GOVET Annual Report 2017

The importance of VET in international cooperation is growing. The German Dual system has an excellent reputation and is globally recognized as a success story. It is considered to be a means of securinga skilled workforce and combating youth unemployment. The demand for German expertise on VET is constantly rising. More and more countries are approaching German players in vocational education and training, indicating their interest in cooperation. At the same time, the German Federal Government and the German VET players have expanded their activities, thereby contributing to economic growth, employment and social participation.

The annual report 2017 reveals that the growing interest in the German dual VET system affected all three of GOVET’s fields of activities: Within the reporting period, GOVET answered enquiries for VET cooperation from 117 countries, which is an increase by 31 countries compared to the previous year. Most enquiries came from Asian countries, followed by enquirers from Europe and Africa. At the same time the visits on the GOVET website have increased considerably, having doubled compared to the last reporting period. The GOVET website had roughly 50,000 visits from about 100 countries. In particular, the multilingual information sources, such as presentations on the German VET system, were very popular. Site visitors downloaded more than 15,000 items in the reporting period.

Moreover, the report also covers the work of the Round Table for International Vocational Education and Training Cooperation, which held 20 meetings in the reporting period. Besides, in July 2016 the Round Table held a two-day conference, which among other things dealt with the implementation of the strategy for one-stop international cooperation in VET. The most-discussed topics at the Round Table were the role of VET cooperation in the context of migration and refugees, mobility of non-EU nationals, export of VET services and international targets for international VET cooperation, which among other topics are described in detail in the report.

The report also covers the GOVET activities in the technical assistance to the bilateral VET working groups of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). The BMBF maintains bilateral cooperations with the EU-countries Greece, Italy, Latvia, Portugal and Slovakia. Moreover, the BMBF also collaborates with partner countries outside the EU. During the reporting period the partnerships with China, India, Russia, South Africa, and the USA have been renewed. In the same time, new cooperations with Costa Rica and Georgia were initiated. Apart from the bilateral activities with the partner countries, GOVET launched a multilateral initiative with EU-partner countries in order to facilitate exchange of experiences and mutual learning.

Facts and numbers

In the reporting period GOVET

- held 20 Round Table meetings in Germany and 16 Round Table Meetings at diplomatic, missions,

- received 60 delegations from 38 countries,

- provided technical assistance to BMBF cooperation partners from 18 countries,

- had more than 50,000 website visitors who downloaded more than 15,000 items,

- received 1,040 written enquiries,

- published 66 news posts and articles,

- held 6 expert dialogues with peer organizations and

- published presentations on German VET in 10 languages.