The paper reports about research undertaken in the framework of the "European Forum for Quality in VET" partly at the comparative level, and partly at the national level. The main question concerns how the models of quality assurance might be applied to the issue of matching supply of and demand for qualifications in the VET system. The matching of supply and demand is considered as an important priority of VET policy at the European level. The inquiry undertaken was fourfold: First, concepts and measures of matching were reviewed in the theoretical literature and in applied research at the European level. Second, an inquiry of available indicators in transnational data bases was performed, classifying them according to a model of quality improvement of the matching of supply and demand. Third, practices of anticipation systems in selected European countries were reviewed on the basis of literature and were classified according to the anticipation methods used. Fourth, an in-depth analysis of anticipation practices used in Austria has been undertaken. The theoretical framework is based on two main parts: first on the relation of the policy process to the quality model, second on the relation of the matching problem mainly analysed by labour economics to education and training policy: - Matching is looked at from the analytical perspective of policy research, in order to define it as a specific task in the field of education and training policy, and to work out what improvement of matching would mean in terms of the policy implementation cycle. That cycle is similar to the steps of the quality model (planning, implementation, evaluation, review), which must be processed due to a certain methodology, has to include a monitoring system, and some measurement tools for the assessment of goal achievement. - To devise the political implications of matching is difficult because a proper matching performance is based on both the functioning of the labour market(s) and the adaptability and innovativeness of the institutional framework of the education and training system including VET. To work out those relationships in a coherent framework of "matching policy" (i.e. identifying inputs, processes, outputs and outcomes) has been a main task of the research presented.

Some results:

• Various measures of matching supply and demand have been obtained in different strands of research. Indirect and direct, objective and subjective measures can be distinguished. From the various sources a multifaceted picture of the quality of matching of European member states can be derived. - However, most of the measures used for the assessment of matching are not sufficiently differentiated to allow a proper assessment of the matching quality of VET systems. Indicators measuring matching should include structural dimensions of employment (e.g., sectors, occupations, qualification profiles or levels)
• An overview is given about the methods used for the improvement of matching in some selected European countries, those methods are classified according to their comprehensiveness and inclusiveness, and those practices are systematically related to the measures of matching obtained. The results are not very conclusive and several steps for the improvement of the analysis and measurement are proposed.
• The complexity of the task of the translation of the matching problem into a policy task is shown by the in-depth analysis of the Austrian anticipation practices. Main conclusions concern the necessity of the improvement of measurement and indicators, and the necessary distinction of a "technocratic" module of systematic anticipation of supply and demand in quantitative terms via formal forecasting practices and a "professional-political" module which combines the quantitative results with the more informal knowledge of the various stakeholders involved.