Germany and Italy strengthen cooperation in vocational education and training

German-Italian cooperation in vocational education and training is taking concrete shape. At its inaugural meeting in Bologna, a bilateral working group resolved the joint development and implementation of a total of five projects in the fields of mechatronics, renewable energies and transport and logistics. The members of the working group are the Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (BIBB), representatives from the ministries involved, the social partners and training providers from Germany and Italy.

The projects aim to foster the mobility of pupils and trainees, to improve cooperation between companies and schools and to develop learning outcomes oriented curricula with the participation of the social partners. "These specific activities enable us to support the interest of our Italian partners in strengthening company-based and practically related training structures", emphasises BIBB President Friedrich Hubert Esser. "We are thus fulfilling the remit of the European Training Alliance initiated by the Federal Ministry of Education at a conference in Berlin last December and are making a contribution towards reducing the high level of youth unemployment in Europe."

The basis for the German-Italian cooperation agreement is a Declaration of Intent concluded on 12 November 2012 between the Federal Ministry of Education and Research and the Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs with the Italian Ministries of Education (MUIR) and Labour (LPS) at a conference staged in Naples and entitled "Working together for the employment of young people".

The agreement provides for closer cooperation in the fields of vocational education and training and the labour market. This cooperation was further deepened at the European Ministers' Conference on Vocational Education and Training held in Berlin on 11 and 12 December 2012. The next meeting of the German-Italian working group will take place in April.

There is currently great demand in many European countries for the dual system of vocational education and training in Germany, the background to this being the very high levels of youth unemployment in many EU member states. In Greece and Spain, for example, more than half of young people aged under 25 are out of work. The rates in Italy and the EU as a whole are over 35 per cent and around 23 per cent respectively. By way of contrast, Germany records a youth unemployment rate of only 8 per cent.