Internationalisation of VET
This is the second article in the series of articles initiated by the Working Group on Vocational Education and Training (VET). The Working Group has decided to include at least one VET-related article on the OBESSU website per month. Last month’s article was about the “dual education system” and just as we stated in that article, the Working Group would be happy to get suggestions for future articles. If you have any ideas, do not hesitate to contact vet@obessu.org.
Today we are going to look at the international dimension on VET. In higher education, it is very common with various types of internationalisation. Higher education institutions often send exchange students to each other, work together on research projects, etc. However, in the field of VET it is rather uncommon with cross-border cooperation. Why?
Cooperation with non-European countries
Earlier this year, a report from the European Commission was released. It was titled “Building knowledge on international cooperation in VET” and looked at how and why different countries in Europe cooperate with non-European countries in VET. The report finds that the reasons for engaging in international cooperation for the European countries are to “ensure that the third country has a VET system and VET providers that are able to deliver the skills needed for activities of companies that originate from this country” and to “ensure that third countries have a positive image of its VET system as this can lead to other positive effects”. The international cooperation is also to a “way to ensure that home VET providers are encouraged to innovate their own practices” and to “strengthen young persons’ international outlook”.
The forms of cooperation can take many shapes. Sometimes the cooperation takes place on policy level, including technical support and capacity-building to public bodies which are setting up new systems. Other times, the cooperation can be between VET organisations/companies, and yet other times it can be targeted cooperation reaching out to individuals, for example various forms of student mobility programmes.
The report further finds that although many countries would like to increase various forms of cooperation, there are several limiting factors. The four most important of these are: the lack of common definitions of international VET cooperation, the lack of policy support, legal/visa barriers and financial constraints.
The report comes up with several recommendations (for the full picture, see pp. 113-121 of the report), one of which is highly in line with OBESSU’s positions on the topic: the report says that the image of VET needs to be improved. In many countries, VET is seen as the second-best option and this is something which holds back internationalisation. Indeed, “Those countries that are successfully engaging in internationalisation of VET are the ones that have a positive image of VET” (p. 109).
Intra-European cooperation
The findings above refer to cooperation between European and non-European countries. However, there are also things happening in the field of intra-European cooperation.
Right now, a report called Erasmus+ and other tools to foster mobility in VET – a lifelong learning approach is making its way through the European Parliament. The report acknowledges that there is a lack of intra-European mobility in VET and looks at ways in which mobility for VET students can be encouraged, for example through the Erasmus+ Programme. The report is being prepared both in the Committee on Culture and Education (CULT) and in the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs (EMPL). An OBESSU Board member met up with the EMPL rapporteur to give input on the report and to present OBESSU’s views on the topic. Another meeting with the CULT rapporteur was unfortunately cancelled but will hopefully be rescheduled soon.
It remains to be seen what the report will come up with in the end. Regardless of that, it seems clear that there is room for improvement. The OBESSU Board and the Working Group will continue to monitor the developments and to make sure that the voice of school students – the most important stakeholder in the field – will be heard whenever a new proposal is being discussed.
