INDUSTRY AND EDUCATION
JOINING FORCES

February 13, 2024 | Podgorica, Montenegro

The conference was attended by 60 participants, representatives of professional schools, companies, as well as the rest of the local community, the Ministry of Education, Science and Innovation, the VET Center, the Chamber of Economy, the Institute of Education, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and institutions for adult education.

After introducing the attendees to the current and future activities of the VET for Western Balkans project, the representative of Danish Industry explained to the attendees through a very detailed presentation the role of employers in the education system of Denmark. She presented the model of the Danish labor market, referred to the development of VET and the dual system as well as social partnership in practice.

After that, the representative of Luovi College from Finland presented to the audience the educational system of Finland and then the way of functioning of Luovi college, which is known for supporting students with special educational needs. The next presentation about the company and the course of practice was given by a representative of the Slovenian company Iskraemeco. After informing the attendees with the company’s achievements, she specifically referred to the practical training that the students had done there, so she showed the attendees how the 2 weeks of practical training in their company went and what were the challenges they faced.

At the end of the first part of the conference, the company Five G from Montenegro presented its work through several VR simulations and showed how technology can be used in an excellent way for educational purposes. Participants had the opportunity to try out some of the simulations.

In the second part of the day, the conference continued through discussions at five round tables divided into sectors: Economy, Electrical Engineering and IT, Mechanical Engineering, Tourism and Hospitality and Health. Before the start of the work at the round tables, the representative of the Regional Challenge Fund addressed the attendees and explained the principle of the fund’s work, congratulated the schools that received the grant and encouraged others to apply for the next call.

Roundtable topics were:

1. Obstacles in the implementation of dual education/WBL
2. Joint work of teachers and mentors from the company
3. Potential partnerships for projects

Participants chose the sector to join according to their affinities. As the conference was attended by representatives of the VET center, as well as the Chamber of Economy, companies and schools, all parties could be included in the discussion. The school coordinator and the representative of the Chamber of Economy from the department for education and quality visited all the round tables in order to contribute to a better discussion and give ideas for possible new projects.

In the last part of the day, a short panel discussion was held where the representatives of each of the round tables presented the conclusions of their working group. At the panel discussion, it was possible to see the joint work of representatives of education and companies, and apart from the ideas about overcoming obstacles in the implementation of the dual system, such as a greater number of informative sessions and proposals for the introduction of some kind of benefit for companies that join the process of dual education, proposals to official trainings of mentors from companies are being organized, several conclusions were related to new projects and the forming of potential consortia for applying for current funds.

The common conclusion was that the conference was very successful and that it is of great benefit to organize as many events as possible for representatives of all parties needed for quality implementation of vocational education.