Mr. Dimitrije Milojević, Director of Public Open University Petar Zrinski, discusses the RESCALE project’s role in improving practical adult education.
Organisation: Pučko otvoreno učilište Petar Zrinski
Role: local partner / LAB
1. Why did your organisation decide to join the RESCALE project?
Our adult education centre joined the RESCALE project because we see it as an opportunity to further strengthen what we have been doing for years—delivering high-quality, practical, and accessible adult education focused on employability. It is especially important for us to use this project to enhance the support we offer to at-risk and vulnerable learner groups, including the unemployed, the long-term unemployed, individuals with low digital skills, and those for whom returning to education is particularly challenging.
The project allows us to link our existing programmes, especially in the field of digital and administrative occupations, with a more structured approach to tracking progress, cooperating with employers, and providing targeted support to those specific groups.
RESCALE also offers us the opportunity to join an international network developing reskilling models based on real labour market needs, allowing us to exchange good practices and raise the quality of our programmes to a European level.
2. What does “reskilling” mean to you personally, and why do you think it is important now?
To me, reskilling is first and foremost an opportunity for a change in direction—especially for people who, for various reasons, are stuck in professions that no longer offer security, growth, or a decent future. It’s a process that gives people back a sense of control over their careers and a realistic chance to acquire in-demand skills in a short time.
Today, reskilling is more important than ever. Digital transformation, automation, and rapid economic changes are creating new needs, while traditional professions are disappearing or changing faster than the formal education system can keep up. In this environment, flexible, practical, and high-quality adult education programmes become key tools for maintaining employability and for including people who have been out of the labour market for years.
3. How does this model align with your organisation’s mission or strategic goals?
The RESCALE model directly supports our mission and strategic goals in the field of adult education. As an institution that has long developed programmes focused on practical skills, employability, and inclusion, the Lab enables us to make those processes even more structured and of higher quality.
First, the Lab supports our goal of enhancing programme quality through clearer learning structures, better tracking of progress, and stronger connections between theory and work-based tasks. It strengthens learning outcomes and ensures alignment with employer needs.
Second, RESCALE aligns with our focus on digital transformation. We already systematically use digital tools and platforms in our programmes, and the Lab allows us to further standardise and improve those processes—particularly through digital simulations, tracking activities within software tools, and strengthening learners’ digital skills.
Third, the project supports our goal of increasing the inclusiveness and accessibility of adult education. The Lab emphasises support for vulnerable groups, structured needs assessments, and reduction of participation barriers, fully aligning with our role as a public institution committed to broad accessibility.
Ultimately, the RESCALE model strengthens our core mission: to provide high-quality, practical, and applicable education to adults, with strong labour market connections and comprehensive support at every stage of their learning journey.
4. What specific needs or challenges in your region or sector do you hope to address through the Reskilling Labs?
Since our programmes are delivered online and we work with learners from all over Croatia, we hope the Reskilling Lab will help address three key challenges:
- First, the lack of practically skilled candidates in administrative and digital professions. Employers often report that learners lack specific skills and experience using digital tools—something the Lab is well-positioned to address in a more structured way.
- Second, access to quality reskilling for vulnerable groups, particularly the unemployed and people with low levels of digital competence. The Lab enables us to better understand their needs and provide more targeted support.
- Third, the weak link between education and the labour market. Through standardised employer feedback and better preparation for work-based learning, the Lab helps bridge this gap and offers employers candidates ready for real-world tasks.
In short, we want to strengthen adult employability throughout Croatia and make reskilling truly effective and relevant to work.
5. What is your organisation’s role in the implementation of the Lab?
We see our role as transforming the Reskilling Lab into a structured, practical, and accessible learning environment. As an institution specialised in adult education, we are responsible for delivery quality, organising online learning clearly, and aligning content with labour market needs.
In practice, this means providing stable infrastructure, supporting educators, and offering quality materials and methodologies that help learners develop concrete digital and administrative skills.
Our goal is for the Lab to function as a reliable and sustainable reskilling model that gives adults a real chance to (re)enter the labour market.
6. Can you share an innovative or inspiring activity that will take place in your Lab?
One of the most innovative elements of our Lab is the use of digital simulations within Minimax, a cloud-based accounting software used in our bookkeeper training programme. Learners work on real document types and tasks that appear in everyday accounting practice.
Instead of a classic theoretical approach, learners follow practical steps—inputting invoices, posting transactions, creating payrolls, and more—closely replicating a real work environment. This creates a safe, structured, and fully adult-friendly learning experience.
This approach is especially inspiring because it gives learners a sense of tangible progress and allows them to quickly see what their skills will look like in practice.
7. Collaboration is at the heart of RESCALE. How do you see the value of cross-sector collaboration in this context?
Cross-sector collaboration is essential because it brings together educational institutions, employers, and expert organisations in a unified process. It gives us clearer insight into labour market needs, more relevant learning content, and better learner support. Such collaboration ensures that reskilling is truly effective and results-driven.
8. What have you learned from this collaboration so far?
So far, we’ve learned that inclusiveness is key in reskilling processes, especially when working with vulnerable adult learners. We’ve seen how barriers such as lack of digital skills, long-term unemployment, or fear of returning to education can impact learner success—and how crucial it is for education providers to recognise and address these challenges.
Working with our partners has shown us that many organisations across Europe work with similar learner groups, and that good practices can be adapted across contexts. This reassures us that the approach we are developing is not only pedagogically sound, but truly relevant to the people who need the most support.
9. What impact would you like Reskilling Labs to have?
We hope that Reskilling Labs will create a lasting impact by making reskilling more accessible and effective for adults—especially those facing social, educational, or digital barriers.
Our goal is for the model to become sustainable beyond the project—helping adult learners to more easily access the labour market and giving education providers better tools to support vulnerable groups.
10. Looking ahead, what kinds of partnerships or follow-up activities would you like to see as a result of the Labs?
We would like to develop long-term partnerships with employers, other education providers, and organisations working with vulnerable groups so we can jointly build a sustainable reskilling model focused on inclusive education.
We also see great potential for expanding digital simulations, joint teacher training, and further sharing of best practices at national and European levels.
The link to Petar Zrinski web site and LinkedIn.
