Lower Saxony and Andalusia cooperate on vocational training
- 25. 05. 2020
„Lower Saxony and Andalusia want to work more closely together in vocational and school education. A corresponding cooperation agreement was recently signed by the Ministry for Federal and European Affairs and Regional Development as well as the Ministry of Culture on the one hand and the Ministry of Culture of the Andalusian Government on the other. The focus of the agreement is the further development of vocational training with a first pilot project for dual training in Andalusia, as well as the encounter and exchange of teachers, trainees and schoolchildren.
„I am pleased that after a successful preparatory phase together with the partners in Andalusia, we can now send a signal for good cooperation and solidarity in Europe,“ said European Minister Birgit Honé on Monday in Hanover. The agreement was preceded by an Erasmus + project with participants from Lower Saxony, Andalusia and the Italian region of Campania. The most important result was the recommendation to implement a pilot project for dual vocational training based on the German model and financed from Spanish and European funds. „The Europe-wide restrictions imposed by COVID-19 have led to adjustments to the schedule, but we are optimistic that the first year of training in logistics at the beginning of 2021 can start in Andalusia with the support of experts from Lower Saxony,“ Honé explained. Lower Saxony thus makes an important contribution to the development of sustainable vocational training and the reduction of youth unemployment in southern Europe. “Well-trained specialists play a central role, particularly in the economic reconstruction after the Corona crisis.
Lower Saxony’s Minister of Culture Grant Hendrik Tonne said: „Especially at this time when Europe is threatening to break away on some edges, we need more understanding of the differentness of the European partners.“ To do this, it is necessary to offer encounters and cooperations like this one, which mainly affects young people different countries and cultures in Europe. „I would be delighted if it also succeeded in promoting the quality of training and professional mobility of young trainees in Lower Saxony and Andalusia,“ said Tonne against the background that exchange and cooperation between Lower Saxony and Andalusian vocational and general schools are planned.
The cooperation agreement creates the prerequisite for young people to be able to experience European diversity in direct encounters after the end of travel restrictions. „Those who take part in a European exchange program come back more open-minded and with important experiences for their future lives,“ said Minister Honé. The cooperation program is a building block in the implementation of the state parliament’s decision that every young person should be able to stay in a neighboring EU country until the end of his education.“
Ministry of Lower Saxony for Federal and European Affairs and regional development:
