Partnerships between vocational education and training (VET) providers and businesses are essential for delivering high-quality training. Employers help update training programmes, provide modern equipment, offer opportunities for practical training and employ graduates. How can VET providers find partners, start working with businesses and develop this cooperation systematically?
These questions are answered in the practical guide “How VET Providers Can Build Partnerships with Businesses”, developed by the “Profosvita: Autonomy for the Future” project under Skills4Recovery.
The guide is based on the findings of two surveys involving 95 VET providers and 58 employers from different regions of Ukraine.
The research showed that 87% of the VET providers surveyed do not yet have a formal partnership proposal. At the same time, 91% of the employers surveyed are ready to hire VET graduates. In other words, there is demand for cooperation, but systematic steps to bring the two sides together are still lacking.
The project experts not only analysed the responses but also identified patterns that help explain why some VET providers succeed in building strong partnerships while others do not.
The guide includes:
- a practical step-by-step approach to building partnerships — from the first contact with an employer to establishing a supervisory board;
- six models of successful partnerships;
- an analysis of the most common mistakes that hinder cooperation;
- successful examples of partnerships between VET providers and businesses;
- recommendations based on practical experience and survey findings.
There is no single formula for success. VET providers can develop strong partnerships in different ways — through the close involvement of businesses in the training process, the development of short programmes for adults or other approaches. The guide is designed to help each provider identify the path that best suits its needs.
The document will be useful for VET directors and deputy directors, staff responsible for partnerships, methodology specialists, practical training instructors and other professionals who work with employers to develop training programmes and organise practical training for learners.
Background
The “Profosvita: Autonomy for the Future” project is implemented by the NGO EasyBusiness with financial support from the European Union, Germany, Poland, Estonia and Denmark within the Multi Donor Initiative Skills4Recovery, implemented by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH and the Solidarity Fund PL (SFPL).