects needed to do so via the national body in charge of coordinating TSI submissions in their respective country (referred to as “National Coordinating Authority”).

Applicants seeking to be put in touch with their National Coordinating Authority should have contacted DG REFORM through the following address: REFORM-TSI@ec.europa.eu.

The deadline to submit requests to the European Commission was on the 31 October 2023. The submission period began at the start of month.

To apply, Member State authorities needed to make use of the official submission templates, available here: Flagship support projects templates - TSI 2024 (europa.eu).

Who could express interest?

Any public authority based in an EU Member State – at national, regional and/or local level – could have applied for support under the TSI. This included Ministries and other executive bodies, regional departments, and local government authorities, among others.

What support is provided

Member States applying for support as part of the Flagship on Skills were able to choose from among the following reform areas, depending on their needs:

• Reforms to prepare Europeans for the green and digital economies and adapt the education and training systems to the needs of the labour market.
• Reforms to improve the inclusiveness and quality of education and training systems to ensure better educational outcomes for all learners.
• Reforms to modernise tertiary education systems and improve their labour market relevance, with a focus on STEM.
• Reforms to monitor labour and skills shortages and to anticipate the skills and qualifications requirements of the labour market.
• Reforms to increase employee retention, implement talent attraction programmes, and address skills shortages.

Specific support measures that could have been provided under each of the reform areas described above include (non-exhaustive):

• Design/update of teaching and learning curricula for teachers and trainers.
• Develop tools and methodologies for the recognition and validation of skills and qualifications.
• Identification of barriers hindering the development of green and digital skills and recommendations on ways to eliminate them.
• Design and implementation of reforms to ensure a better prepared workforce in specific industrial sectors.
• Design and implementation of skills ecosystems at national, regional or local level, including support to set up or strengthen skills governance systems.
• Develop policy reforms, national or regional strategies to foster more relevant skills in line with the needs of national and regional labour markets for all categories of learners, including the most disadvantaged individuals.
• Design and implementation of strategies and recommendations to increase employee retention, implement talent attraction programmes, and address skills shortages.

In turn, Member States applying for support as part of the Flagship on Overcoming Barriers to Regional Development were able to choose from among the following reform areas:

1. REFORM AREA: Improving the quality of governance and public services
2. REFORM AREA: Strengthening productivity, innovation, and green transition
3. REFORM AREA: Harnessing talent and employment opportunities

Under each reform area, applicants were able to apply for one or more of the following work packages:

• Work package 1: Diagnosis and identifications of factors holding back a region
• Work package 2: Strategy and action plan development
• Work package 3: Peer-learning, capacity building and stakeholder engagement

Possible support measures under Reform Area 3 (“Harnessing talent and employment opportunities”) included (non-exhaustive):

• Assess entrenched regional gaps in foundational skills, accessibility and quality of the education provided by tertiary and vocational education and training institutions.
• Support the upskilling and reskilling of the regional workforce for the digital and green transition.
• Support regional education systems, including by leveraging digital solutions to close digital skills gaps, and boosting the skills of the teacher workforce.
• Create regional networks to foster long-term cooperation in the areas holding back region.
• Develop recommendations to harness talent and overcome demographic challenges.

Selection/Timeline

The period to submit requests via the national coordinating authorities of the TSI began in early October 2023, and ran until the end of the month (31st of October 2023).

The Commission (DG REFORM) assessed all requests received in the months of November/December and provided a preliminary list of pre-selected requests by early January 2024.

The final list of selected requests became available following a formal decision by the College of Commissioners, in March 2024.

Contact

This call was managed by DG REFORM.

All questions should be addressed to the following mailbox: REFORM-TSI@ec.europa.eu.