Galicia continues betting on Dual Vocational Training. The model, which combines teaching in schools with internships in companies, allows students to earn a salary while they study and offers greater opportunities for job placement. The next course —advanced this morning from the Integrated Vocational Training Center (CIFP) of Someso (La Coruña) the president of the Xunta, Alfonso Rueda— the offer is expanded. The number of degrees grows by 20% and the number of places will also increase by 25%.
Accompanied by the person in charge of Education, Román Rodríguez, Rueda highlighted that practically 100% of the students who take the Dual Vocational Training get a job at the end of their studies. Labor insertion is also high in common VT.
As explained by the president of the Xunta, it reaches 70% of the graduates. "In these classrooms the seed of future great professionals is planted, and the Dual FP does it from the roots of the territory", influenced Rueda, according to the Xunta in a press release. The cycles are adapted to the productive environment of companies. The idea is to shorten the bridge between training and work reality. To illustrate this, Rueda gave the example of the new average Natural Stone cycle that will be implemented in O Porriño in collaboration with the Granite Cluster. Dual Vocational Training, he deepened, is "essential for the connection" of students with the labor market.
This model, which was implemented for the first time in 2012-2013, has not stopped growing. The next course will offer 1,800 places. There will be 119 cycles compared to 99 this year, 20% more. In general, in FP next year a total of 37,588 places will be offered only for first-year students. They will be 1,700 more than last year and up to 52% more than a decade ago. Of these places, details the Xunta, in addition to the 1,800 Dual, 26,400 are for common cycles, with twenty additions; 4,400 in the regime for adults and five more cycles; 4,300 in distance VET, also with eleven new cycles and an 18% increase; 680 places in FP master's degrees and nine new master's degrees.
Rueda referred to the success that Vocational Training is experiencing in the last decade, which makes it synonymous with learning, adaptation to the new work reality and employability. He also linked Vocational Training with the fact that educational abandonment is "down" and highlighted the departure of "qualified" professionals in the face of their labor insertion. The Galician president especially highlighted the relevance of Dual Vocational Training, which mixes content with practical learning in the company. “We all know that the future is changeable, but in FP it is Dual”, he stated. Proof of this is the involvement of the productive fabric. The next course will be more than 800 companies that will collaborate in cycles of this type of FP.
Along the same lines, the Minister of Education spoke. Román Rodríguez highlighted the high percentage of labor insertion. “There is a successful, prestigious and trustworthy VT”, he considered in a speech in which, as the president of the Xunta, he stressed the “constant increase” in Dual VT cycles.
Alfonso Rueda also highlighted the offer of vocational training masters. In addition to being a springboard to a job, he asserted, they also represent an opportunity for specialization, especially in those professions with high added value. Hence the offer and the 26% increase in the number of places offered for the next course. Students interested in this alternative will be able to choose between 16 different degrees, some of them new, such as Composite Materials in the Aerospace Industry.
The new VT offer presented in Someso responds to the development of the Galicia 2030 VT Strategy, endowed with 900 million euros until next year 2024. The head of the Galician Executive referred to the development of the 24 Integrated Centers of excellence that exist in Galicia. Next year one more will be added, the CIFP Fermín Bouza Brey, in Vilagarcía de Arousa, specialized in Electronics, Vehicle Maintenance, Commerce or Food Industries, among others.
Rueda praised the results achieved so far in the field of VET, which represent an incentive, as he noted that educational dropout continues to decline, in part, thanks to this educational modality; the training of well-qualified professionals who are prepared to face a shifting labor scenario.
The Galician president also explained that it is a powerful but not closed offer, which can still incorporate Dual FP projects to continue strengthening links between the company and training. «The silent revolution of FP leaves only triumphs: for the students, for the companies and for the whole country», he concluded.
