Bankia S A : Castilla-La Mancha faces a process of outsourcing the economy for which a boost in vocational training is key, according to a joint study by the CLM Communities Board and the Bankia Foundation

• It is essential to strengthen vocational training courses so as to ensure that there are sufficient technicians to meet the system's demand.
• Dual Vocational Training must continue to increase the involvement of companies in the region. For the first time, a Dual Vocational Training for Employment system is being studied through the regional programme, and has been praised by researchers.
• Having been prepared during 2018 and 2019, the study analyses a series of trends until 2030.

A study prepared by the Bankia Foundation for Dual Training in collaboration with the Regional Government of Castilla La Mancha reveals that the economy of the region has to prepare for a process of outsourcing of its economy.

The study highlights a series of trends followed by the economy with a 2030 horizon that would lead to a reduction in the weight of the agricultural and industrial sectors and a growth in employment linked to the service sector, especially to the business sector, for which a strengthening of some areas of Vocational Training will be essential.

Specifically, the study proposes re-launching the 3rd Vocational Training Plan of Castilla La Mancha 2018-2020 and greater involvement and participation of sector associations and leading companies when preparing the map of technical skills required for some cycles, such as industrial ones.

The training offer in Castilla-La Mancha currently presents a significant imbalance between the offer of graduates and the demand of the productive system, as well as due to the high number of Basic Vocational Training cycles compared to the few higher level courses available.

In many cycles, the number of graduates per year is exactly what the system needs, but many of those graduates - around 40%, according to the study - decide to continue their training instead of entering the job market.

In fact, the analysis highlights that professional branches such as Commerce and marketing, Mechanical manufacturing, Building and civil works, Textile, or Graphic arts would need more professionals compared to others such as IT, Agriculture or Administration and management where there a more than sufficient technicians to meet the demand.

On the other hand, reminding that the vocational training system of Castilla La Mancha must adapt to a context strongly influenced by geodemographic conditions, such as ageing population or population density. This factor calls for an appropriate balance of the territorial cohesion objectives and of the efficiency and competitiveness of the system.

To address the main challenges the future will bring, this study suggests monitoring the results achieved with the 3rd Vocational Training Plan of Castilla La Mancha through working groups that include representatives of the regional government but also of socio-economic agents and of the educational centres themselves.

In parallel, it suggests increasing the autonomy of these public centres, as well as the number of integrated vocational training centres in the community.

The centres are encouraged to advance in their coordination and association among centres to promote mutual learning, the exploitation of synergies, and also to enable their sectoral representation by establishing themselves with a strong and single voice.

The study also analyses Vocational Training for Employment, where it praises some of the policies undertaken by the regional government, such as setting a triple criterion (types of agents, professional branches and territorial criteria) for the programme calls, which has allowed the supplier sector to become extensive and diversified.

However, it proposes to increase the weight of training for the players who are employed and to provide the unemployed with basic professional skills.

In the region, dual vocational training in the education and labour systems have both been promoted. In Dual Vocational Training in Education, a flexible model was chosen, which has favoured its quantitative expansion since 2013.

Regarding the Dual Vocational Training in Employment system, the programmes offered in this area within the autonomous region are a pioneering initiative and deserve a positive assessment because the quality of training and employability of groups with greater difficulties prevail, due to their capacity to mobilise promoters and companies or for applying advanced assessment systems.

In this case, the study suggests increasing the dissemination of the programme itself, as it is still remains unknown for a large percentage of companies.

You can access the study at www.dualiabankia.com

Dualiza Bankia, Bankia's dual training initiative

Dualiza Bankia is the brand through which the Bankia Foundation for Dual Training carries out all of its promotion and prestige activities regarding vocational training and dual vocational training, to improve the employability of students and the competitiveness of companies. It also shows Bankia's commitment to the promotion of education as a way to improve society, fight inequality and promote social cohesion.