ŠIOV is an agency of the Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Sport of the Slovak Republic in charge of VET and adult learning in Slovakia.

The Institute supports the development of vocational policy; participates in the preparation and development of educational standards and qualifications, innovation and testing of educational programmes; ensures further education for secondary school teachers and organises educational activities, national competitions, exhibitions or conferences; analyses trends and needs for development of VET in Slovakia.

ŠIOV manages the EU initiatives in vocational education and training and adult education in Slovakia:

- European Qualifications Framework,

- EQAVET

- EUROPASS,

- European Agenda for Adult learning,

- EPALE,

- Referent.

ŠIOV administer the National Qualifications Database and the Slovak Centre of Training Companies.

ŠIOV is a member of the European Basic Skills Network, European Forum for VET (EfVET), EUROPEN, it coordinates national teams for Euroskills. Since 2020, it is the National Contact Point of the European Vocational Skills Week.

ŠIOV has extensive experiences in implementation of EU-funded projects, including large-scale ESF-funded national projects, Erasmus+, EaSI Programme, etc. supporting implementation of VET policies in Slovakia.

Staff members of the Institute sit in various national and international bodies, e.g. Advisory Groups of the EC for the European Qualifications Framework and Europass, working groups established by the European Commission, OECD, and other institutions.