Workshop on Income generating activities within VET (Vocational Education and Training) schools- Final Report

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Last updated: 10 November 2017 16:45

Final Report of the Technical Workshop on VET [Vocational Education and Training] held on 12 October 2017, in Brussels.

Income generating activities within VET (Vocational Education and Training) schools: goods and services production units, unfair competition or an opportunity for entrepreneurial learning?

The workshop was organised by the European Commission’s Directorate-General for International Cooperation and Development (DG DEVCO), Sector on Employment and Social Inclusion, and gathered together partners and stakeholders in the area of VET, including academia, NGOs, private sector, VET schools (VETs), international organisations, EU MS development agencies and EU institutions and agencies, to examine VET models and in particular income generating activities within VET schools.

The workshop investigated:

The compatibility of work based learning objectives of any VETs with the income generation ones expected from a production unit within this school;
Which elements determine the success or the failure of production units in VETs in terms of income generation and market breakthrough;
Whether and how production units in VETs can support the development of entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial skills;
Whether (subsidised) VETs producing goods and services are crowding out local private sector entrepreneurs and hence undermine local employment opportunities for graduates;
What mechanisms can be set up for mitigating the negative effects on the local economy and labour market;
What innovative approaches (in terms of partnerships, policies and governance mechanisms) can be adopted to secure the above mentioned compatibility objective.

The Final Report