Autonomy and public-private partnerships in Centres of Excellence

Autonomy and public-private partnerships (PPPs) are key ENE thematic areas linked to institutional development, governance, management, and financing CoVES. In the context of VET, autonomy is the right of education provider to self-govern and take decisions, independently and with accountability, on educational, organisational, financial, staff-related and other matters, in pursuit of activity carried out within the scope defined by the law.

In the area of autonomy, three operational areas could be distinguished:

• Human resources management (e.g. hiring/firing staff, networking with external partners-such regional players, employers, etc.);
• Financing (e.g. raising, mobilizing and/or allocating funds, income generation, paying staff salaries etc.);
• Pedagogical (e.g. curricula design/update, teaching, introducing innovations, etc.).

Based on ETF experience, different forms of public-private partnerships could be developed to contribute to shaping relevant vocational skills required by labour market.  Autonomy and PPPs are playing key role in the operations of VET institutions. CoVEs are institutions that should prove strong leadership, managerial, financial, pedagogic and networking capacities. This also refers to CoVEs capacity for engaging private actors and forging PPPs in different forms.

Public-private partnerships (PPP) create the opportunity to combine the competencies of multiple actors and generate new solutions and services.

What happens when CoVEs operate autonomously in forging PPPs?

• Agile responses to labour market trends;
• Innovation;
• Optimised skills development;
• Optimised curriculum design;
• Optimised WBL;               
• Optimised CVET;
• Greater scope for R&D

In July 2020 ENE launched thematic partnership on autonomy and public-private partnership.

The purpose of the partnership is to provide an opportunity for sharing knowledge and best practices to support innovative models among participating Centres of Excellence in the areas of autonomy and public-private partnerships. This is done through peer learning activities, network meetings, coaching sessions as well as developing research in order to map existing practices and grasping potential working process in the field.

Participating countries: 8 including 6 ETF Partner countries (Azerbaijan, Georgia, Israel, Morocco, Tunisia, Turkey) and 2 EU Member States (Finland, Netherlands)   

In guiding and facilitating the work of the partnership ETF, is supported by the Finnish organisation Omnia: a large and modern education provider, which offers a wide range of services focusing on supporting life-long learning.

About Omnia | Omnia

The first phase of partnership’s activities has taken place between July 2020 till July 2021. One of the objectives of the first phase of this thematic initiative was to conduct a baseline study on CoVEs’ autonomy in forging public-private partnerships.

The baseline study demonstrates how PPPs foster excellence in VET. Autonomy provides flexibility to CoVEs and enables them to respond to skills needs as they evolve. When working closely with the private sector, CoVEs are attuned to changing demands in the labour market and receive direct input on the skills businesses require. This, in turn, allows CoVEs to develop relevant curricula to impart requisite skills. Thus, students graduate with employable skills and when employees want to reskill or upskill, they can rely on CoVEs to meet their needs.

Key findings from the baseline study

• Cooperation with the private sector is multi-dimensional. It covers several development areas of education–business collaboration, ranging from innovative VET programme and curriculum development to mutual Human Resource (HR) and professional training, and international cooperation.
• Participating centres have a high level of autonomy in making decisions on the degree and form of public–private cooperation.
• Autonomy of CoVEs can strongly contribute to innovation in VET.
• Centres operating as autonomous entities in PPPs at the regional level are key to innovation in VET.
• Autonomy and decentralisation are the key driving forces to be acknowledged by VET policy in VET reform.

For more information on baseline study:

Centres of vocational excellence: Autonomy in forging public-private partnerships in vocational education and skills development | ETF (europa.eu)

The Second phase of partnership’s activities has started in July 2021 and is planned to be implemented till spring 2023.

On-going activities are:

• An in-depth study on working processes and key practices in CoVEs to advance autonomy and public-private partnerships, picking up on outcomes from the baseline study.
• Sharing knowledge and practices through peer learning activities for core-members in order to unpack international models (such as the Finnish and Dutch models).
• Coaching sessions for the participating CoVEs to dig in-depth into various aspects of autonomy and PPP in VET.
• Analysing the progress made by participating CoVEs as well as barriers and enablers for progress in this field.
• Feeding the results of this study into other thematic areas covered by the ENE (e.g., WBL, creating entrepreneurial CoVEs, transitioning to green/digital skills, etc.)

For more information on the activities and outputs of the partnership, please, see:

ETF Network of Excellence: Peer Learning Activity in Finland | Open Space (europa.eu)

What are the benefits of CoVE autonomy in PPP ? | Open Space (europa.eu)

 "Autonomy in forging public-private partnerships in vocational education and skills development"  

https://openspace.etf.europa.eu/pages/vocational-excellence-platform-go…