Technical assistance EU4Skills EIB

The objective of the assignment is to support the Ministry of Education and Science in providing data and initial evaluation necessary to enable the European Investment Bank (EIB) to carry out its full due diligence and appraise a loan operation for future VET Centres of Excellence. Specific objective(s) - The assignment is divided into 6 tasks: 1. Inception meeting for the assignment; 2. Collection of background data; 3. Evaluation of educational offer and future needs; 4. Inspection and evaluation of the existing preferred VET school facilities and their location; 5. Develop a conceptual design, define the investment type and assess investment costs; and 6. Prepare the terms of reference for the project implementation unit. The outputs: 1: Inception report for the assignment 2: Collection of background data - Aggregate Statistics at oblast level Employment and unemployment rates by age, level and orientation of education, and field of education; Average earnings by age, level and orientation of education, and field of education; The top 10 VET programmes in terms of current enrolment; The top 10 VET programmes in terms of current employment; Employment and unemployment rates of current graduates one year after leaving VET, by level and orientation of education, and field of education Employment of graduates one year after leaving VET, by size and sector of company; Oversupply of VET graduates in some programmes and undersupply in others Indication if there are specific, emerging professions for which demand seems to be increasing and for which employers expect VET to meet this increasing demand in the future; Types/groups of employers that are currently investing most in VET, or would be particularly willing to invest in VET if they received adequately qualified graduates in return; Any trends regarding the above over time. 3: Evaluation of VET institutions' educational offer and future needs Current VET institutional information (The education level and qualifications offered at the centre. The stated capacity of the centre; The current number of students registered at the centre. The actual number of students attending. Their age range; Information on number of first-time applicants and number of actually admitted students ((over)subscription rate); Number of staff and full time equivalent etc.) Future VET institutional information (What is the institution's leadership main objective of the investment/the establishment of a Centre of Excellence? How did the leadership assess the educational needs and the investments necessary to attain this objective? How does the leadership intend to use the investment to improve the curriculum or pedagogies used by staff? Does the leadership have concrete plans for introducing new programmes as part of the investment? etc) 4: Inspection and evaluation of the existing preferred VET institution facilities and their location Information on location and infrastructure (Population of the municipality5 where the VET institution is located; Information regarding the availability of public transport near the institution's site; distance to/from any metro station, tram stop or bus stop to the entrance of the institution; Information regarding the availability of vehicle parking within the VET institution's site(s); types of vehicles accommodated (buses, cars etc), how many parking spaces are available. If there is no parking within the VET institution's site is there parking available in the near vicinity? Information regarding the availability of cycle storage and use; how many cycle stands are available and what is their average usage6 per week etc) 5: Develop a conceptual design, define the type of investment and assess investment costs Develop a conceptual design: The Consultant shall prepare conceptual design options for the redevelopment of the preferred VET institution to transform it into a centre of excellence. Based on data obtained in Tasks 3 and 4, the Consultant shall propose how to use or reuse one of the VET institution's sites and/or buildings. Define the type of investment: The Consultant shall define the optimal investment7 type for the new centre of excellence at the preferred location in each region. Based on data obtained in Tasks 3 and 4, the Consultant shall propose whether the investment will be a new construction, substantial refurbishment/renovation, extension or a mix of these types Assess investment costs: The Consultant shall review the investment costs prepared by the VET institution in their application and assess against their future educational offer and needs. The Consultant shall provide a comparison of the investment costs against benchmarks for the construction market in Ukraine. The Consultant shall determine and provide a construction cost location factor discount or uplift as applicable for each region. The Consultant shall also assess and provide a cost uplift for achieving EDGE8 certification or equivalent leading to at least 20% improvement of energy performance against current Ukrainian building standards 6: Prepare the terms of reference for the project implementation unit that shall include carrying out the full design of each centre of excellence, the obtaining of environmental and construction permits and approvals and performing the procurement process for the building contractor(s) in accordance with the EIB's Guide to Procurement9.