The Mayor of Smederevo, Jasmina Vojinović, the Director of the Office for Dual Education and the National Qualifications Framework, Gabrijela Grujić, and the head teacher of Smederevo Technical School, Dejan Vemić, today signed an Agreement on Business and Technical Cooperation, officially marking the start of the project to build and equip the Training Centre for Dual and Lifelong Education.
The Training Centre will be built within Smederevo Technical School and will be a modern facility for formal and non-formal education (adult training, retraining and additional qualifications).
The project is financed by the Government of the Republic of Serbia, through the Office for Dual Education and the National Qualifications Framework, with funds from a European Investment Bank loan. The project is currently at the stage of preparing the design and technical documentation, and works are expected to begin in summer 2027.
The Mayor of Smederevo, Jasmina Vojinović, said it was a great honour for the city to be recognised as a community that can successfully carry out this project.
“The City has undertaken to find a plot and design the new building. Our task is to start implementing the project as soon as possible, so that the centre can begin operating in the shortest possible time. None of this would be possible without the responsible policy of the President of the Republic of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, thanks to which all high-quality projects are successfully financed and carried out,” the Mayor said.
The Director of the Office for Dual Education and the National Qualifications Framework, Gabrijela Grujić, said that the new centre will contribute to better education for young people and a more competitive workforce.
“We are introducing professional qualifications that make it possible to acquire concrete knowledge and skills in a shorter time. It is a synergy of theory and practice, and the aim is for every trainee to be ready for work as soon as they join a company,” Grujić stressed, announcing that construction of the Smederevo training centre should begin in mid-2027, with completion planned for 2028.
The head teacher of the Technical School in Smederevo, Dejan Vemić, said that this is a historic moment for the school and also a big step forward for the whole city and region.
“This is an opportunity to give our children the very latest in engineering and technology,” Vemić stressed, adding that the new training centre will enable pupils to adapt more quickly to the demands of modern companies, and will also make it possible to organise retraining and vocational training for all interested citizens who want to improve their professional skills.
With the construction of the Training Centre, Smederevo will become one of the cities in which education is directly linked to the needs of the economy, which should contribute to greater youth employability, the development of the local economy and the retention of skilled staff in this part of Serbia.
