Last week, HETEL and Maristak Durango hosted a group of 14 participants from the Italian VET organization ENGIM, the University of Bergamo, the University of Bremen and the business association Confartigianato Imprese Bergamo, in the framework of the Erasmus+ project DualECOsystems.
The participants visited the Basque Country to get to know in more detail the vocational education ecosystem of the region, in particular who are the stakeholders and how they relate and cooperate with each other.
Along 5 days, HETEL and Maristak shared with the group different examples of cooperation and their contribution to the regional development, such as the Berrikuntza Faktoria of Bilbao, promoted by Mondragon University, initiatives promoted by Tknika (the Basque Institute of Innovation in Vocational Education), such as Tkgune (to provide technologicasl services to companies from VET schools) or Urratsbat and Ikasenpresa, to promote and support entrepreneurship in vocational schools. They also share the dual VET model existing in the Basque Country, with a particular focus on the specialization programmes, co-designed and co-delivered jointly by VET schools and companies. Lastly, Egibide (VET school associated to HETEL) also shared their experience working with Deusto University in the co-design and co-deliver of a dual degree on digital industry.
In a final evaluation exercise of the cases seen during the 5 days, the group highlighted the cooperation among different stakeholders and the innovation capacity of the VET system as the 2 main elements which makes Basque vocational education an example of excellence recognised by the European Commission.
The next visit will be in January in Bergamo. We are looking forward to visiting our Italian partners to learn from their experience!
