OBRAD (education and business) is an ongoing communication platform between education and economy with the aim of finding solutions to the continuing problem of Croatian, and to some extent European, economic development - the alarmingly high rate of unemployment, especially among the young. This problem is caused by the lack of adequately educated work force for the labour market on the one hand, and on the other by a surplus of those who have, in the course of their education, acquired such knowledge and skills which do not fit the demand of the economic development, specifically the needs of the employers.

The main aim of the OBRAD project is to initiate and moderate a constructive dialogue between the education system and the labour market, i.e. the economy, using conferences as an initial communication platform and in this way:

• contribute to the development of educational policies and strategies in Croatia and direct them towards increasing the employability of the young in the national, European and global context,
• modernise the content and methods of formal, non-formal and informal education by disseminating international, regional and national best practices,
• create partnerships between educational institutions and businesses, which would consequently increase the employability and entrepreneurial initiative of students and graduates.

A first conference OBRAD, joinly organized by VERN' UAS, University of Zagreb and Croatian Employers Association, with Israel as a partner country had been held on June 2nd and 3rd 2016.at Museum of Contemporary Arts in Zagreb.

1ST CONFERENCE