Craft College (OU) is an adult education institution founded in 2006 by the Association of Craftsmen Zagreb, Chamber of Trades and Crafts Zagreb and Croatian Chamber of Trades and Crafts. Its role is the continuous development of vocational experts and VET educational offer based on labour market needs, linking VET with the economy and regional development, encouraging innovation in crafts along with responsible and sustainable development. OU offers 65 programmes for re-/training, preparations for master exams and is the national representative of EBC*L – an international certificate of business competences.

The main target groups of OU are craftsmen, their employees, SMEs, companies, and unemployed persons registered within Croatian Employment Service (CES). Besides close cooperation with Croatian Employment Service, OU works with local and regional authorities, as well as business support institutions.

OU participates actively in EU funded projects. Since its beginnings it developed and conducted projects within the Lifelong Learning Programme and IPA IV. After Croatia became a full member of EU, OU implemented projects within ESF, PROGRESS and Erasmus+ (KA1, KA2 and KA3) programmes.

OU cooperates with around 140 external experts providing courses and has 13 full-time employees. It also has access to CARNET (Croatian academic and research network) and its e-learning system and tools.

It has experience in development of training and educational programmes. It developed, as a contractor, in IPA IV and ESF programmes, new curricula for several occupations and delivered education for VET teachers and trainers on curricular changes and new teaching and training methods. OU has trainers who attended Train the Trainers programme for adult education and conducting training for teachers in Croatia (CARDS 2004 and IPA IV 2012 Regional Network of Local Learning Institutions).

OU has recently introduced the quality system ISO9001:2015 as a proof of its continuous development and the goal to become one of the most relevant adult education institutions in Croatia.

Craft College has experience in carrying on short labour-market oriented VET trainings which include theoretical classes, on-the-job practical training and theoretical classes in: entrepreneurship and economics, law and legal regulations and IT. These trainings offer fast integration in the labour market and provide knowledge necessary for job integration in a very short time. OU also has experience in projects for developing new short cycle programmes for integration of vulnerable groups into the labour market through various projects e.g. The development and pilot of the Orientation and Mobility program in the project ”The development of mobile support services for blind and visually impaired people”, Integration of inmates and drug addicts through training and certification for ceramicist. OU also participated in a project which main aim was to improve and expand activities for integration of refugees in the job-market by identifying good practices for integration of refugees in the further education and presenting the best ones to the public.