NAFSA Embassy Dialogue Committee on Education
NAFSA Embassy Dialogue Committee on Education
Fall Workshop on Vocational Education Internationalization:
Abstract
Global distribution of supply chains and the internationalization of innovation has changed the way and the locations where value is generated and consequently influenced the education paradigm. The academic community – Higher Education - has internationalized early on, while in comparison the field of vocational education is lagging behind. However, the global competition for talent is no longer limited to workers with a university degree, but increasingly includes skilled workers in many different fields. Therefore, in an environment where creating jobs is one of the central political and societal challenges and amid a globalizing and changing labor market, the internationalization of Vocational Education Training is likely to become an important policy issue.
Vocational Education Training is becoming more important as society adapts and changes. Many nations are beginning to lack skilled labor in various sectors. The health care sector in certain first world countries provides an good example: Switzerland is one of the countries that is experiencing nursing staff shortages, and faces pressing questions of how to fill such a crucial gap: Do you open your borders, and loosen your educational barriers making it easier for a nurse trained in a different country and system to work internationally? Do you open a nursing school in a developing nation, and send your own people to train nurses abroad so they can be infused into the system back home? How do you ensure the same quality, while “importing” different nurses with different educational backgrounds?
After introductory short input presentations, including introductions to the VET systems in 4 countries, our workshop will delve into the issue of the mobility of workers from a vocational education background. We will work on a number of questions, including:
- If Higher Education has been able to internationalize and become increasingly mobile, then why has the skilled labor market not been able to develop similarly?
- What does the academic field have that the vocational sector lacks?
- Europe has introduced the Bologna reform which allows for a syncing of university systems and degrees. In 2002 the Copenhagen Process was established, laying out the basis for co-operation in VET with 32 European countries. Is it a simple mobility issue or are there underlying factors hindering internationalization in the skilled labor force?
- What are the key drivers and challenges, what are effective VET internationalization strategies?
- Which skill sets are expected of graduates from VET programs by industry (US and international firms) and follow-on programs at colleges and universities?
Case studies will be used and we plan to engage industry and higher education institutions to help us develop a realistic view of the matter. The goal of the workshop is to scope the issues and to provide participants with a common understanding of the potential policy and operational challenges related to the internationalization of VET as well as some analytical tools to use . We also hope to initiate an ongoing discussion among the EDC and its partners.