The Ministry of Education launched for public debate a draft law for developing the vocational – dual education, according to which economic operators that conclude partnership agreements with the schools could benefit from a range of facilities.
A first draft of the document was launched in May 2016.
The Ministry of Education’s draft stipulates that companies that conclude partnership agreements with schools can benefit from facilities in the payment of taxes and contributions to state budget, social insurance budget, special funds or local budgets, according to legal provisions.
”As an exception from paragraph. (1), there can be state schools organized with legal personality and lower effective of students, not less than 100 students, to provide education and professional training through vocational education.
To finance the schools’ activity, standards of cost and quality will be approved by government decision and endorsed by the Ministry of Regional Development and Public Administration and the Ministry of Finance,” according to the draft.
Details of the draft
The school inspectorates decide on the units where vocational education is organized, in consultation with local authorities, the Local Committees for Social Partnership Development, taking into account the economic and social development trends set out in the regional, county and local strategic documents regarding the vocational and technical education and based on the applications received from the companies interested in the vocational training, mentions the draft.
Vocational education is organized in public or private vocational schools or under a partnership agreement concluded between one or more economic operators with an administrative territorial unit, say the draft’s initiators.
For the vocational education, the type, number and content of the admission tests may be decided by the school and the companies.
In addition, there can be admission tests organized at the request of the economic operators, set by the school in collaboration with those economic operators, regardless of the number of candidates registered and the number of places available.
The organization, duration, content of the training programs and the training certification procedures are decided in consultation with the economic operators.
This form of vocational education is complementary to those currently operating and OUG 94/2014 provides the legal framework for organizing it and gives the opportunity to the economic operators to become directly involved in all the training components for the workforce they need.
Dual education is conducted on the basis of an employment contract concluded between the economic operator and the student.
The form and content of the employment contract is to be defined in the next period.
The specificity of this complementary type of education is the partition of responsibilities between the education authorities and employers / employer organizations, in terms of curriculum, training provided, evaluation and funding.
The graduates of the obligatory education system who discontinue their studies can be included, up to the age of 25, in a training program, to acquire a professional qualification, the document also stipulates.
According to another provision, for the secondary school graduates from the current and previous series, who exceeded by more than three years the age class, separate classes for vocational education can be organized.
Educational authorities are responsible for providing the human and financial resources and organize the training in school (1-2 days), while the employer should provide human and financial resources and organize practical training, at the workplace (3-4 days).
Graduates from previous series who completed the obligatory education but left before obtaining a professional qualification or without skills that can offer them employment opportunities have also access to dual education.
As a derogation, the framework methodology for organizing and conducting the admission to the vocational education for the academic year 2017-2018 is approved by the Minister of Education, within 45 days from the approval of the amendments to the National Education Law, mentions the document.
